Team Expelled from Leinster Football League over Assault and "Xenophobic Insults"

[Seán Mac Stiofán]

Team expelled from league following pitch assault

Last update - Thursday, March 19, 2009, 19:11 By Viktor Posudnevsky

A Dublin soccer team has been dismissed from a regional league after a member was accused of assaulting a Latvian player.

A spokesperson for the Leinster Football League has confirmed that Landen United were expelled until the end of the season. But the Ballyfermot team disagree with the decision and is expected this week to file an appeal to the Leinster Football Association.
Landen United manager Paul Corcoran told Metro Éireann his team “had nothing to do” with the incident.

Previously, D-Pils – a Leinster Football League team composed of mostly Latvian players – vowed to quit the league if it failed to discipline Landen United, whom the Latvian side accused of unacceptable behaviour.

Ah, the threat.

After a match with Landen on 1 March in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, D-Pils captain Evgeny Baranovsky suffered a serious assault which left him with a badly bleeding lip and nose.
The Latvian captain accused a Landen player of head-butting him, and his team told the Leinster Football League it would drop out unless Landen United was disqualified.
After an investigation of the referee’s match report, the league decided to dismiss Landen United for the remainder of the season.

The incident in Phoenix Park on 1 March has sparked outrage among immigrant players in the league, who have called on officials to stamp out rough play and xenophobic insults that sometimes occur on Irish pitches.

Bless! I wonder what they would think of Gaelic Football? :wink:

Xenophobic insults are apparently routine on Irish pitches according to the foreign players in the Leinster F. League...I wonder how much of that is true or an exaggeration? Officials seem to bend over backwards to please them.

[JCSkinner]

Let the Latvians storm out of the league if they wish.
I'm sure there are pitches in Riga they can play on without having to face those nasty rough Irish.

[Libero]

Let the Latvians storm out of the league if they wish.
I'm sure there are pitches in Riga they can play on without having to face those nasty rough Irish.

We know there are pitches in Latvia.

We also know that these Latvians won't play there, for the same reason as Gaelic games aren't always played on one of Ireland's four green fields.

So tell us: do you have any evidence to show that the league should not have disciplined Landon United as it did? Was the referee's report incorrect? Was the league unduly influenced by the threat of the team withdrawing and associated bad publicity?

Or do you just think it's fair game for foreigners to be assaulted after the final whistle and they should suck it up?

[MacCoise]

Sounds fair enough

[TradCat]

If the people responsible for the league have concluded that the club should be expelled then we have to assume they had good reason. The courts are there if Landen United feel they have been unfairly treated.

[Mazzy Maz]

Gotta say, I find the tone of the opening two posts of this thread pretty offensive and ignorant.

[greasytrucker]

Team expelled from league following pitch assault

Last update - Thursday, March 19, 2009, 19:11 By Viktor Posudnevsky

A Dublin soccer team has been dismissed from a regional league after a member was accused of assaulting a Latvian player.




Ah, the threat.




Bless! I wonder what they would think of Gaelic Football? :wink:

Xenophobic insults are apparently routine on Irish pitches according to the foreign players in the Leinster F. League...I wonder how much of that is true or an exaggeration? Officials seem to bend over backwards to please them.

Funny how you and other republicans have a problem with xenophobic behaviour from Rangers fans but not with your own.

[JCSkinner]

We know there are pitches in Latvia.

We also know that these Latvians won't play there, for the same reason as Gaelic games aren't always played on one of Ireland's four green fields.

What?

So tell us: do you have any evidence to show that the league should not have disciplined Landon United as it did?

Apparently Landon do, which is why they are appealing what is obviously an outrageously over-the-top punishment for a crime that remains unclear.

Was the referee's report incorrect?

I dunno. I doubt you do either, since it goes straight to the FAI and not into the public domain.

Was the league unduly influenced by the threat of the team withdrawing and associated bad publicity?

That seems the most likely event.

Or do you just think it's fair game for foreigners to be assaulted after the final whistle and they should suck it up?

That's not the either/or here, and you know it.
My problems with this story are various:
1. The source is Metro Eireann, not known for its impartiality on matters relating to migrants.
2. The D-Pils team is ENTIRELY made up of non-Irish nationals.
3. D-Pils have also stated that they will refuse to ever play Landon in future, effectively doubling their blackmail threat to the Leinster FA and failing to permit the FA to resolve the matter.
4. I am informed of many incidents in junior soccer where migrant players and teams have played the racism card repeatedly to obtain advantage in games when no racist action occurred.
5. Landon are a historical credit to the Leinster league and do great work in a very deprived area with volunteer staff and minimal resources.
6. I had a small involvement in organising the very first SARI world cup which was held down at the Law Society's sports pitches. I am utterly opposed to racism and am especially opposed to such in sport. But I'm not prepared to accept a situation where a team of chippy migrants who won't have an Irishman on their team play the race card in order to dictate who they will and won't play. You can't run a league like that.

[The_SR]

The Gah lads just can't get their heads around a functioning disciplinary system.

Actions. Consequences. The GAA should look at it.

[BoyInTheHood]

Headbutts galore. If you're not happy playing in the Leinster League, go home and think about it!