Wanderers supporter defends controversial Facebook post
A Bray Wanderers fan who has called for the resignation of the club’s general manager Martin O’Connor over posts on social media, has himself become embroiled in controversy over a Facebook post.
A picture shared by Terry O’Neill on May 15, shows a man wearing a turban, speaking on his phone, at the Manchester United grounds following a bomb scare. It is accompanied by the words: ‘Just saying.... they have found it Alah’.
Mr O’Neill, a former chairman of the supporters’ club, wrote to this newspaper in the aftermath of two recent Facebook posts by Mr O’Connor – one a ‘joke’ involving the Orlando shootings and the other sharing an image of a monkey apparently depicting a black English football player.
‘I feel this man should not be in a position to represent our club or the Airtricity league,’ wrote Mr O’Neill in that email.
Martin O’Connor removed the posts and apologised.
In recent days, Mr O’Neill has said that his sharing of the image and caption on social media is a different matter.
‘I am not the general manager of a football club under the auspices of the FAI and under the banner of an anti-racism campaign,’ he said.
‘Martin O’Connor is the manager of a League of Ireland football club under the governance of the FAI who have a clear and written policy on racism. He is in a position of influence over young people. I asked for his resignation because I feel his position is untenable. If I was in a similar position and this post went up I would feel myself that my position was untenable. ‘As an individual I do take ownership of the post – I’m not going to deny it,’ said Mr O’Neill.
‘I don’t adhere to racism in any way, shape or form,’ he said. ‘I’m not in any way racist and stand over that 100 per cent.’
Meanwhile, a number of club supporters held a march last Saturday to the Carlisle Grounds, carrying banners calling for the resignation of both general manger Martin O’Connor and his brother, club chairman Denis O’Connor, following last month’s controversy.