Ballinamallard chairman Jeff Aiken has accused the IFA of ‘making decisions up as they go along’.
Aiken has voiced his disappointment that the Mallards were not allowed to have their appeal heard into the IFA Disciplinary Committee’s decision not to impose sanctions on Carrick Rangers despite finding then manager Gary Haveron guilty of not properly serving a touchline ban.
The Mallards and Warrenpoint Town both felt that they had the right to appeal as both clubs were affected by the decision but their appeals were ruled invalid, a decision which has frustrated Aiken.
We submitted our appeal and it was turned down by one man, the chairman, so we sought clarification from the IFA on what basis the chairman had the right to do this on his own because we couldn’t find anything in the articles of association that gives him that authority. The IFA came back with a decision that the chairman was ruling was our appeal valid and he had the right to do that himself. So the chairman ruled that our appeal wasn’t valid and it therefore didn’t need to go to the appeals committee. Yet there is nowhere that it spells out that he has the right to do that. I believe that it was the IFA making decisions up as they go along,” he said.
The Disciplinary Committee had used ‘discretion’ in making their decision on Carrick but Aiken says that the same was not afforded to either Ballinamallard or Warrenpoint while he feels that the lack of support from NIFL is disappointing.
“We believed that the Appeals Committee had the discretion to hear our hearing as they had in other hearings but they decided not to exercise that discretion. It is quite ironic that one independent man can take a decision that affects two Irish League clubs without the courtesy of a hearing to hear what we wanted to say. We found that astounding and in truth we find the lack of support from the Northern Ireland Football League very disappointing.”
Ballinamallard have now sought further clarification on the matter while Warrenpoint have said that they will seek Sport Arbitration as they look for a satisfactory resolution. However, Aiken is unsure if the Mallards would take that ‘high risk’ option.
“We sought clarification, we got it and we are seeking further clarification regarding our steps on that. We are now waiting on NIFL deciding on whether there is going to be a game. 
"There has been strong rumours that Warrenpoint are taking it to Sport Arbitration but in terms of the cost and the fact that we have potentially another road to safety through the play-offs that would be high risk for us."