Gillespie, McCartney fined for plane incident

Northern Ireland duo Keith Gillespie and George McCartney have been fined by the IFA following an incident on last week’s return flight from Iceland.

The governing body have also made it clear that “such behaviour would not be tolerated in future”.

A fight broke out between Sheffield United winger Gillespie and West Ham defender McCartney in front of shocked passengers as the Icelandair flight was about to depart Reyjkavik for London Heathrow.

Gillespie later apologised for his part in the incident which occurred in the wake of Northern Ireland’s 2-1 defeat by Iceland. Their winner in the last minute came from his own goal.

In a statement the IFA said: “Issues surrounding the incidents which occurred involving certain players within the Northern Ireland squad during the trip to Iceland have now been addressed and resolved.

“The IFA wishes to apologise to any members of the public who were affected in any way by the behaviour of these players.”

IFA president Raymond Kennedy added: “The IFA has been shown up in a poor light as a result of behaviour, which of course is unacceptable.

“While the public apology from Keith Gillespie goes some way towards a recognition of that, the players concerned have been told quite categorically that such behaviour has caused unnecessary embarrassment to the IFA in the eyes of the football world and the public as a whole and will not be tolerated in future.”

The money from the fines will be allocated to a charity of the IFA’s choice.