DUNDALK FIND THEMSELVES in a difficult situation this week after UEFA opted to fine the club for an incident which saw a Palestine flag appear at Oriel Park during their Europa League tie with Hajduk Split last month.
According to Dundalk, who yesterday released a follow-up statement to ask supporters to allow them to deal with the issue in the correct manner, the flag was taken down when UEFA officials asked them to do so prior to kick-off before it reappeared during the game.
If UEFA requested it and threatened to call off the fixture then they should be doing everything in their power to get it down — and it sounds like they did just that. The supporters obliged but it seems the flag came back out again in the second half.
If the club are being seen to stop it then I don’t necessarily agree with extremity of an €18,000 punishment. Had UEFA approached Dundalk and they shrugged their shoulders and did nothing about it, then it merits such a fine. But it looks to me that the club did everything they could.
I do think some sort of punishment is merited because you can’t let it go. Supporters can’t just turn up at a game and do what they want. There has to be certain rules.
The conflict in Gaza is a highly sensitive issue and the idea is that sport should remain impartial. So I do think that a warning or a much smaller fine might have been deserved but one of that size is harsh.
If you look at €18k in comparison Dundalk’s annual budget or the prize money a team in SSE Airtricity League gets for winning the title, it’s a crazy sum of money.
I was unfortunate enough to play in a game against Steau Bucharest where a team-mate was racially abused by a large part of the game by supporters. It was disgusting.
That’s an extremely offensive action, not just for players but everybody present, and they were rightly punished for it.
I’ve been at games before where supporters would roar vile abuse at particular players and I would certainly be all for having people like them banned for lengthy periods. However, this was a small section expressing their political view and making a mistake by doing so at a football stadium.
It is very hard to get away from the situation in Gaza and we see it every single day so it’s difficult for people to stand by and watch what’s going on.
It’s a harsh lesson they are going to learn and please God it doesn’t detract from their football. The club will have to manage it as best they can so it doesn’t become a really distracting issue which the players get caught up with.
I wouldn’t imagine it will and I’d nearly just accept the fine and move on. Back in 2006 when we won the league with Shelbourne, there was an awful lot of stuff going on off the field and it didn’t help at all.
So the more it’s dealt with in the background and away from the players, the better.
The fine is huge for them and I don’t understand why Ajax aren’t fined for having the Israeli flag at their matches. How come they aren’t punished?
UEFA fined Dundalk €18.000 because their fans flew a flag of a country, they fined Athletico Madrid €10.000 for racially abusing Man City players.
Tell me….which was the biggest crime?
A country recognised by UEFA’s equivalent in Asia also. Shocking from UEFA on many many levels!
Stuart go home your a drunken fool
I think it’s a disgrace and reflects UEFA’s contempt to real world problems but also the greed encrypted in that organisation in what is a heavy fine for a small club. Wouldn’t surprise me if UEFA award Israel as a joint host venue for the Euros in future knowing their stupidity.
Just tell UEFA that the white and black represents Dundalk, the red Louth and the Green Ireland.
“Supporters can’t just turn up at a game and do what they want” – there speaks another ex-player, like Sadlier, who’ve lived their lives cocooned from reality. We paid your wages. We pay for UEFA officials who think they’re gods. You’ve stolen the game from us but if you get rid of us you’re left with nothing but you and your corporate sponsors. I’ll listen to ex-pros about football but they know the sweet sum of feck all about anything else. Shut up muppet.
I actually agree with UEFA in that this flag shouldn’t have been flown. It is in their rules that sport should be divorced from politics. In this light, UEFA were right. Where they are wrong, however, is in the fact that they fail to punish clubs for flying the Israeli flag (such as Ajax), the Irish flag (such as Celtic), Nazi variant flags (in various clubs throughout Eastern Europe in particular, though I know Spartak were fined), etc. The flying of British flags by Rangers is slightly different because, technically, they are only flying their own national flag. Similarly with Atletico Bilbao flying the ikurrina or Barcelona flying the Senyera or the Estelada as the ikurrina and the Senyera are flags of those clubs’ respective autonomous provinces while the Estelada can be viewed as entirely cultural. But, as usual, UEFA completely lacks in consistency and seems to revel in hypocrisy.
That’s the issue Brian. Why fine Dundalk when others are blatantly doing it for years, and very heavily for their budget. It’s crazy.
I agree, VF. Maybe it didn’t come across that way in my post. Basically, what I am saying is that if it’s one rule regarding Dundalk FC, then it should be the same rule applied to all clubs. If you can’t fly the Palestinian flag, then you shouldn’t be able to fly other political flags. And, compared to punishments inflicted on other clubs for even worse offenses, this punishment does seem very harsh!
Stuart did you ever hear of the constitutional right to Freedom of expression? No! We’ll stick to commenting on football then. Dundalk fans perfectly entitled to fly any lawful flag they like. By the way, have you checked with UEFA about whether this fine actually exists and what it’s for? No?? Paper, on in this case the net ‘never refused ink’!
Come on stuey tell us,are you still angry??
This is nonsense and harsh censorship. Sport reaches out to millions and can send a clear and important message that war crimes upon Palestinian people should not be supported. I don’t understand how people can believe in impartiality in such criminal instances.
Good balanced point of view SB.
How is it balanced?
All he said was UEFA were right to fine Dundalk then talked about him playing a game where something happened.