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New twist to saga over illegal players By Tom Kelly The Mayo Association Football League have appealed the decision of the Connaught FA not to support them in a major crackdown on illegal and unregistered players. The move follows the success of Castlebar Celtic and Conn Rangers in their petitions to the Connaught Football Association against the league's decision to fine and deduct points from them for fielding illegal players. Castlebar Celtic B were fined £325 by the Mayo League and had seven points deducted for four violations. The Connaught FA ruled the club could only be punished on their first violation. As a result, Celtic's fine was reduced to £100 and only three points was taken from their tally in Division Two of the Mayo League. Conn Rangers had been fined a total of £525 by the Mayo League for a total of eight violations involving their A and B teams. The A team had three points deducted and the B team had eight points deducted. But the fines was reduced to £100 and only three points were taken off the club's two teams. Similar action taken by the Mayo League against Westport United, Claremorris, Swinford, Urlaur and Straide & Foxford had not been appealed to the Connaught FA Now the Mayo League have taken the controversial case to the Football Association of Ireland. They claim the decision of the Connaught FA was not based on any existing ruling or precedent. Mr. John Durkan, secretary, Mayo League, said they could not understand the judgement of the provincial body in basing their verdict on first offence only,' but it was clear from their decision the members did not examine the complexities of the case. He explained: "In the case of Castlebar Celtic, the first offence was a Division Two South League match on June 7th which ended Castlebar Celtic B 1, Ballyhaunis 1. "The Mayo League had deducted one point from Celtic, but the CFA in their decision deducted three points! "By the same token, Conn Rangers's first offence was a Division Three match on April 26th which ended Claremorris B 3, Conn Rangers B 1. "The Mayo League did not deduct any points from Conn Rangers in this case, but the CFA deducted three points from them. How can three points be deducted from a team that lost a match?" DANGEROUS PRECEDENT Mr. Durkan said the CFA had set an extremely dangerous precedent in dealing with the first offence only. "What is the situation if a player commits an offence on January 1st and a further similar offence on January 8th. The disciplinary committee meets on January 10th and has both referees reports. Are they to deal with the first offence and forget about the second one? "This seems a crazy and not thought-out ruling and sets a dangerous and most unusual precedent." Mr. Durkan responded to criticism that the Mayo League had taken too long to make their decision in the first place. He said: "There was no delay in administrating justice as the investigation by the monitoring committee was ongoing. Players had not used up their quota of five players and action could not be taken at an earlier date. "The perceived delay is but a figment of the imagination." In regard to the CFA's view that the fines had been too severe, Mr. Durkan said the Mayo League acted on a precedent set in 1996 when clubs were fined £100 per player per game for non-registered players and £25 per player per game for A\B team illegal players. Added Mr. Durkan: "It is clear to the Mayo League that a proper and thorough investigation by the Connaught FA did not taken place in arriving at their decisions and the delegates present did not understand the complexities of the matter." The Mayo League was granted a personal hearing to further outline the technicalities involved in the case when the appeal was heard at FAI headquarters in Merrion Square, Dublin, on Monday. The league was represented at the hearing by Mr. Donal Benson, chairman, Mr. Michael Lavin, treasurer, and Mr. Joe Butler, a member of league's management committee. The FAI Appeals Committee is expected to issue its decision later in the week. |
