A Season Blighted by Farce

29th Oct 2002

A Season Blighted By Farce

 
Gareth Williams
From Cork City Fanzine FourFiveOne

Well thankfully the season is now over. City have finished in their worst position in years, and haven't qualified for Europe for the first time in 6 years. At least the Premier division was cleansed of the filth that is Dundalk anyway, who were relegated on the last day of the season. Not a City fan alive wasn't delighted at that! Drogheda are promoted as 1st division champions, and Cobh and Limerick both have to seek re-election to the league (which both will get). But all of this is overshadowed by the farcical situation, which the FAI bigwigs in Merrion Square have allowed to happen. A situation which has UEFA laughing at us, and us fans in a state of frustrated disbelief. Of course I am talking about the St Pats (non) registration of two of their players - Paul Marney, and then much later, Charles Mbabzi Livingstone.                         

Pure Shed. Pure full. Pure atmosphere. Pure Cork.

Briefly, for those of you unfamiliar with the situation, St Pats failed to correctly register Paul Marney last August. Marney played in Pats' opening 3 games before it was realised that he was not, in fact, registered. Pats were duly docked 9 points, as by the letter of the law. Pats complained and moaned that it wasn't their fault, citing that the FAI should have noticed sooner, and demanded they receive all 9 points back. The only team to put any real opposition to this, were Shels, proving once again that they are the only real professional team in our league. Anyway, after arbitration, Pats were awarded back their points, and were back in the title race.

Once everyone thought that the dust had settled after the farcical 'Marney Affair', the League was hit with further allegations that St Pats had not correctly registered another player - Mbabzi. He had played in 5 matches, therefore Pats were docked 15 points. Again Pats tried taking the moral high ground on this one, compiling a list of players from around the league over the last few seasons who they suspected not to be registered correctly. Also, amazing, FAI Commissioner Roy Dooney claimed he had known of the Mbabzi irregularity, but kept it under his hat, so as not to cause more fuss. They also called into question a number of incidents within the Shels double winning team of 1998/99, including supposed non payment of fines. The situation, at the time of writing, is still unsolved, as the FAI are now apparently trawling through all the registrations.

The league finished up on Easter Sunday, with Shels top of the pile with 63 points. Pats were in third on 50 points. So had Pats not been deducted the points they would have finished as eircom League champions. However, because of the 'situation' the league trophy has not been awarded to either team, as both cannot come to a compromise as regards what to do. Shels think they should be champions, as do Pats, as they say they amassed most points. Shels are now being urged by the FAI to enter a play off situation with Pats to decide the titles destination. Dermot Keely resigned as Shels boss on Sunday claiming that it 'is the worst run league in the world'(sic).

So that's the story. It's a farce. It has made the eircom League into an international laughing stock. I think that Shels are doing the right thing in standing up to Pats and indeed to the FAI. I am of the opinion that Shels should be awarded the title, Pats should be relegated and Roy Dooney should resign. If this play-off goes ahead, it'll just open another can of worms. Shams have finished second, in the UEFA cup spot. If this play off goes ahead, it'll mean that Shams are dropping down to third and therefore accepting an Inter Toto Cup spot. And I cant imagine them accepting that.

Pure the Shed. Pure again. Pure the job though.
 

So that begs the question - does the loser of the playoff, playoff with Shams for 2nd place? As I've mentioned above, it is a farce. In my opinion, If this play off goes ahead, the rest of the league should, for once in their lives, stand up to the FAI and resign from the league, thereby letting Pats have their league. They can be champions every season, as they will have no-one to play against. Now im sure that if this were to happen, the FAI would back down very quickly, and not let St Patricks Athletic try and run rough shot over the league. Having said that, most in the FAI don't care as they have their handy little junket to Asia in a few weeks.

To conclude - I once had a lot of respect for Mr Pat Dolan. However, the way the man has behaved this season has been deplorable. He was moaned, cried and whinged every time he hasn't got his way. He is failing to see the fact that his club broke the rules. If you break the rules you get punished. Pats did exactly that and got (eventually) what was coming to them. Pat was always a man who did his best to promote Irish football. If he continues to act like a spoilt child, he will do irreparable to the eircom League and all his good work in the past will count for nothing. Ollie Byrne (Shels chairman) may not be the most popular character in the land, but he has shown guts in standing up to Pats while no-one else in the league would. I certainly hope that justice is done and Pats do not win the league (and isn't it indicative of the farce that the league could be decided in a courtroom!), and Shels are crowned champions. We can then all look forward to the start of the next season, hope that it runs smoothly and City crush all that comes before them.

Gareth Williams

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