Bohemians v East Fife - Diddy Cup 1/4 Final

[itzdrk]

9 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Phantom 4th sub.
I can't recall the tie off-hand (possibly involved Ayr?) but a club wasn't allowed their 4th sub in extra-time as the match officials hadn't been briefed on the rules/vice versa

Not us, we were the first club to use the 4th sub when Michael Rose came on against Queens Park in a Scottish cup replay just before the penalty shootout began.  

[Brucelee1973]

Back into house just after 10pm last night..... airport was full of EF fans totally gutted. As the title in this thread shows it is indeed the Diddy Cup and I hope tomorrow that the so called authorities see sense with the entire situation. I got a refund on our 3 tix before we left, scant consolation for the farse that was yesterday. I hope the players and staff enjoyed their night in Dublin and we get automatically put through to next round tomorrow [emoji106]

 

[Stevo Fife]

5 hours ago, Its not only a game said:

I will say it again.

They made two announcements before the game in the ground.. The first was that they would give us an update shortly on whether the game would be played or not. At 2.58 they confirmed that the game was off.

They knew hours ahead that the game would not be played but still took ticket money at the gate. A late announcement also ensured that the bars at the ground were busy until the last possible moment.Classless.......

The pitch has been unplayable all week. You could look at it from two angles the first being they left it to the very last minute to make the call in the hope the game would go ahead. OR, they took the pure piss in order to generate a bit of income through the bars. The BOHS fans were quality and  felt just as aggrieved as we did. 

Ultimately,  this game should be played at Bayview or the tie awarded to East Fife. I suspect the latter.

I'd  also like to mention that Neil Doncaster is a fucking c**t.

[Bayviewboy]

On our way to the ground about 1.45 I took a phone call from an EF director to say the game was in serious doubt due to the part of the pitch shaded by the stand was frozen. When we arrived at the ground the stewards told us what gates to enter. I asked if the game was definitely on and he said why wouldn’t it be. I told him about the phone call and he said he hadn’t heard. An official of Bohemians came out a door behind the steward so he asked if the game was on. The official said it was definitely going ahead but when I mentioned the phone call he started to backtrack saying they were giving it every chance of going ahead.
Whilst I realise the the Referee had the final call even though he hadn’t arrived till 1.30 when he wanted the game off, I feel Bohemians knew the game was not going ahead but wanted fans in the ground so that they could make money on food and drink in their bars. They took €15 off fans knowing the game was not going ahead, then ran out of tickets meaning those fans couldn’t be refunded. They have made a killing from a game that was never going to happen !!
Why had they not taken precautions in terms of protecting the pitch in view of the temperatures last week ?
Why did they not have a back up plan of an AstroTurf pitch if their pitch failed an 11.00 inspection ?
Why was the game not officially called off until 2.57 when it was blatantly obvious from watching players basically stopping their warm up about 2.30 ?
Why was their no representative from the SPFL at the game ?
I reckon there were 350-400 East Fife fans in the ground and adding wives and family who had travelled to Dublin but didn’t go to the game that their would have been between 500-600 who had made the trip. Say on average each person that travelled spent £200-£300 (some spent a lot more !) As a group, those that travelled have spent between £100k - £180k for a game that never took place due to incompetence on the part of SPFL Bohemians FC. I realise there is absolutely no chance of fans being compensated but
I’m sure they would be at least in some way placated if the Club was given financial compensation instead. I believe the Club were given £10000 to cover the expenses for the game but it will have cost them much more.
Here do we go from here ? What are the options ?
Will the SPFL throw Bohemians out and EastFife progress to the semi-final ? Highly unlikely as they don’t have the balls to take that stance.
Will the game be rescheduled to try again in Dublin. Would surprise me if SPFL took this option. If this happens, East Fife should refuse to play and seek support from all the other SPFL clubs.
Move the game to be played at Bayview - if it’s a Saturday it will men more disruption to our league programme. To play it midweek, Bohemians would need time to organise travel etc and I think the costs etc would see them withdraw which is why I don’t think the SPFL will do that.
SPFL stands for Scottish PROFESSIONAL Football League and they have been anything but professional in terms of how they have run this competition. When will this body start to look after their member clubs rather than their own self interest. They have bowed to an Irish Club in terms of rearranging the game to suit them because they had not been planned for the scenario of Bohemians reaching the quarter final. The only way the SPFL will gain any small crumb of respect would be to throw Bohemians out of the competition with East Fife progressing and by making a significant payment (40k-50k) to the club as a form of compensation for the huge amount of money spent by fans to follow there team.
SPFL and Mr Doncaster - over to you - have you got the bottle to do the right thing by your member club and the SCOTTISH company that sponsor the tournament ? Or will you yet again bend over for our Irish counterparts who in all honesty have taken the piss ?
We await your decision and explanation with baited breath !

[Jacksgranda]

10 hours ago, ali_91 said:

Agree with Da Baracus. I’d imagine a trip to Dublin will be up there with the best days following their club for a lot of East Fife fans, as trips to Wales were for Dumbarton and Queen’s Park fans.

I’d punt Bohemians out the tournament, and the colt teams can do one, but I think it’s a rare positive move by our authorities to invite these clubs. Small clubs like Partick, Falkirk and Dunfermline getting the chance to play competitive games in other countries has to be a good thing, and a great occasion for their fans. 

 

[Fae_the_'briggs]

Just to echo a lot of other opinions on here, this competition should revert to its original format or altered to allow more Highland League/Lowland League teams to participate. The participation of "foreign" teams and colts teams should be stopped.   East Fife being awarded this tie should be a formality.

[rob71]

On 02/02/2019 at 10:39, rob71 said:

Pitch is looking good, some light ice patches underfoot #monthefife

I took these photos at 10:30am yesterday morning and also spoke with the guy marking the lines on the pitch. It looked good in the photos but he was telling me then that the stand side area of the pitch was frozen solid and was only going to get worse. I think I was being slightly optimistic in my original post of these photos.

[Bayviewboy]

I took these photos at 10:30am yesterday morning and also spoke with the guy marking the lines on the pitch. It looked good in the photos but he was telling me then that the stand side area of the pitch was frozen solid and was only going to get worse. I think I was being slightly optimistic in my original post of these photos.

So the guy marking the lines at 10.30 knew parts of the pitch were frozen and highly unlikely to thaw. Why was no pitch inspection called for at that point and alternative venues sought ? Bohemians are being made to look even more incompetent !

[Yur maw punts cooncil]

In today’s Irish mirror

[Salvo Montalbano]

 

 

 

The winner of this game  play Ross County away with the game being shown on both Alba  and perhaps more importantly BT Sport.

Does anyone know , especially with BT Sport, whether there will be a match fee payable to the clubs concerned, or whether the fee goes into a general pot?

 

Why would it be on BT Sport when the rights to the competition are held by Alba, S4C and Premier?

 

[sammytroot]

13 minutes ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

 

 

 

 

 

Why would it be on BT Sport when the rights to the competition are held by Alba, S4C and Premier?

 

Admission Prices For Irn Bru Cup Quarter Final

Details

 Created: 18 December 2018

Our Irn Bru Cup Quarter Final tie against Bohemians takes place at Dalymount Park, Dublin on Saturday 2^nd February 2019.

The admission prices have now been confirmed as follows:

Adults - €15

Over 65s - €10

Students U18 - €10 (a valid student card must be presented)

Under 13s - €5

Tickets can be purchased in advance by visiting www.tickets.bohemians.ie however pay-at-the-gate will be available on matchday.

Bohemians have advised us that East Fife supporters are welcome in the club bars before (from 1 pm) and after the game. The club bars will be showing the Ireland v England Six Nations match and host live music post-match.

This is the final Quarter Final match to be played this season with an away trip to Ross County awaiting the winners on Friday 15^th February, a match that will be shown live on both BBC Alba and BT Sports. Edinburgh City and Connah’s Quay Nomands are due to face each other in the other semi-final.

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[sammytroot]

I happened to be at Murrayfield yesterday and consequently missed the trip to Dublin.

Seems to me that the biggest blunder was Bohemians NOT to have taken preventative action  against the inclement weather and relying on lady luck that the match would proceed.

Whether they have covers or not,who is to say that there will not be a repetition in the next few weeks especially if the match is to be re-scheduled for a mid- week evening.

Exactly what the sponsors think of this debacle should not be in question.

[EFFC1938]

I've emailed the SPFL and I'm hoping I won't be the only one, we need to put these incompetent fools under pressure not that it will.matter to them about lowly EF supporters being rightly pissed off

[monthefife]

I've emailed the SPFL and I'm hoping I won't be the only one, we need to put these incompetent fools under pressure not that it will.matter to them about lowly EF supporters being rightly pissed off

What's their address?

[EFFC1938]

info@spfl.co.uk

[EFFC1938]

I emailed this, it's the only one I can see on their website

[HoBNob]

Kicking out the Welsh, Irish and English teams would be a ridiculous overreaction, it's literally the only interesting point in this competition. Before the match you had East Fife fans buzzing out there tits and according to some posts you had 500/600 there, would you have taken that to any game in Scotland? Absolutely not. 

Award the tie to East Fife. 

[Scorge]

Anything other than lobbing Bohemians out would be a shambles.

Time to finally get this format in the sea (along with Doncaster): 30 1st/2nd/3rd division clubs, 18 highland, 16 lowland to make a perfectly workable 64 team knockout cup.  Regionalise and seed the first two rounds so you are almost guaranteed a game against at least one team you'd almost certainly not play in the normal run of things. No more Colts, and no more wasting time and money on clusterfuckery like yesterday. 

[Yur maw punts cooncil]

I've emailed the SPFL and I'm hoping I won't be the only one, we need to put these incompetent fools under pressure not that it will.matter to them about lowly EF supporters being rightly pissed off

What line did u take ? Money back ? I will also email them, just unsure how to describe such a cluster f**k, in a small amount of words

[sammytroot]

4 minutes ago, Grant228 said:

Kicking out the Welsh, Irish and English teams would be a ridiculous overreaction, it's literally the only interesting point in this competition. Before the match you had East Fife fans buzzing out there tits and according to some posts you had 500/600 there, would you have taken that to any game in Scotland? Absolutely not. 

Award the tie to East Fife. 

The problem with this statement was that Bohemians could not fulfil the first game that was scheduled for November 2018 as there season ends in October and they did not have a complement of players to play. The dates for the various rounds were known in advance . Neil Doncaster bent the rules to accommodate Bohemians.