Soccer: The legal battle between the Football Association and Ireland (FAI) and Limerick FC has entered mediation after both parties informed the High Court.
The legal wrangle emerged last May when the FAI refused the League of Ireland club permission to stage a potentially lucrative friendly with Spanish Giants Barcelona at Thomond Park in July.
“The Football Association of Ireland today confirmed to the High Court that it and Limerick FC have agreed to enter mediation,” said today’s brief statement from the FAI.
“The FAI regrets that money spent on this course of action will be lost to the sport. What is decided during the mediation process with Limerick FC could have broader ramifications for the funding and development of football at all levels.”
Limerick owner and chairman Pat O’Sullivan said he wants the situation “sorted out as quickly as possible".
At the time the League of Ireland made their decision based on "third party commercial agreements" which "prevented" the organisation from allowing the game to go ahead. The FAI said they couldn’t grant such a friendly because of the long term deals they have in place with third party TV and sporting rights companies involved in summer tournaments at the Aviva Stadium.
Limerick are also not satisfied with the FAI's stance of not allowing friendly games to be played at venues with a 15,000 capacity or more.
The club had hoped to turn a profit in the region €100,000 from the Barcelona game and had budgeted for such an amount in their licence application at the start of that season.
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