Shannon fined €25,000 for abuse of referee

THE REPORTS from the referee and assistant referees following the Shannon versus Cork Constitution AIB League Division One match in Coonagh on December 5th have alleged that the referee, George Clancy, was verbally abused by Ireland and Shannon legend Gerry McLoughlin and Shannon RFC president Martin Clancy.

This in turn led to the IRFU imposing a €25,000 fine and a suspended, six-point deduction on the club, a penalty Shannon are appealing.

According to a report in yesterday’s Limerick Leader, George Clancy, an international referee from Bruff, Co Limerick, alleges in his report he was subjected to a tirade of abuse from McLoughlin, a Labour councillor, who repeatedly accused him of being a cheat at the end of a game Constitution won 9-8 after Clancy awarded a late penalty to the Cork side in front of the posts.

In his report, Clancy said the game was “played in a very good spirit, apart from one incident of foul play which merited a yellow card against Cork Constitution No 19. Cork Constitution were awarded a penalty for offside five meters in front of the posts with the last play of the game and the resulting goal was the winning score.

“As might be expected, Shannon were very disappointed at losing this crucial match. However, as I was walking off the pitch to the changing rooms I was subjected to severe verbal abuse from the Shannon supporters. In particular, Cllr Gerry McLoughlin repeatedly accused me of being a cheat.

“After I entered the referee’s changing room the door burst open as Mr Martin Clancy (Shannon RFC president) tried to gain admittance. He had to be restrained in doing so by my assistant referees, Olly Hodges and Tommy O’Donoghue, and he eventually left, but not before repeatedly saying that I was a f*****g disgrace.

“I must acknowledge that, until this point, I have always been on excellent terms with Shannon RFC and the officers of their club.”

The assistant referee, Tommy O’Donoghue, in his report, states that “as we made our way off the pitch it was quite evident that Gerry McLoughlin was leading an amount of verbal abuse at George Clancy, calling him a cheat, a c*** and a bastard. This gave way to people coming behind Mr McLoughlin and joining in on the verbal abuse.

“We made our way to the referee room and closed the door behind us. As we started to change the door opened and in walked Mr Martin Clancy. He stood there for what seemed like a couple of seconds looking at George Clancy but saying nothing. It was not until other members of Shannon RFC tried to get Mr Clancy out of the room that he stated abusing George verbally. I heard him call George a Bruff bastard, a f*****g disgrace and a no good cheat. This was repeated a number of times as myself and Olly Hodges tried to guide Mr Clancy out the door. This was made more difficult due to the fact that the corridor outside was now full with supporters and players.”

In his report, Hodges described McLoughlin’s abuse of George Clancy as “extremely aggressive and vitriolic”, and noted “I was conscious of numerous other members of the crowd abusing the match officials at the time. About 30 seconds after we reached the referees’ dressing-room, a member of Shannon RFC burst through the door. He then stood quite calmly and I presumed that he had come in to apologise to George for the behaviour at the match officials. He then proceeded to hurl abuse at George, calling him a Bruff w****r, a bastard and a f*****g cheating c*** on numerous occasions.

“As this abuse began myself and Tommy O’Donoghue had to use extreme force to eject this gentleman from the dressing-room and to push him out to the corridor of the dressing-room area while he was still hurling abuse at George. I later learned that this individual was Martin Clancy, president of Shannon RFC. I believe that this is a true and accurate account of the incident that took place.”

On December 17th, an IRFU disciplinary panel comprising Hugh Logan (chair), Philip Orr and Michael Coghlan imposed a fine of €25,000, to be paid to the union’s charitable trust before March 31st. They also imposed a six-point deduction, suspended on condition there was no further finding of misconduct against Shannon prior to the end of May 2011.

The Shannon representatives, solicitor Pat Barriscale and former international and Irish team manager Brian O’Brien, accepted the contents of the reports by the referee and his assistants.

However, it’s worth noting that while Shannon RFC and Martin Clancy were charged with misconduct, McLoughlin was not charged with misconduct, nor was he therefore present at the hearing.

Following the alleged incidents Shannon RFC press officer Andrew McNamara said the club “have not or do not condone any form of abuse of referees”.

He also said the IRFU disciplinary committee had accepted that Martin Clancy’s behaviour was totally out of character. McNamara added that, as the club was lodging an appeal, he didn’t want to comment any further.