Dublin hurlers vow not to fulfil fixtures as crisis deepens

THE Dublin hurling crisis deepened yesterday with the players insisting they won’t fulfil any fixtures under county chairman John Bailey and an interim management team.

The players also repeated a claim, denied by Bailey, they were intimidated on Thursday night because of their stance.

Thirty one squad members met on Friday to discuss concerns following the sacking of manager Humphrey Kelleher by the Dublin management committee.

Yesterday, the Dublin hurlers issued a statement through the Gaelic Players Association, vowing: “Under no circumstances will we fulfil any fixture with the proposed ‘interim’ management team as presented to us last Thursday night in Parnell Park, which included John Bailey at the helm.

“The players have taken serious issue with the threat implied or otherwise that Dublin hurlers who did not accept this “interim” management team would be forbidden from playing with Dublin in the future.

“Although these claims were categorically denied by the John Bailey on local radio on Friday evening, we wish to re-emphasise that this intimidation of players did occur last Thursday night in Parnell Park.”

They have called for immediate action.

“As players, we feel very strongly that no player should now or at any stage in the future be subjected to such abuse by a member of the County Board or management team. We ask that this issue be addressed in the appropriate forum.

“The players will draft a letter, which we request to be read out at a full meeting of the Dublin County Board this week, outlining, in detail, the events of the past week and our current position on the matter.

“We ask the County Board to seek out and put in place a satisfactory management team, as an interim measure, before making a full-time appointment. Meanwhile, the squad will continue to train collectively in preparation for our vital upcoming championship matches.

“We feel it is now time to “wipe the slate clean” and request that the incoming management have no restrictions placed upon them by the County Board regarding which players can or cannot be selected for Dublin. We do not consider these demands to be excessive. Our hope is that this matter can be resolved as quickly as possible...”