AFTER 25 years playing Newcastle City and Suburban Cricket, Roy Capitao is left wondering how it all went so wrong. So quickly.
One day he was captain of an A-grade team and member of the NCSCA board, the next he was called before the judiciary and handed a two-year ban from any involvement in cricket.
"I just can't explain it, outside of saying that I was asking too many questions of the board, asking for a financial audit and some clarity on how members' money was being spent," he said.
"They wanted to get rid of me and that's what happened. It was gut wrenching and embarrassing, I'd never once been in trouble and I still don't know what I've done wrong."
The former captain of Cricketers Arms said he was called before the judiciary in August and accused of accessing a Google Drive and attempting to share details of board members' fuel allowance claims, allegations Mr Capitao vehemently denies.
The 47-year-old was charged with a code of conduct breach for engaging in behaviour considered prejudicial or harmful to the interests of cricket, or in contravention of the rules, and handed a two-year ban.
"I did not access the Google Drive," he said. "Even the people who I was supposed to have emailed said they never received anything."
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According to the judiciary findings, "there was a definite attempt using Roy Capitao's login and password to access confidential information on the NCSCA Google Drive database" and an attempt to "share" information.
"As Roy Capitao denied giving his password to any other person, and he has also admitted to having portable devices which could be used to access the Google Drive from any location at any time, the panel was left with no option but to determine that on the balance of probability only Roy Capitao could have accessed the Google Drive at the time in question," judiciary commissioner Stuart Brien wrote.
The situation went from bad to worse when Mr Capitao's team was told it had not filled out registration forms correctly and removed from the competition.
Cricketers Arms player Brenton Nichols, who was acting team secretary following Mr Capitao's suspension, said the team was accused of forging signatures.
Mr Nichols said he felt the team was "victimised due to association with Roy" who was the "heart and soul of the team".
"We were given 48 hours notice to have 50 players at Club Macquarie to sign in front of board members," he said.
"When we didn't go, they said we'd missed our window of opportunity so we weren't allowed in the competition. The whole thing is an absolute disgrace, all of us including Roy, just wanted to play cricket."
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