FFS, what a shower of fucking idiots.
Limerick: FAI refuse to sanction Barcelona friendly
Thursday, 13 May 2010 19:34
Limerick FC have confirmed they have provisionally agreed to play Barcelona in Thomand Park this summer, but the club claim that FAI and Airtricty League are refusing to sanction the match as it will clash with league matches.
The Jackman Park club have stated that the Catalan giant have guaranteed to include stars such as Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Xavi and Bojan for a friendly on 31 July.
But, according to Limerick, the governing body of the league Fran Gavin will not sanction the match because two League of Ireland fixtures take place that night, neither of which involve Limerick.
Limerick FC chairman Pat OāSullivan believe it is āimperativeā that the decision is reveresd.
'This is a massive setback for Limerick FC, Limerick City and the mid-west region.
'We along with Thomond Park and local tourism bodies have worked tirelessly to bring a team of the stature of FC Barcelona to the sports mad mid-west region.
'The potential benefit to the local economy of up to ā¬10million and to the profile of soccer in the region is enormous.
āThis makes it imperative that the Airtricity League Director reverse his decision, sanction this match and allow fans all over the region see the likes of Lionel Messi grace Thomond Park in July.ā
The Fai wanted Barca to get out alive to be fair. Good call.
If this is true itās madness, I canāt see Messi and his ilk playing in the game so soon after the W/C though, they will probably be given a few weeks extra rest.
Zlatan could play, heāll be nicely rested after his quiet end of season and summer holidays.
I heard Limerick were originally interested in buying Zlatan and requested a friendly to see him in person but due to his even worse form of late decided to scrap the idea.No room for passengers on the first division side! 
Iām sure the foot in mouth brigade in Limerick will get the campaign rolling on this one, led by arch twit Mayor Kevin āforeigners outā Kiely.
One of the boys in work is a season ticket holder and he was telling me all the season ticket holders got a letter saying they had to purchase tickets to the Algeria and Para games. There is 27,000 season ticket holders, the RDS holds 18,000
This is all very petty out of the FAI, last year they took the Real Madrid game from Limerick and gave it to Rovers and now they are pulling the same stunt again this year. If this was Bohs or Pats that secured this friendly there would be no problem with it. The FAI themselves have arragned a friendly V Man United in the avviva for the following week, right in the middle of the European fixtures, typical shit from them.
The FAI responded last night and cited league fixtures already scheduled for that night and competing interests/contracts as the reason for blocking the game. Basically they donāt want that Platinum One crowd that promoted the Shamrock Rovers/Real Madrid game last summer cashing in.
I was led to believe by SRFC supporters that the Madrid game was an overwhelming success for Shamrock Rovers?
As far as I know it was. The FAI want to be in control of dividing out the cash and of course taking their own cut rather than Platinum One. They mentioned their own ongoing efforts to bring Barca to the new Landsdowne.
There is serious bad blood between Drury and the FAI and Limerick have been caught in the middle. The Real Madrid game had been pretty much signed and sealed for Limerick last summer before the FAI intervened and said it was Tallaght or nowhere.
It will be interesting to see what the unnamed pre-existing arrangements are.
Would it be possible that it might be with the IRFU ?
The first rugby game in the Aviva is that day.
they organise a friendly to play manchester mid season though - they are acting the cunts here
in fairness-the people of limerick are all cunts
:o
Dunph will be devastated to read this.
I agree on the Manchester United point, NCC. It was all set for Ireland-Argentina to open the new stadium, which would have been very appropriate (as opposed to the exhibition rugby football shambles) and then they announced this. I imagine they thought having them play against a league XI added an important Irish flavour to it but itās effectively inviting a foreign franchise to open the stadium given thereās important domestic league fixtures, including Bohs-Rovers, and a round of European games scheduled around the period of this fixture. Theyād have you believe itās an opportunity to showcase the domestic league but, with clubs possibly refusing to release players, itās more about the FAI and Manchester United splitting the profits from the game, in my opinion.
[quote=ānorth county corncrake, post: 468066ā]
in fairness-the people of limerick are all cunts
[/quote] 
