UCC win first MSL title in arbitration

The UCC Senior Soccer team has won their first ever Munster Senior League (MSL) Premier Division title, after an arbitration hearing ruled that UCC should receive two extra points from a game played in November 2013.UCC missed out on the title by a point to Avondale United, who were crowned champions, but subsequently appealed that Leeds AFC had fielded an ineligible player against the college during a 1-1 draw.

"They beat us and then they appealed. It was so contrived and underhanded.”

Having had their appeal rejected by the MSL, Munster Football Association and Football Association of Ireland, the parties agreed to binding arbitration which ruled in UCC’s favour. The college was awarded a 3-0 win for the Leeds game, two extra points and, ultimately, the league title.Controversially UCC lodged the appeal after the final game of the season, when they beat a weakened Avondale United 4-1 to close the gap to a point.“I do have massive sympathy for Avondale, this was not of their making, but the bottom line is that we weren’t going to stand for a league that was run without transparency, without honesty and with no integrity,” said the Chairman of UCC Soccer Alumni, Kieran Nestor.“A lot of players have moved on because that’s college football, but our management are delighted because the guys had gone through the season unbeaten, our goal-difference was 26 better than our nearest rival, so we deserve the league for all those reasons.”On the other hand, Avondale United manager for last season John Ryan outlined his disgust with the decision and the actions of UCC when speaking to RedFM.

"We weren’t going to stand for a league that was run without transparency, without honesty and with no integrity."

“I’m absolutely disgusted with the decision made by the Arbitration of Sport. They’re taking the league title away from us that we’ve put ten months of hard work into and they’re going to strike it off because UCC have appealed.“Why didn’t UCC appeal before the game? They waited until after the result, until they beat us and then they appealed. It was so contrived and underhanded.”Avondale’s ire centres around the fact that UCC lodged their appeal a day after a seeming dead-rubber between the sides. The midweek end-of-season game was flanked by big cup games for Avondale, who rested five players.“Avondale did know that we had concerns because we emailed every club in the Munster Senior League in the week prior to the final match of the season,” retorted Nestor. “They received two emails and Avondale officials were at the AGM when we brought up the subject. This was all prior to the last game of the season.“The problem we had was that we had no proof; we had no information, so we had to wait for the final game of the season, where the Munster Senior League declared that Avondale were the champions, and once they declared they were the champions, we then had cause to protest. That was the only way we could do it.”With the league title awarded to UCC, attention has moved on to further examine the action and suggested corruption within the MSL.One bone of contention was the fact that Everton, who were initially the only side to receive points from Leeds’ ineligible player, did not lodge an appeal, while Douglas Hall, College Corinthians and UCC’s questions were ignored.The official judgement agreed that the decision was tough on Avondale, but they should have known that a potential appeal may be launched against the Leeds result, since Everton had successfully won points from Leeds for fielding the same player.“We said last season we’ve no problem if they got an injunction and play us at the end of the season,” added Ryan, “but win it on the football pitch, don’t win it on some technicality; there’s no pride in that.”Money for UCC’s appeal was raised through alumni and will now be fully refunded. Nestor worked alongside Conor Barry, Peter Quigley, Ger O’Sullivan and John MacCarthy on the appeal across the summer.The winners’ medals had originally been presented to Avondale by the MSL, who now face a PR disaster with the season decided in the boardroom.Image by: Marc Moylan