A message from the Club Chairman.
Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering support towards our beloved club. I am reaching out to you today to seek your help.
On a number of occasions this season, our club has faced multiple charges from the IFA of breaching its rules regarding spectator conduct. Despite our best efforts to contest some of these charges, we have incurred fines totalling over £9000 since the beginning of the season. The majority of these fines are a result of incidents involving the use of flares, fans entering the playing area and objects being thrown onto the pitch.
Regardless of whether we agree with these penalties, the harsh reality is that our club is being burdened with excessive fines, in our opinion, by the IFA. This money could be far better utilised for the benefit of our club. We are determined to take action by appealing to the IFA to review the frequency and severity of fines imposed on football clubs throughout the league. We hope to garner support from other clubs and from NIFL. In the meantime, we implore all fans to refrain from engaging in activities such as setting off flares, throwing objects onto the pitch, entering the field of play, or displaying any behaviour that jeopardises the safety of fans, players, or staff.
It is imperative that we make it unequivocally clear that we condemn any such behaviour, and will operate a zero-tolerance approach to anyone who behaves in a manner that endangers the well-being of fans, players, or staff. In light of this, I must also inform you that the fan responsible for throwing an object at Larne player Andrew Ryan during the County Antrim Shield Final has been indefinitely banned from The Oval. Going forward the club will consider taking steps to recoup the cost of any future fines from those whose actions are proven to have led to the club being fined.
With the new functioning Executive now in place, we will shortly be engaging with our support to provide you with updates on the strategic plans of the club. However in the meantime, I would like to once again extend my heartfelt appreciation for your support and urge you to ensure that the football authorities not burden us with further costly fines.
Let’s get behind the team through to the end of the season.
Colin