Controversy flares over Flancare postponement

irishfootballonline

Bohemians and Longford Town fans are up in arms over referee Alan Kelly's decision to postpone last night's match.
Longford had earlier in the day contacted Kelly to gain clearance to get a local referee's opinion on the playability of the pitch but Kelly refused. Ultimately he did inspect the pitch himself until about 6:30 pm, at which time there were approximately 2,000 supporters inside the ground. He called off the match despite protests from both managers and now the game will go ahead next Wednesday pending a noon inspection.
This is the kind of situation that has tarnished the national game in recent years and it is not acceptable that such a decision should be made so late in the day, especially considering the fact that Longford had doubts over the pitch from much earlier in the day.

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Longford Town manager Alan Matthews has expressed his anger that his side’s game against newly-crowned league champions Bohemians on Saturday was postponed less than an hour before kick-off.

With little of note to play for, the game at Flancare Park was due to be a Saturday night party for the travelling hordes of Bohemians fans, who were looking forward to seeing their team in action for the first time since lifting the eircom League crown.

But Cork referee Alan Kelly saw fit to call off the game at 7pm – by which stage more than 1500 supporters were already inside the ground.

The match has been re-fixed for tomorrow night (Tuesday), but Longford can expect less than half the attendance of a Saturday fixture, resulting in a huge shortfall on the projected return for the game.

Town manager Alan Matthews raged: “I’m absolutely livid. The game should have gone ahead and this decision will cost the club a lot of money.”