Considine: I’m being sabotaged
Posing the question why one Cork player escaped being suspended, he asked if it had been a case of Clare officials accepting the sanctions. “Did they really fight for our lads, or is this a case of the great Frank Murphy again — and I would call him, great, because he is great — standing up for his own, which he has done for year in, year out,’’ he commented.
On the broader front, Considine insisted it was “a fallacy” to suggest that the suspensions (if they are not successfully appealed) would not impact on his team as much because they will be meeting Antrim in the first of their three games in the Round Robin part of the qualifier series.
Indeed, he alleged the decision of the Clare County Board to run off county championship games the weekend after next was tantamount to “sabotage”.
On the process undertaken by the Competitions Control Committee and the Central Hearings Committee, he wondered if they were going to try people by television, why “they don’t try everybody”. “Is it the chosen few? Or is it that certain commentators said this should be going on, or is it basically a Dublin media thing?”
While pointing out that he hadn’t witnessed the melee which preceded the game, he was nevertheless prepared to accept that some action had to be taken by the authorities.
“No one wants anything like that, but it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I don’t think there was a hurley raised in anger in it. What we have seen in the last number of weeks has been a lot worse. If they are going to try people by television, which they did in this case, remember certain commentators brought this to the fore a lot for the last number of weeks.
“I feel sorry for any lads suspended, no matter whether he is Cork or Clare. Obviously I would have more interest in the Clare lads. I have to ask, what is actually happening. Is everybody being tried by television now?
“Brian Cody came out with a great point that there is a lot of pressure on referees. There must be massive pressure on committees as well and the greatest thing is that trial by television is putting it on. If there were 30 players on the field, why were there eight players isolated in the whole thing? Seven players were suspended. Did we fight our case the same as Cork? Why did we get four suspensions and Cork got three? Is it because Cork put up a greater fight than Clare did?”
Considine said he had gone up to watch the Ulster final and came away with the conviction that Antrim have “really improved”, that they are a good team. “This is where the fallacy becomes worse, of course it’s going to impact on me, and impact on me unbelievably. It’s showing complete disrespect to Antrim by people if they say it’s not going to impact on Clare.
“At the moment we have four suspensions, Brendan Bugler is ruled out with a hand injury and we have six or seven players on the injured list. To make the story worse, the county board has decided to put on championship games from June 18 to the 22. I’m training with two hands behind my back and basically what I think the county board is doing to me is sabotage really.
“I have put in a request to the board to call off these matches. They didn’t play any last weekend when I asked them, so we could go ahead without interruption for the qualifiers. This is the only training we’ll have, because we’ll have three games on the trot in the qualifiers.’’
He explained that his predicament was further aggravated by the decision of the board to insist that the players should be with their clubs. He reckons that “the most” he can expect is to have his squad together for two sessions before the Antrim game.
“It was never done in my time in Clare that matches were played like this. And it didn’t happen two years ago when it was threatened with Anthony Daly. He threatened to resign and the decision was reversed.
“It’s ludicrous what’s going on now.’’
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
