The recent opening weekend of the League of Ireland First Division season saw a rather embarrassing start after the fixture scheduled for United Park between Drogheda United and Finn Harps was postponed due to the quality of the floodlights.
Match referee John McLaughlin was unhappy with the lights on display and informed both teams that the fixture would not be fulfilled.
📣 The @SSEAirtricityLg First Division Match between @DroghedaUnited and @FinnHarpsFC has been postponed.
The game at United Park was postponed after the referee judged the lighting to be unsatisfactory.
A new date for the fixture will be announced in due course. pic.twitter.com/nfSTfwHZ4M— SSE Airtricity League (@SSEAirtricityLg) February 23, 2018
Speaking on tonight's Soccer Republic, Richie Sadlier highlighted situations like this as damaging to the league's brand.
There is a perception going for quite a while for reasons like this, because of incidents like this, that it is amateur hour non-stop in the league, and it's things like this. Last year it was the North Korea nonsense in Bray it is certain things that grab the headlines which are very difficult to defend.
Drogheda boss Tim Clancy and Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan were also angered at the decision.
"We're thinking of going to Mother Hughes's for a pint anyway... that might be the only way to solve this problem" pic.twitter.com/StTb9Z9nkK
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) February 26, 2018
