some background -
an anonymous letter dated mid march was sent oly a week or so ago to all irish premier league clubs. this stated that gollogley wasn't register properly.
pre-xmas larne were at the foot of the table and, lets be honest, crap. paul curran came in and turned it all around, gaining 19 points in 16 games since the mid season mark and steering us clear of relegation and playoffs, depending on the last game of the season (tomorrow). we were until this evening sitting 3rd bottom and playing quite well.
loughgall, bottom, lodged an official appeal alledgedly under influence of glenavon (sitting 2nd bottom untill tonight).
the crux of the matter is that the ifa never checked that they had given an itc to the fai and cleared the player to play for larne. larne have this written clearance and have acted in good faith all along.
larne, thinking all was well, played gollogley and he made a real difference to our defence.
since the letter emerged it has been claimed the information that gollogley was not properly registered was kept secret until needed, causing maximum damage to larne.
privately the ifa have admitted their mistake but not publicly. the ifa called together an "indepenent" panel of, guess who, ifa men, alledgedly pre-briefed about the case and the wished for result.
they chose today to "bury bad news" and get this case out of the spotlight while they use the media space/time to bum up their new sky deal. i've heard the larne reps weren't even given an opportunity to present their case (TBC).
tonight larne fc were fined £8000 (very large for the irish league, £500 max penalty for every game with unregistered player) AND deducted all points from these matches.
this relegates larne, leaves them in huge financial diffs AND diminishes points towards the new invitational league criteria. it could also effect a proposed new stadium.
basically the governing body (there to support and help clubs under their auspices) made a serious mistake and, to their shame, won't admit any wrongdoing and will possibly put a club of 118 years history to the wall to save face.
as i have said, larne might have also made a mistake to some degree but have acted in good faith regarding clearance. for this we are hit with the severest fine possible. to put it in comparison, remember the televised riot at the glentoran-linfield game? £5000 fine if i remember right.
larne will appeal and take the matter through the high courts if necessary as our survival may depend on it.
(the whole sorry mess can be read about on irishleagueforums.net but be prepared for about 20+ threads with the biggest running to over 60 pages as of 00.50)
Shame on the IFA
WE ARE LARNE
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