THE Eircom League will seek compensation from the English Premiership and Sky if they proceed with plans to screen matches on Friday nights.
The FAI are due to take the matter up with UEFA and the English FA as a previous agreement allowed for live Premiership matches on a Sunday afternoon and ultimately led to the Eircom League moving its games to Friday and Saturday nights.
"The majority of our matches are played on a Friday night and we will protect our clubs against Premiership matches being played on that night. If they go ahead with their plans we will be seeking compensation," said Eircom League chairman Brendan Dillon.
The Eircom League are to propose a change in the rules of the Carlsberg FAI Cup at next month's special egm in Dublin. This season's competition, which kicks off next Wednesday, has been shrouded in controversy over a rule that cup-ties players who played in last season's FAI Intermediate Cup.
Most of the non-league clubs are affected by the rule - as are St Patrick's Athletic, who will have three members of their first team squad cup-tied.
The Eircom League referred the issue to a meeting of the FAI's domestic committee on May 21 and they passed it on to the rules commission. The commission's chairman, Des Casey, ruled on June 3 that the rule stood because last season's FAI Intermediate Cup competition was a qualifier for this season's FAI Senior Cup.
Dillon said that the Eircom League would be seeking to amend the rule before the 2004 competition. "We don't have a choice but to take the FAI's ruling on the matter. It is safer to take a decision like that than have a raft of appeals from clubs who are knocked out."
