{"id":631957,"date":"2026-10-16T01:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T01:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631957\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T01:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T01:50:13","slug":"auckland-striker-drops-f-bombs-in-ban-loophole-clash-with-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631957\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland striker drops f-bombs in ban ‘loophole’ clash with reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Auckland FC striker Sam Cosgrove has blown up over questions about using a “loophole” to serve out a suspension before the A-League season.<\/p>\n

Cosgrove was handed a two-game ban after being sent off<\/a> in the closing stages of Auckland’s 1-0 FIFA Intercontinental Cup loss to Saudi side Al-Ahli in August.<\/p>\n

Auckland are allowed to play A-League professionals in their reserves side under New Zealand Football’s participation agreement and competition regulations.<\/p>\n

That includes up to two 23-year-old non-citizens for each match day squad.<\/p>\n

The clause opened the door for the 29-year-old Englishman to serve out his ban in Auckland’s recent New Zealand National League fixtures<\/a> against Wellington Olympic and Miramar Rangers.<\/p>\n

In a fiery exchange on Thursday, Cosgrove couldn’t recall the two matches and was bemused when asked if he had any unease or embarrassment over using the “loophole”.<\/p>\n

“Embarrassment,” he shot back at a reporter.<\/p>\n

“Why would the club not push to have a player available and use every power that they have?”<\/p>\n

Cosgrove bagged 11 goals in his debut season with Auckland, securing the men’s competition golden boot along the way to the club’s first A-League championship title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t matter, does it? I’ve missed two NPL matches,” Cosgrove said of not serving his ban at the elite level.<\/p>\n

\"Sam<\/p>\n

Sam Cosgrove of Auckland FC reacts to the goal during Auckland FC v Adelaide United, Leg one of the 2026 A-League Semi-Finals at Go Media Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday 9 May 2026. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

“If you pick up a suspension in the A-League, you have to serve it in the A-League.<\/p>\n

“So technically, in that case, I should be missing the next few Intercontinental Cups, but I’m not.”<\/p>\n

The media conference ended abruptly before the reporter repeated his claim that Cosgrove hadn’t actually served the ban.<\/p>\n

“What are you doing here then? Bugger off, if you’re going to talk s***,” the striker replied.<\/p>\n

An Auckland FC minder stated that FIFA, Football Australia and Football New Zealand were “fine” with the way the ban was served.<\/p>\n

“You know what football’s like in this country mate. We f**king work hard to get it good,” Cosgrove said.<\/p>\n

“You bring it down with shit like that.<\/p>\n

“What are you laughing for? We’ll just f**k you off. You won’t get back here again.”<\/p>\n

In a podcast episode posted on Tuesday, Cosgrove said he was relieved when news of the rules workaround became public so he could “finally stop lying about it”.<\/p>\n

“It was a poor challenge in oppressive heat and late in the game, but the two-game suspension was a little bit harsh,” he told The Unused Subs podcast.<\/p>\n

“We were trying to get that reduced, and the power of lawyers and legal teams these days, they managed to find a way to sign me up with the Auckland reserves.<\/p>\n

“It was a good experience to be involved in that league and watch those games.”<\/p>\n

The defending champions will begin their A-League campaign at home to Melbourne City on Saturday, before an away trip to face Western Sydney Wanderers on October 24.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Harry and Meghan are back, and a skateboarding world record. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auckland FC striker Sam Cosgrove has blown up over questions about using a “loophole” to serve out a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[73757,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-631957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-auckland-fc","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}