‘Legal eagles’ keep Ballymena United’s Irish Cup dream alive

AS ‘results’ go, it certainly eclipses anything seen ON the pitch since Paul Hardy famously backheeled the winning goal in the 1989 Irish Cup final!

It had seemed that Ballymena’s dream had faltered amid a breach of the rules surrounding the eligibility of midfielder Alan Davidson, who had scored the winning goal in the quarter-final win over Newry City last Saturday.

Over the weekend, it emerged that under the rules of the IFA’s Challenge Cup Committee, it appeared that Davidson - who had signed for the club as a free agent in February, after the transfer window had closed - had breached competition rules which stated that “any players registered after 31 January...will not be eligible for the competition in that season”.

It had seemed United were destined for expulsion from the competition, leading to an outpouring of anger and disappointment from Ballymena fans, so desperate for a sniff of success after 23 years without winning a major trophy.

Newry, as expected, lodged a protest and it seemed a cut-and-dried decision.

Ballymena United - who have received a fairly severe, and in many cases uncalled for, verbal ‘kicking’ in recent days on internet forums and via other media platforms - did not take the issue lying down and at Thursday night’s meeting of the Challenge Cup Committee, produced an outcome which few people would have thought possible.

Having employed the services of a barrister, Ballymena successfully argued their case, using interpretation of legislation from world football’s governing body FIFA, to prove that the player was eligible to take part in the match, resulting in Newry’s protest being dismissed and Ballymena remaining in the competition.

It is understood to suggest that an unattached player is eligible to sign for a club and play in any cup competition under FIFA’s auspices up to the semi-final stage.

That over-rides the IFA’s rules, under the IFA’s Article 2 which states that “where there is conflict between the statutes of FIFA and UEFA and these (IFA) Articles, the statutes of FIFA and UEFA shall prevail”.

Ballymena also successfully contended that the IFA’s Challenge Cup Competition Rules - when read in conjunction with the IFA Premiership Rules - could be interpreted as meaning the player was eligible.

This comes about from the IFA Premiership Rule 35(b) which states: “Professional players who were not bound by an employment contract before expiry of the registration period may be registered outside the aforementioned registration period provided that such player has not made more than the permitted number of moves and their registration is received prior to 12 noon on 31st March of the current season.”

Ballymena United fans will care little for the wordy legislation which has proved so crucial in this case.

Instead they are daring to look forward to a semi-final which mirrors that of the club’s previous Irish Cup success in 1989.

The same social networking sites which had bristled with the possibility of the axe at the weekend were buzzing again last night with news of the decision.

Given the surprising outcome of Thursday night’s meeting Ballymena fans will be wary of being premature in making preparations until the situation is fully resolved, with Newry likely to appeal the decision - but at least they now have a hope which seemingly didn’t exist earlier in the week.

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