UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK have been named Munster Senior League Premier Division champions for 2013/2014 after winning a long-standing appeal.
A decision in the court of arbitration this week has resulted in Avondale having their title revoked by the league as UCC were awarded an additional two points in a complicated case which centres around an ineligible player during a game between UCC and Leeds back in November 2013.
In April of this year, Leeds’ 1-0 win against Everton was overturned by the league who ruled that they had fielded a player who wasn’t registered at the time of the fixture.
UCC got wind of the player’s name (one of two Liam O’Connors to play for Leeds last season) but were rebuffed when they looked for clarification from the MSL over whether he had also played illegally against them.
Avondale faced UCC in the final game of the season and held a four-point lead over their opponents at the top of the table. With the title seemingly in the bag and a busy schedule due to their involvement in cup competitions, Avondale played a weakened side and were crowned champions despite losing 4-1.
UCC then made an official complaint the following day but saw it rejected by the MSL, the Munster Football Association and the FAI. However, their persistence has paid off after the arbitrator ruled in their favour by giving them the two points needed to finish top.
“I have sympathy for Avondale because they already thought they had won the league,” UCC Alumni chairman Kieran Nestor told The Score. “But we had informed them that there was an issue because I emailed all 34 teams in the MSL to say we had an issue and we were looking for clarification.
“Avondale were informed twice by me and we tried to bring it up at the MSL AGM prior to the last game of the season but we were told we were out of order.
“When we beat Avondale and they were declared champions, we then had a cause for protest. Legally we couldn’t do anything before that because we had no information to launch an official protest as we weren’t sure. Only when Avondale were declared champions, we could say that we should be awarded the points.
“I do have sympathy for them but this is not about Avondale or UCC. It’s about an inept running of the MSL and all we are looking for is honesty, transparency and a small bit of bloody integrity.
If any member of any club wants to ask an official question, they should be answered. The MSL committee think they are the league but the clubs are the league. They only administer the league. We were looking for a transparent answer and when we didn’t get one, we just decided we would just keep going.
“Avondale had three suspended players on the day but I have no doubt that they fielded a weakened side most probably thinking they had won the league even though in the judgment it does say that they should have known that we had an issue.
“I think they should have conducted a proper investigation and delayed the match. It would have been a huge occasion for a play-off of the MSL — a winner-takes-all cup final. You can imagine the crowd that would be there for that.
“A massive opportunity was missed by the league but also they never conducted an investigation.
“Whatever about Avondale, I feel very sorry for our players because they would have liked to win it on the pitch but they never got the chance,” he added.
“It’s very hard for a university to win something like the MSL because a lot of them are very young. We might get a couple of good players together for a couple of years and then they will graduate.
“We’ve never won the league in our history and we were formed in 1952 so it is a huge deal for us. For the lads not to get the pride of winning it on the pitch is appalling so we feel slightly hollow but there is a real sense of satisfaction that we took it on and won.”
Read the decision in full below:
John Ryan, Avondale’s manager last season, is furious with the ruling and told Red FM this morning that they may consider boycotting the league.
“I’m absolutely disgusted with the decision,” Ryan said. “The arbitration of sport is meant to be for all fairness, it’s for all sports in Ireland. They are taking the league title away from us after we put ten months of hard work and they are just going to strike it off because UCC have appealed.
Why didn’t UCC appeal before the game? They waited until after the result when they beat us and then appealed. It was so contrived and under-handed.
“In the lead-up to this game, we had three games in a week and were crowned champions the week before. I picked my team accordingly and we had five changes from the Intermediate Cup final the week before, then to go out and be beaten in this game and for them to appeal after that is just maddening. I can’t not believe it.
“The first time I heard that UCC were appealing properly was after the game. It was the next day they put in the appeal officially. To hear that they are taking the league title off us in October — how is that fair? I feel now that the last ten months of our work and the lads’ has been struck off.
“We said last season that we had no problem if they got an injunction play us at the end of the season but win it on a football pitch no on a technicality. There is no pride in that.
“I’m not the Avondale manager this season so that would be their decision. Would they boycott the league? I think other clubs would come out in force in favour of Avondale in this as I know Avondale would support other clubs and maybe put a ban on the league.”
The Score contacted the Munster Senior League, who said they won’t be making a comment until a later date.
