Whelan remains quiet on Limerick incident

Neither the IRFU, nor former Irish team manager Pat Whelan, had any response yesterday to allegations by Tom English of the Sunday Times that Whelan allegedly punched him in the toilet of the Brazen Head Sports Bar in Limerick last Sunday week.

Whelan, speaking to this newspaper for the first time since his resignation last Wednesday, revealed he had not read the newspaper in question and asserted: "I'm not going to discuss anything else. I've taken that decision and I'm going to stick by that decision."

English re-asserted his account of the alleged incident on the Pat Ken- ny Show on RTE Radio One yesterday morning, and stated that the matter would be dropped were Whelan to apologise to him.

However, when asked whether he would be apologising or responding in any way to the allegations, Whelan repeated his earlier comment: "I'm not going to discuss anything else."

Asked whether the alleged confrontation and his subsequent resignation were in any way connected, Whelan intimated they were not when he said: "You know me well enough to know that I would never release a statement with anything mischievous in it."

As far as the IRFU are concerned, both the union's public relations firm, as well as the union's secretary and treasurer Philip Browne, maintained that it was a matter for the two people directly concerned, namely Whelan and English.

"The reality is that whatever has been alleged has been alleged by Tom English. I can't say yea or nay to the veracity of those allegations so it's a matter that should be resolved between the two individuals," said Browne.

Browne said the union would not be investigating the allegations made by English "because no complaint has been made to the union. No complaint has been made to the Garda either. If there was a complaint made to the union then the union would investigate that complaint."

Asked whether the union were concerned about the adverse publicity arising from allegations by a journalist that he was struck twice by the then honorary team manager in a pub toilet at 2.15 a.m., Browne responded: "The answer to that is that the union is, of course, anxious about the bad publicity. We regret the publicity. It's not good for us, it's not good for Pat Whelan and it's not good for Tom English."

Were similar allegations made against an Irish player, Browne admitted that the union would investigate the matter "but that's because they are under contract to the union". Whelan, of course, was not under contract per se, and is no longer serving as honorary team manager.

Again, when asked if the union would not feel inclined to investigate the matter on Whelan's behalf so as to clear him of any allegations, Browne said: "It's a matter for the two individuals. In any sporting club in the country people have their disagreements. The union cannot get involved every time there is a disagreement and the union isn't going to get involved in some sort of personal grievance Tom English has with Pat Whelan."

It also appears that the union don't see any need, as things stand, to apologise to English.

The reason Whelan contacted this writer for the first time in a week was to refute any suggestion that he, or his company, were compensated for in his absence due to his commitments as Irish manager.

"I never got one shilling out of the IRFU other than legitimate expenses and I'm currently 12 months behind on that, which is my own fault. I was honorary manager of the Irish team and I never received any remuneration other than legitimate expenses. And I wouldn't want it any other way," said Whelan.

When asked about this, Browne said: "Everyone has expenses. We have 22 members on the committee and we have sub-committees, with various team managements and coaches. If they are bona fide expenses we pay them. But I'm not going to go into individual cases. That's between the individual and the union."

When asked if Whelan or any company with which he is associated was ever compensated for his absence from work by the IRFU, Browne said: "I'm still not going to go into individual cases. The reality is that if any member of the union committee submits bona fide expenses then they are paid bona fide expenses."