Shels supremo wants Hoops kicked out of league

Shelbourne want Shamrock Rovers thrown out of the eircom League after a number of Rovers' fans were involved in crowd trouble before Saturday’s Setanta Cup final.

While the game itself passed off without incident, there was some trouble outside the ground with gardaí making four arrests with a group wearing Shamrock Rovers and Celtic jerseys clashing with Linfield supporters.

Shelbourne secretary Ollie Byrne witnessed the fracas and insists he will appeal against the FAI Club Licensing Committee’s decision to deduct eight points from Rovers for filing the wrong accounts and will instead push for them to be kicked out of football for misbehaving fans.

“We all lose our heads in a moment of passion in sport, but you don’t come with a pre-meditated attitude to do some damage to people and that’s what happened. The clubs know the individuals involved and it’s about time it was stopped,” said Byrne.

“The Licensing Committee did not have the authority to deduct points and to take the Licence off them and then say they can stay in football. You can take the Licence but they can’t deduct the points. I already informed the FAI and Rovers and I felt the way it was done is wrong.”