Dear Sir/Madam,
it has recently come to my attention that the game between Cork City and Shelbourne scheduled for Friday August 8th is to be moved to Thursday August 7th. Were this being done in order to accomodate a European tie it would be perfectly understandable, and indeed would receive the support of the majority of Cork City fans, some of whom would no doubt attend the European game to support a fellow Irish club in Europe, as I and many others have done previously. However, the idea that a league game should be changed in order to accomodate a friendly is unacceptable. Aside from the inconvenience on travelling on a Thursday night, it also shows grave disrespect to this league and all its supporters. I accept clubs need to raise money, and that friendlies are a means of doing this, however the eircom League is the reason our clubs exist and as such should be of primary importance. Shelbourne FC have prided themselves on their level of professionalism in recent years, sadly the idea of basing existence on revenue from frienlies does not sit well with this. I urge Shelbourne to reconsider the scheduling of this game, and to show the league and its supporters the respect we deserve.
Yours in Sport,
Bookmarks