SF wants RUC match scrapped

Relatives of people who have been killed by the security forces in the North believe a west Belfast football club will cancel…

Relatives of people who have been killed by the security forces in the North believe a west Belfast football club will cancel a match against the RUC.

Donegal Celtic has been drawn against the RUC in the semi-finals of the Steel and Sons Cup for junior sides on Saturday week. Players and officials at the club were keen to play the match.

However, last week leading Sinn Fein figures urged the club to withdraw. The party's assembly member, Ms Bairbre de Brun, accused the club of acting insensitively towards those whose loved ones had been "tortured, killed and maimed by the RUC".

The Donegal Celtic committee then met Relatives for Justice, a pressure group comprising those whose family members have been killed by the security forces. After the meeting the relatives' spokesman, Mr Mark Thompson, said playing the RUC "was not appropriate for a football team from a nationalist area where people had suffered RUC violence.

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"After meeting the committee, the relatives' group is now confident that the club is taking the correct approach and will make the right decisions," he said.

Last night no committee member was available for comment. Its decision is expected today.