Couldnt have happened to a better team, serves them right
Rovers hit with eight-point deduction
May 14, 2005
Shamrock Rovers have been demoted to the bottom of the Premier Division table after the FAI’s licensing body’s First Instance Committee imposed an eight-point deduction on the Hoops arising out of irregularities in their licensing application before Christmas.
Variances were found between the accounts submitted by Rovers to the licensing body and those forwarded to the High Court in their examinership application recently.
Several severe penalties were believed to have been under consideration, including enforced relegation to the First Division and expulsion from the league.
In the end, the committee opted to strip Rovers of its 2005 licence – but to allow the club to compete in competition with the sanction of an eight-point deduction.
In a statement, FAI Chief Executive Officer John Delaney said: “The Committee’s decision sends a clear message that the Club Licensing process, which all clubs have signed up to, is a serious one and irregularities in clubs’ applications will result in sanctions.
“All clubs have agreed to comply with the system which is there to ensure clubs reach better standards across all disciplines within each clubs’ structures.”
The penalty means that Roddy Collins’s side was stripped of its entire eight-point haul in the first two months of the eircom League – leaving Rovers behind winless Finn Harps at the foot of the Premier Division table.
The Hoops got off the mark for the second time this season with a 1-1 draw against city rivals St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park on Friday night.
