In a letter sent to clubs, the Antrim footballers have been highly critical of their own county board.
The dispute stems from Antrim's Divison 3 game against Armagh last month, which Armagh won by two points. The GAA asked that an Antrim player, who was involved in an off-the-ball incident which was caught on camera, be identified
The county management team and two members of the county board looked at the images supplied and agreed that the player could not be identified with 100 per cent certainty.
According to The Irish News, who obtained the letter, the county board subsequently verbally identified the player as Matthew Fitzpatrick.
After Fitzpatrick had a one-game suspension overturned on appeal, the county board identified the player in writing and he was again suspended.
That suspension would rule the forward out of Antrim's Ulster Championship quarter-final against Donegal on May 21st.
The identification of the player without consulting management has angered the players.
We, the Antrim senior county footballers, are writing to you as a collective to voice our anger and extreme frustration at the recent decision taken by members of our county board.
This decision identified a member of our team for an alleged incident that occurred against Armagh on March 25, 2017.
Croke Park officials issued an image of the alleged incident and requested the player to be named.
County management and two members of the county board reviewed the image and it was agreed that the player could not be identified with total certainty.
Subsequently, the player was then identified, without consulting county management. This resulted in a suspension which was later successfully appealed. It was only after the county board identified this player a second time that a second suspension was issued.
As a result, the player in question could potentially miss the biggest game of the year against Donegal in the Ulster Championship.
According to the letter, which was signed by 35 players, this would not happen in another county.
We find it unacceptable that not only was this player suspended as a result of information provided by our own county board but that there was no county representative available to accompany him for his appeal," the statement continued.
We do not believe this course of action would occur in any other county.
Unfortunately, as a team, we cannot stand by and allow this mistreatment of our team-mate.
We feel we need to make our concerns clear to our county board that we find it completely unacceptable that any player who dedicated months of hard work and sacrificed many parts of his life to represent his county should be treated in this way and let down by representatives who are purportedly in a position of support.
This decision will be contested again and we would expect full support from our county board in this matter. Faithfully, Antrim senior football team.
Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile
