An Oxford Mail investigation has revealed that local football leagues – managed in all cases by volunteers – operate a far more efficient registration process than the Football Conference.

Oxford United were docked five points for fielding an unregistered player, Eddie Hutchinson, after he was allowed to feature in 13 matches before the administrative error was noticed by paid Conference officers – a period of almost three months.

But when the Oxford Mail spoke to six local leagues – including two junior competitions – all revealed that any registration problems would be dealt with immediately, and vowed that the longest any club would have to wait to learn their fate would be a month.

However, in all instances, clubs would be informed within a maximum of ten days that they have played someone illegally, to ensure they do not continue to do so.

The processes would therefore ensure a player would make a maximum of only two appearances before any error is detected.

While United have unquestionably made a grave mistake, they should never have had to wait almost three months before being alerted to the error.

Further investigation has revealed that Hutchinson’s lack of registration might have not been picked up by the Conference until March.

The Football Conference used to conduct spot-checks on teamsheets – meaning that they just randomly selected two or three squad numbers in each side to check whether they were registered rather than every name on the team sheet.

As the last game United were charged by the Conference for playing Hutchinson was against York on November 2, it cannot have been until that month that Hutchinson’s number was picked and the error spotted.

But that means that it could have been catastrophic for United, had a check on Hutchinson not been picked up until March – when all players’ registrations are checked – because they could have potentially lost around 40 points.

When the Conference discovered the error in November, they changed their process. Every player now has a unique identification number that has to be written alongside their name on the team-sheet.

The Conference now check every player who features in every match.

The Oxford Mail understands that United used this argument as one of their main points in Monday’s hearing – the league are effectively admitting their process was flawed because they changed the way it operated mid-season.

While admitting their club made a serious error, U’s fans are angry that the mistake took so long to be brought to light.

One supporter, posting on the thisisunited forum as Yellows 1, emailed the Conference to vent his discontent and posted their response under the heading: ‘A reply from the Mickey Mouse league’!

Local leagues simply put the Conference to shame.

The biggest, the Hellenic League, have a computerised system that means when sides fill out their team sheets online after a game, they immediately know if a player is either unregistered or suspended.

Within four days of any match, the league office also receive a team-sheet from the match referee and they then cross-check these details.

Hellenic League registration secretary, Angela King, said: “Clubs register their players online, or by posting details to the league office.

“Players that show up as unregistered will be picked up within a week, both by the club and the league office.”

The North Berks Leaguel chairman, Les Addison, says all players who feature in weekend matches will be checked within a week.

“As soon as the forms are received, our registration secretary will go through every player to make sure they are eligible to play.

“But the whole procedure, including punishment for a team, is normally complete within a fortnight.

“It does seem rather strange that some appearances the Oxford United player made in August went undetected for months.”

Witney & District FA secretary, John Smyth, said their checks take ‘days’ to complete.

He explained: “Clubs have up to four days to send their team-sheets to us, and they are checked immediately.

“If a player wasn’t registered or shouldn’t have played, then we will contact the club, question them and we will usually reach a decision within a fortnight.”

Oxfordshire Senior League registration secretary Les Middleton says that their method is proven to work.

“The day I get match cards from the weekend, they are all checked immediately,” he said.

“We notify clubs straight away so that they know what the situation is, and then the incident will be brought up at a monthly meeting.”

Even in junior football, any irregularities are spotted quickly – and they appear to have an even better way of dealing with any potential misdemeanours.

Both the Oxford Mail Boys League and Witney & District Youth League have registration cards available to both managers and referee before each game.

Wayne Tilling, press officer for the Witney Youth League, explained: “Our rules state that when match cards are filled out before a game, registration cards of all players, including a picture, must be made available to opposition managers and referee.”

When the Oxford Mail contacted the Football Conference, they declined to make any comments, despite being informed of our findings.

A spokesperson said: “We cannot comment because there is a chance of clubs appealing and we cannot discuss anything about our process.”

The three clubs affected by points deductions this week – Oxford United, Crawley Town and Bognor Regis – all declined to comment on the Oxford Mail’s findings as they are considering appeals to the FA.