This one is far from over.
Antrim’s star forward Matthew Fitzpatrick is free to line-out in the Saffron full-forward line against Donegal on Sunday, after his 48-week ban for giving “deliberately false evidence and deliberately [misleading]” the Central Hearing Committee was thrown out Wednesday.
According to Joe Brolly, speaking to RTE Radio on Saturday, the tables may now be turned, with the trainee teacher and his family considering taking libel action against the GAA.
Brolly represented Fitzpatrick at the Central Appeals Committee (CAC), where the barrister successfully had the 48-week ban overturned. His subsequent tweets suggested it was not a complicated legal argument.
I can reveal that the case v Matt Fitzpatrick was thrown out on the well known legal basis that it was complete bollocks.
— Joe Brolly (@JoeBrolly1993) May 18, 2017
Brolly derided the GAA’s disciplinary systems, describing them as “aggressive”, before calling on the CHC members involved in Fitzpatrick’s case to resign.
He also revealed that the Antrim star and his family are contemplating taking a libel case against the GAA.
“Matt Fitzpatrick wants to be a school teacher. He was in the front page of ever newspaper as having been banned for a year for perjury, the GAA’s equivalent of perjury, deliberately lying to a tribunal.
“You can imagine the huge distress he’s suffered as a result of that. His family are seeking legal advice in relation to libel proceedings because what happens at the Central Hearings Committee is not privileged in law. It’s not like the court. Really they’re conduct has been a disgrace.
“The members of the CHC who were involved in that ought to resign. There’s been huge damage done to Matt Fitzpatrick’s reputation.”
