The threatened St Patrick’s Athletic players’ strike has forced a resolution, with the club’s Europa League game to go ahead tonight following the intervention of the FAI.
The game was thrown into disarray when the players released a statement just before noon in which they declared that they were in unanimous agreement that they would not fulfil the fixture over the non-payment of European bonuses.
The situation threatened the very future of the St Patrick’s Athletic club, with the forfeiture of €270,000 of prize money for this year’s Europa League campaign, the bill for the travelling costs of their opponents, Ukrainian side Karpaty Lviv and a four-year European ban all set to have been handed to the Inchicore club.
However, after rapidfire mediation from the FAI, it seems that an agreement has now been reached.
Stuart Gilhooly, the President of the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association and a legal representative of the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland, announced the resolution via his Twitter account shortly before 2pm today.
“Deal done,” he wrote. “Match goes ahead. Club finally shows common sense and respect at eleventh hour. Pity it had to come to this.”
The game kicks off at Tallaght Stadium at 7.45pm.
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