Utter Farce!

The I.F.A. is trying once more to pull the 'wool over our eyes', by ludicrously suggesting that Linfield and Glentoran will not be allowed to play each other on a Public holiday again. They've also been fined the ridiculously low sum of £1,000 each, in other words chicken feed to either of these two clubs. The two clubs are of course going to appeal against these terrible sanctions and we all know what the outcome will be. The fine will be reduced to £500 each and the football ban will be lifted. This is after all just a 'paper' exercise, the I.F.A. (who are to all intents and purposes Linfield anyway), are just trying to look like the mighty overlords that they should be. Last season Linfield manager David 'the fat controller' Jeffreys, falsely accused Ballymena fans of chanting sectarian abuse at his players, which of course was complete lies. The I.F.A. promised a full inquiry and said that Jeffrey would be made to issue a public apology, we, Ballymena United, are still waiting for that apology, as the gutless I.F.A. didn't enforce the issue. Glentoran reportedly are threatening a breakaway league if the punishment isn't lifted, yet another daft idea. Do these people live in a dream world? Our game is dying before our very eyes, one only has to look at the 'paltry' crowd of fans that 3rd placed Crusaders brought to Ballymena for last week's cup game, to realise the apathy that exists within the local game. Fans are just not turning up in the same numbers for average games, yeah you still get a decent crowd for the big matches, but on average I'd say crowds are down over the last 5 years by 15% and that my friends is a trend that looks likely to continue. Never mind a breakaway league, we'll be lucky in ten years to have any league!