\u201cThe suspension follows a much-publicised exchange between Sam and journalist that occurred after the formal interview process had concluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough disappointed, Auckland FC and Sam Cosgrove accept the decision and look forward to Sam being a part of the squad that will take on Wellington Phoenix with the chance to seven unbeaten on Saturday, 7 November at Go Media Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cosgrove was initially handed a two-game ban by the A-League after he was red-carded during Auckland FC\u2019s pre-season defeat to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli during the FIFA Intercontinental Cup in August.<\/p>\n
However, Auckland FC was able to circumvent the suspension, by arguing Cosgrove served the ban for the Black Knights\u2019 reserve side, who play in New Zealand\u2019s domestic National League Championship. Cosgrove has never played for Auckland FC\u2019s reserve side.<\/p>\n
Sam Cosgrove appeals to the referee following the foul by James Donachie in Auckland FC’s 1-0 loss to the Central Coast Mariners. Photo\/Photosport.<\/p>\n
When questioned over the moral legitimacy of exploiting the loophole, Cosgrove said: \u201cWhy would the club not push to have a player available, and use every power they have to do that? Why is it not fair? I have technically [served a ban].<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve missed two NPL (sic) matches. If you pick up a suspension in the A-League, you have to serve it in the A-League. In that case, I should be missing the next few for the Intercontinental Cup [matches] but I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the press conference concluded, the pair became involved in a heated exchange that also included Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker. Cosgrove also threatened to have the journalist removed from future press conferences. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you doing here then, just bugger off,\u201d Cosgrove continued. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to talk s*** …\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what football\u2019s like in this country. We f****** work hard to make it good, and you bring it down with s*** like that. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll just f*** you off, you won\u2019t get back here again. Why are you arsed? You\u2019re supposed to be an independent journalist.\u201d <\/p>\n
Auckland FC have since opened the season with one win and one loss. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe suspension follows a much-publicised exchange between Sam and journalist that occurred after the formal interview process had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11689,1975,51,85,1060,1558,18836,2223,315160,26845,6204,5213,2082,29888,10938,5844,111,139,69,315161,18460,213,147535,39532],"class_list":["post-642635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-11689","tag-at","tag-auckland","tag-australia","tag-ban","tag-been","tag-club","tag-confirmed","tag-cosgrove","tag-fc","tag-fine","tag-football","tag-for","tag-handed","tag-herald","tag-journalist","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-onematch","tag-sam","tag-sports","tag-striker","tag-swearing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642635","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=642635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}