George Wilson Cup
It was with regret that Glentoran Seconds took the decision to withdraw from this year’s George Wilson Cup. This situation has arisen due to the inability for a mutually convenient date to be set for our outstanding group game against Cliftonville Olympic at Solitude.
A postponement of the original fixture was enforced by Cliftonville due to the call up of players to the under 18 NI squad.
Glentoran accepted this understandable move. The club subsequently made the team available on numerous other dates across a three week period. However these dates were rejected with an Under 16 international, the unavailability of Solitude (the Oval was offered as an alternative venue) and the work commitments of a member of the opposition staff cited as reasons for not fulfilling the fixture.
This had the net effect of leaving our players and management team totally frustrated. In particular the cited unavailability of some 15 year old players caused raised eyebrows, as our opponents willingly fulfilled other fixtures during their absence. The date imposed last week was unacceptable to Glentoran as the club needed to place complete focus on Saturdays much more important fixture - the Irish Cup final.
Despite Glentoran's complete flexibility up to this point, a line was crossed with the imposition of last week’s date for the fixture. Coming less than 72 hours before the Irish Cup final, this would have allowed insufficient recovery time for any players involved to have been ready for Saturday. Having not played a fixture since April 13th, the management’s view, made known to the club following consultation with the players, was that the Seconds should withdraw from the competition, rather than subject our players and coaching staff to a continued charade.
The Seconds management did not take the decision lightly as we believe our players deserved the opportunity to defend the trophy they were so proud to win last season. The George Wilson Cup is a trophy viewed with great affection at Glentoran as the Seconds – with 11 victories – has won the trophy more than any other team.