The following is a letter that was published in the Wicklow People and sent in to us by it's writer, Diarmuid Haughian of the Kilbride club.

I have played for Kilbride at adult level for almost 20 years and I decided in January that 2016 would be my last season as a player.  I didn't think for one moment my final championship campaign would end within the confines of the Wicklow County Board offices - my club was expelled.  YES, expelled from the championship because the players and the committee believed in competitive sporting fairness and equality.

Our county board (the CCC or the (so called) powers within) decided to put their foot down, finally show some back bone and bully a small club out of the championship.  It's a pity they continually fail to stand up to the clubs and players who assault and verbally abuse players and referees.  And we all know who they are, continually bringing shame on our county.  But no, let's take a stand and expel a Junior club out of the championship. 

So, I hear you say, why did ye gets kicked out????

As you can imagine there is a bit of a story involved, so here goes….Our championship group is made up of four teams and entering the final round of matches, it had become clear to everybody in Kilbride that all four teams could actually still qualify.  However, the final two matches in the group were fixed for different days…..And so, my club secretary asked me to compose a letter that he would email to the county board, and it read like this:

'With regard to the final group championship matches between An Bearna Dearg v Cill Bríde, fixed for Thursday the 11th of August and the Coolboy v Newcastle championship match fixed for Sunday the 14th of August.

We must insist based on fairness, equality and sporting integrity that both final matches in the Group MUST be played simultaneously.

As the group currently stands all four clubs can qualify to the next round of the championship, by playing the final two matches on different dates, this will provide an unfair advantage to some teams and a disadvantage for others in the group.

The Cill Bríde club must insist that both final matches in the group be played at the same time and date to ensure that the validity and fairness of the competition is maintained and upheld.

We request that both final group matches be played this Thursday the 11th of August, otherwise at a date and time that is agreeable to all involved.

We await your response.'

Essentially in order for Kilbride to qualify, Kilbride needed Coolboy to beat Newcastle, however, if we had done the hard work and beat Barndarrig on the Thursday, Coolboy had no reason to beat Newcastle on the Sunday.  Coolboy would have been through because they would have known the result of Kilbride's match on Thursday with Barndarrig and could have fielded a weaker team against Newcastle.  As a matter of fact they could have fixed the match to make sure Newcastle won by a significant score and eliminated Barndarrig.

But what did our County Board do when Kilbride made them aware that there were issues to be had if both matches were not played simultaneously - they ignored it.  In fact I phoned Mick O'Hagan the week prior in order to verbally raise the issue but my phone call was not returned.  We did receive a mail from the county board at 11AM, the day of our proposed match on Thursday, which read:

'Your game v Barndarrig was fixed for tonight as Kilbride had applied for a free weekend this weekend.

From a CCC point of view the game tonight stands as three teams need to win their games to stay in the championship.'

Firstly, the county board were of the belief that three teams could qualify, this was factually wrong.  No team had actually qualified before the final round of match and all FOUR teams could still qualify.

My club did request the weekend of the 12th off, way back in March.  However once the realisation that all four teams could qualify and one club made the county board explicitly aware of the scenario.  Then both matches should have been played simultaneously in order to ensure fairness for all and the competitions integrity.

No…. we received this response.

'At the beginning of the year Kilbride requested a free day/weekend for a players wedding and in the email stated that they would be willing to play midweek (please see letter attached). In the interest of fair play the CCC fixed Kilbride's championship game for theThursday night.

 

The fixtures for the year were sent to all clubs on the 03/04/16 and in these fixtures the game between Barndarrig and Kilbride were down for 11/08/16 and the game between Coolboy and Newcastle was down for the 14/08/16.

 

Both teams got notice of the game according to rule 6.23.

 

Under the rules for Club Championship it doesn't not state that both games must be played at the same time.'

 

Did you note the sentence: 'In the interest of fair play the CCC fixed Kilbride's championship game for the Thursday night.'  Yes, in the interest of fair play, I now realised I was dealing with the Wicklow County Board.

And so the C.C.C 'in the interest of fair play' expelled Kilbride from the championship.

Well done the county board…..so what was the solution…..just push both matches back a week or so, not a very complicated solution??  No, let's expel Kilbride, that's just as easy!!!!

The club did ask for that weekend off before the season started, however, once the table permutations played out, our county board should have changed the dates and played both matches simultaneously.

And so, we decided to stand up for 'right', in the hope that common sense would prevail, but no.  There is a very good reason Wicklow GAA is a basket case and here is no truer example.

We have been expelled, because there is no rule in the rule book that states that matches have to be played at the same time.  That is true (and a weakness in the rule book), but perhaps the authors assumed that common sense would prevail.

I wonder would a senior club like Rathnew, St. Pats or Baltinglass get expelled……two chances. I feel our County Board have treated a small rural club with utter distant and contempt. Shame on this administration.

Sadly, on a selfish personal note, my GAA Career ends in a boardroom. But spare a thought for my club mates who have been wronged and may well turn their back on the GAA.

Just to let you know, Coolboy in fact played and beat Newcastle, which meant if our match with Barndarrig was played, we needed to win by four point to qualify for the quarter-final.

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