The Mayo county board hope this is the end of it now.
The Mayo ladies management and the 12 players who left the panel have been involved in a back and forth over the last few months.
Throughout it all, the Mayo county board have remained by the management’s side and they stuck to their guns on Wednesday morning with an emphatic 1300 word statement.
1300 words.
EXCLUSIVE: Mayo LGFA release 1300-word statement and say they are seeking further advice https://t.co/raaMgc200A
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 18, 2018
Though it was all heavy stuff, we’ve whittled it down to its most standout points.
1 This can happen in every team
A relevant choice of words to address the first issue.
“The County Board also wish to thank the Mayo Senior Players who remained on the panel for the three remaining Intercounty championship games this year and commend them for their performances under immense emotional pressures and in some cases, intimidation.”
“While cognisant of the feelings expressed to us that evening, we felt strongly that their issues related to management style, decisions an d selections that are normal and commonplace in any team environment.”
2 The players backtracked “to garner headlines”
“We respected the players right to leave the panel and have at all times respected their feelings and concerns by not making them public as we were asked on that occasion by those players.
We are of the opinion, that this was an orchestrated and calculated statement designed to create maximum impact, and garner maximum headlines.”
“We were extremely disappointed having heard the player concerns that they would express them in this manner. The statement, which remains unsubstantiated, led to rumour and innuendo of the vilest nature and Peter Leahy, and indeed his family, endured a torrid few weeks where they received online, telephone and face to face comments of a despicable nature.”
3 Players who left told others to follow them
“After this meeting, we found that remaining players had been contacted and pressurised up to and including two days before the intercounty game with Cavan to try and convince them to leave the panel. We find this behaviour totally unacceptable and unbecoming of anyone who claims to have the interest of Mayo football at heart.
We feel it was a move designed to wrestle control of the senior team from the management and but for the steadfastness of Peter Leahy, the existing Mayo panel and the County Board it would have succeeded.”
4 County board tried their best to solve it quickly
“We are disappointed that they would refer to the mediation as an “Unfair Process”. The mediator in question is one of the most respected mediators in the country and has worked professionally in all areas of mediation be it industrial or the sporting environment….It must be stated that while the players who left have been insinuating that their issues were not investigated, we the County Board Executive feel that we could not have done anything else reasonably expected of us.”
5 County board ‘seeking advice’ on one comment
“We wish to express our disappointment at further statements made in a radio interview, whereby the playing environment under the management was deemed as “unhealthy” and she “didn’t feel it was a safe environment”.
These remarks have led us to release this statement and we are seeking further advice with regard to them. We must stress that at no stage in our meeting with them were these remarks used. They have further exacerbated the situation and are extremely unhelpful going forward.”“These remarks have led us to release this statement and we are seeking further advice with regard to them. We must stress that at no stage in our meeting with them were these remarks used.”
