Bohemian FC and St Kevin’s Boys FC feel we have no option but to respond to accusations levelled at us on social media in recent days with regard to the U17 Mark Farren Cup semi-final forfeited by Bray Wanderers-St Joseph’s Boys FC.
There appears to be a concerted effort by some to offer a narrative, which has quickly gained traction, that we feel is lopsided and at times disingenuous in relation to why this tie did not proceed.
Before countering some of the points made, we wish to put on record our regard for those involved with both Bray Wanderers and St Joseph’s Boys.
Only last season, Bray Wanderers looked to be staring into the abyss and unlikely to survive as a League of Ireland club.
Niall O’Driscoll and St Joseph’s rescuing of a proud club is one of the all-too-rare number of good news stories in our league of late and those efforts deserve more credit than they have received to date.
Like Bohs’ link-up with St Kevin’s, both Bray Wanderers and St Joseph’s have tried to make the most of the at times challenging new departure of schoolboy clubs linking up with League of Ireland clubs to forge partnerships to enable a pathway between youth and senior football.
The Bohs first team twice travelled to the Carlisle Grounds last season. In May, the club seemed to be on life support. When we met again in October, the contrast could not be overstated. It had quickly returned to its original community-orientated ethos and we were welcomed with warmth.
Bray Wanderers have clearly been reinvigorated under the stewardship of Niall and the partnership with St Joseph’s – two clubs close to the heart of our first team manager Keith Long, who cut his coaching cloth at both.
With that regard in mind, the tone of some of the comments emanating from some at both clubs in recent days has been a source of disappointment.
The timeline below will be tedious to most but given how we feel the integrity of those involved in the Bohs-SKB U17 set-up have been impugned by some of the online commentary, we feel it necessary.
Jimmy Mowlds, our manager at U17 level, is one of our most dedicated and honest servants. He has been a constant understated force behind the scenes in the success stories of underage players making it through from the Bohs-SKB underage teams right through to our first team over the past number of years.
His contribution to development of both talent and character is something he does not get enough credit for. We are not prepared to have his reputation and that of his backroom team and set-up tarnished.
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Wednesday August 14: Bohs-SKB U17s lost to St Patrick’s Athletic in quarter-finals of Mark Farren Cup. It later transpired St Pat’s had fielded a suspended player and the result was overturned. Bohs-SKB were on the wrong side of a similar instance last season at U15 level when we won on the field against Shamrock Rovers but had the result overturned for the same reason. It is always hard to take and we fully empathise with St Pat’s.
Tuesday August 20: Bohs-SKB U17 manager Jimmy Mowlds received a call from a representative of Bray-SJB trying to arrange the semi-final fixture. Their suggestion was August 27 as Carlisle Grounds was available then. Bohs-SKB did not feel it appropriate to arrange a date until FAI disciplinary committee had made a final decision on whether St Pat’s or Bohs-SKB would compete in semi-final.
Thursday August 22: FAI indicated fixture should not be played on Tuesday 27 as Pat’s could yet appeal disciplinary decision.
Friday August 23: FAI indicated St Pat’s were not appealing and to go ahead and plan for Tuesday 27. Despite Bohs U19s having a semi-final that night, which impacted on player availability for U17s, a Bohs coach being off sick, another being unavailable due to work commitments, we agreed to proceed on August 27.
The alternative offered was Wednesday September 4 when we would have at least four players away with the Ireland U17s in Spain and another on standby.
Monday August 26: A Bray-SJB representative made contact to say they could not put a team together to play our fixture the next day. If this was the case, why would they allow players from their squad to go to the UK for trials when they knew they had a semi-final? No answer to that has been forthcoming. At 6.45pm the FAI confirmed Bray-SJB had no team to play the next day.
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We sought clarification: What did it mean for fixture? We were obliging in agreeing to the original date in the first place. And, given it had been three days since Bray-SJB’s last fixture, why was notice regarding their inability to fulfil tie so late?
We were told that if we agree to a refix then we would have to play it three days before the then scheduled date for the final at the end of the month and on the day our four players away on international duty returned home.
We questioned why it was down to us to make the decision rather than the league.
We believe we were put in a position we shouldn’t have been. We had agreed to the date they had insisted on and it wasn’t our responsibility to resolve an impasse that was entirely of their making.
If we were to agree to another proposed refixture date, it would have been when six members of our U17s were away with the Bohs U19s in the Uefa Youth League as well as occurring during the week of the play-off section of the league. We would be in as bad – if not worse – position as Bray-SJB were for the date they reneged on.
Bray-SJB asked us to play on a date that was entirely inconvenient for many of our coaches and players. We went to considerable trouble to arrange transport/lifts for players coming from Dundalk, Portlaoise, Longford, Navan and Kildare to get them to Bray for 6:15pm on a Tuesday evening for this game. All of which was for nothing.
Since last week, members of Bray-SJB management took to twitter to slate Bohs-SKB for not allowing them to reschedule the game, ignoring any of the issues mentioned above.
They even set up a survey asking other coaches/clubs what they would do in our position again without giving the full facts of what actually happened.
Why would Bray-SJB insist on a date that they couldn’t fulfil given they have been suffering injuries over a number of weeks unless it was to gain an advantage over us with our U19s playing on the same night? (There has been an average crossover of 4-5 players between our U17s and U19s in recent months.)
Why would you allow players attend UK trials on the same week you fix a semi-final?
Why were the U19 and U17 semi-finals fixed for the same time and date? This shouldn’t happen again and shouldn’t be the call of clubs.
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It is always our objective that results are decided on the pitch. We empathise with St Pat’s for the sanctions imposed on them having their quarter-final result overturned.
The semi-final not being contested is regrettable but we feel we have acted appropriately in our efforts to accommodate it.
While this episode has left both parties frustrated, Bohemians and St Kevin’s hope to draw a line under it and look forward to maintaining our good relationship with both Bray Wanderers and St Joseph’s.
Both clubs will always be welcome visitors to Dalymount Park and Shanowen Rd/St Aidan’s.
