Cork players react 'furiously'

Members of the Cork hurling and football panels reacted angrily last night to the statement released earlier in the day by the…

Members of the Cork hurling and football panels reacted angrily last night to the statement released earlier in the day by the Cork county board revealing their version of a reconciliation document to the ongoing impasse.

The players said they were shocked by the "spin and misinformation put out by the board" and restated their position that they wished to have manager Teddy Holland and his selector's removed.

"Because of the volume of information now in circulation about the recent talks, we feel we should be clear about our position, which has not changed throughout this process," the players' statement read.

"We desperately want to play for Cork but cannot until: 1) Teddy Holland and his four selectors - Mick O'Loughlin, Diarmuid O'Donovan, Liam Hodnett and Teddy McCarthy - are no longer in office and 2) the recently adopted system of appointment selectors has been satisfactorily dealt with."

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The line regarding Holland directly contradicts what was said in yesterday's statement by the board when it announced: "It is important to note that the players during negotiations were prepared to accept Teddy Holland as coach.

But the players' representatives then indicated that they wanted the four selectors appointed by the board to be removed. The removal of the four selectors was unacceptable to the county board negotiating team."

Today's players' statement went on: "We are furious at the spin and misinformation put out by the board, culminating in yesterday's board statement which said that we would accept Teddy Holland as football manager, which is totally and utterly untrue. There have been a number of attempts to split the players throughout this process, which have failed."

"Our position is and always has been: we are totally united in our opposition to Teddy Holland and his selectors and to the system recently adopted."

Cork players' statement

The following is the full text of a statement released last night by the players

We would first like to thank those people who have supported us recently, particularly those who took to the streets of Cork to support us in atrocious conditions.

Because of the volume of information now in circulation about the recent talks, we feel we should be clear about our position, which has not changed throughout this process: we desperately want to play for Cork but cannot until:

1) Teddy Holland and his four selectors - Mick O'Loughlin, Diarmuid O'Donovan, Liam Hodnett and Teddy McCarthy - are no longer in office and 2) the recently adopted system of appointment selectors has been satisfactorily dealt with.

The systems in place in Cork for the last five years have seen a Cork team in the All-Ireland final every year. The board, whether at delegate or executive level, have decided to fix what clearly wasn't broken. You'd have to ask why.

The board has used the recent negotiations to leak and misrepresent documents and discussions agreed to be confidential to suit their own ends. This has caused confusion and has not helped to resolve anything. We are more than aware of our duty to Cork supporters to resolve this situation and have fully engaged in all talks, whether directly with the board or with the assistance of Mr Mulvey, and latterly, Mr Duffy.

The way the discussions have been treated by the board throughout has been absolutely shocking to us.

We are furious at the spin and misinformation put out by the board, culminating in yesterday's board statement which said that we would accept Teddy Holland as football manager, which is totally and utterly untrue. There have been a number of attempts to split the players throughout this process, which have failed.

Our position is and always has been: we are totally united in our opposition to Teddy Holland and his selectors and to the system recently adopted.