| Under the weather  By
Graham Clifford
At last, London football hit the headlines in a big way last week. Dessie
Dolan’s Leitrim players were greeted at Dublin Airport by a waiting
RTÉ news crew. Earlier that day their National League fixture with
the Exiles had been called off due to a waterlogged pitch at Ruislip and
the Leitrim County Board secretary was not a happy man.
Gerry McGovern told the waiting media: “We are very annoyed with the
way we were treated. No one from the London County Board came to apologise
or state the circumstances. They just accepted that the pitch was unplayable
and moved on. The least we should have got was an apology.”
When contacted by The Irish Post this week McGovern was in less critical
mood. He said: “A lot of things that were said were blown out of all
proportion. What happened at Ruislip was a result of poor weather. We have
to accept that, after all the GAA is a democratic association. We will now
wait and see what Croke Park decides in relation to the replayed game and
again accept whatever decision is reached. If we have to play in London
again so be it.”
The Irish Post understands that McGovern who was in London last weekend
met with the County chairman Tommy Harrell to apologise if his comments
in the immediate aftermath of the cancellation had caused any offence to
members of the London County Board.
The chairman did admit though that Leitrim County Board would be out of
pocket to the tune of approximately £5,000 after their futile trip
across the Irish Sea. This even after the cost of travel and accommodation
is subsidised by the GAA via the Connacht Provincial Council.
There were serious doubts on Saturday that the pitch at Ruislip would be
playable on the following day but Leitrim were not advised to stay put.
After a pitch inspection at 12.15pm on the Sunday by Dublin match referee
Brian O’Shea it was decided the game would be called off.
It was the second time in three months that a high-profile fixture has been
abandoned due to the state of the pitch.
Last November the Intermediate club championship clash between Robert Emmets
and Ardclough of Kildare also fell foul of the conditions.
London County Board chairman Tommy Harrell refused to react to the comments
of his Leitrim counterpart and stressed he didn’t want a trial by
media in regard to the episode.
He said: “We genuinely thought that the pitch was playable but the
referee felt otherwise.
“We are in the process of formulating our response and will be writing
to Croke Park this week explaining our point of view. We will send our letter
to Croke Park and we will abide by their decision thereafter.”
A decision on when and where the fixture will be played will be reached
this week but if London have to play the game in Leitrim it will be forced
to juggle finances for a trip which wasn’t budgeted for by the County
Board.
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