It is somewhat astonishing to read Drumbo’s statement in today’s Daily Mirror. It is a well constructed piece of PR, and for that they should be congratulated. But that is all that it is and anyone wise to the world of PR or politics could see through it a mile off.

Drumbo state they must wait on the guidance from the league, who they hope will acquiesce to their ultimate goal of prolonging the replay, and of course this suits them nicely. It means as they continue playing my team must sit idle, further disadvantaged by the malicious intent of their player who sought to seriously injure my player last Tuesday night.
  

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/red-card-horror-tackle-broken-10169575
This malicious challenge, which is described Drumbo somewhat passively as “reckless and silly”, was in fact precipitated by threats of violence with sectarian undertones. A point that most people wish to forget, it seems. These threats are now in the hands of the PSNI.

  
  
  
  
Of course miraculously, with all the negative attention on Drumbo, up pops graffiti at the ground. This of course is a classic ‘dead-cat’ strategy and one that no doubt many will fall for; but I won’t. It was self-orchestrated in order to deflect from the outrageous actions of Mr McAteer. Of course, according to their self serving lament in the Daily Mirror, they were bitterly disappointed the match couldn’t continue- perhaps they should have told their players who were cock-a-hoop that the match would be abandoned, with the result being our 1-0 lead and man advantage being wiped out.

The match, according to the rules, must be replayed at the earliest possible date. That is this Thursday and that is what we demand. We have agreed and secured a number of neutral venues, we have (finally) got the leagues agreement on these venues and now Drumbo appear to have vanished. They have made all kinds of promises, all of which it appear to be designed to stall and drag out the rescheduling of the game. Our club have been reasonable, far more reasonable than I would have ever advocated us being, and this has been met with honeyed words designed to advance Drumbo’s own ambitions. They have now, it seems, all had their mobiles disconnected; perhaps they have run out of obstacles to prevent the game going ahead on Thursday night.

  
  

Whilst I appreciate the sweet aroma of diplomacy, which of course is designed to cloak Drumbo’s real intention of stalling the replay, it is not something that I find appealing.

If others want to hug and kiss and engage in diplomatic relations that is a matter for them. Me and my team want the match- which was robbed, stolen, thieved from us last week- rescheduled for Thursday night. Rather than flowery words and constructing obstacles, Drumbo would be better served actually making some tangible efforts to atone for the despicable conduct of their club thus far.

I personally have no intention of engaging in the false pretence that our club are not being wronged and that everyone is friends and trying to be honest and helpful. Such foolish naivety is a sure-fire route to getting shafted. We are not naive, we see through Drumbo’s agenda.

The match must go ahead on Thursday night in line with the rules, and if it doesn’t, then the NAFL will need to make a very detailed and public statement on why they have permitted Drumbo to disadvantage my team due to the sectarian actions of a lunatic.

I further want to place on record my solidarity with the good people of Drumbo, many of whom I understand have been victims of anti-social behaviour at the local ground for months. This is unacceptable and everyone should be entitled to live in peace without being victims of the sort of vile anti-social behaviour that some political representatives have advised me has been going on. I encourage the local people to report any incidents of anti-social behaviour to their local elected representatives.