St. Anne’s furious at late postponement

December 1992

Players, officials and supporters of the St. Anne’s club have reacted angrily to the late decision to postpone their scheduled Co. Senior Football Final with Duffry Rovers which was to be played in Wexford Park on Sunday last.

The pitch was deemed unplayable by Co. Secre- tary Sean Ormonde and referee Noel Whelan after an inspection shortly before 12 noon, brining an abrupt end to what promised to be memorable day in the history of Rathangan parish.

And the St. Anne’s reaction to the postponement was summed up in a nutshell by club chairman and selector, Noel O’Keeffe, who described it as a ‘ridiculous, shameful decision’.

‘Calling the game off was a complete farce. Every neutral who was in Wexford Park felt that the pitch was playable at around 12.45 p.m. It was an uncaring decision, and no consideration was given to the amount of time and effort put in by both clubs in preparation for this game,’ he said.

‘ This was going to be a big day for the entire parish, and natives of the area had travelled from all over the country to cheer on their team. Everyone was incensed by the decision,’ an irate Mr. O’Keeffe added.

Adding fuel to the St. Anne’s fire is the fact that the club lost about £1,000 as a result of the postponement.

They had flown former underage star Paul Berry home from Pennsylvania, where he is on an athletics championships, for the game, at a cost of some £500. They lost a further £500 as it was too late for them to cancel their scheduled post-match meal. However, they generously turned this to a good thing by donating the food to Wexford Meals on Wheels instead, a gesture which was much appreciated.

Meanwhile, Co. Secretary Sean Ormonde has explained the decision to postpone the match.

He said he received several phone calls on Sunday morning, including from other high-ranking GAA officials, wondering about the state of the pitch. He met Park Secretary Pat Ffrench there at 11 a.m., when it was still raining and when parts of the pitch were waterlogged. He then contacted referee Noel Whelan to ask him to come to the park too. He arrived shortly before 12 noon, and the decision was then taken to postpone the game because of how so much of the pitch was waterlogged, with the goal areas being particularly badly affected.

He accepted that in hindsight, the match could maybe have been played later that day because of how the rain ended and the pitch dried out ‘a bit’. ‘But still, I don’t think that the pitch was in a fit condition for a Co. Senior Final,’ he added.

St. Anne’s, and others, still contend that if the decision had been left to closer to 1 p.m., the game would have gone ahead. Mr Ormonde said however they felt they had to make a decision earlier than that, in order to get the word out. The game had been scheduled to start at 2 p.m., and so leaving a decision to just one hour before that would not have been fair to supporters either.

[ NOTE: The game finally went ahead on Sunday December 20, just five days before Christmas. It ended in victory for Duffry Rovers, as they completed their famous seven-in-a-row of senior titles].