Soccer: After seeing his appeal against being found guilty of 'disparaging comments' towards the FAI rejected, Monaghan United manager Roddy Collins is set to take High Court proceedings against the association.
A statement issued by his legal advisers today claims the Dubliner is “reluctantly” pursuing the case but feels he has been denied his “constitutional rights” to free speech.
The FAI disciplinary committee found remarks made by Collins on RTE Radio's Saturday Sportprogramme on July 16th this year, breached association rule 94, on 'disparaging comments'. It imposed a €1,000 fine to be donated to the players' education trust fund or a six-match suspension if that was not paid.
Though his appeal was rejected the sanction was reviewed down to a €500 fine, while a statement that followed on Monday insisted the FAI’s action was not an “attack on freedom of expression”, but “simply a sports disciplinary hearing” in response to Collins’s “comments in relation to the disclosure of FAI accounts”.
It added: “The FAI discloses its annual accounts to its members in compliance with FAI rules and Irish company law and these are publicly available from the companies’ registration office.”
Collins, who participated in the lenghty FAI hearings "under protest", claims the issues covered in the discussion “were already widely in the public domain” and “fair comment”. The FAI, he says, were afforded a right to reply by RTE but declined.
He also claims Monday’s publication of the sanction imposed was in itself a breach of the appeal committee’s recommendations which stated “all disclosures in relation to the hearing are confidential and the hearing itself is private.”
His decision to go to court effectively bypasses the FAI’s “arbitration” option made available to him when the appeal ruling was made public. That process is binding, however, and though he could still appeal it’s ruling in the Court of Arbitration for Sport it might hinder his attempts to pursue the action in Irish courts.
