Enniskillen Town have reluctantly decided against lodging a further appeal on the Fermanagh and Western’s decision to conclude the league with ‘promotion only and no relegation’ leaving the path clear for the league to get back underway next month.

Town released a statement on Tuesday, signed by Chairman Gerard Connolly, explaining their reasons behind their initial appeal on the league’s decision to end the league with promotion only and no relegation back in May while they also hit out at criticism of the club for lodging the appeal.

However, they confirmed that they won’t be pursuing another appeal after the league again voted to end the league in the same manner.

“The club has, albeit with some reluctance, decided not to lodge another appeal which would inevitably further delay the restart of football local. After all it took 80 days for the club’s initial appeal to be heard, the same length of time that it took Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg to circumnavigate the world in a balloon in late 1872 - and local football certainly does not want a repetition.”

Town lodged their appeal against the Fermanagh and Western’s decision on May 15 and the club feel that they have ‘been tried in the court of public opinion’.

“The Club has been regularly vilified in certain sections of the local press and on social media for lodging the appeal because of perceived prejudices that accused the Club of actions that were borne out of spite and a blatant attempt to deprive teams of League titles and / or promotion.”

And they also felt let down by the league’s Management Committee for not defending it’s right to appeal and adding “it is evident that the League was more interested in protecting its own interests than being held open to scrutiny and accountability.”

Town say that they felt that they had no option but to lodge an appeal as they “had such significant concerns regarding several procedural improprieties applied by the League which clearly contravened its own Rules.”

Indeed, they argue that the appeal was justified to uphold sporting integrity.

“The right of appeal is enshrined in Article 14 of the IFA’s Articles of Association and the Club exercised that right for no reason other than to have the decision reviewed and errors corrected despite the impact on its own Reserve Team. The Club was satisfied that the appeal was not only justified but necessary to uphold sporting integrity– a principle seriously lacking in those Clubs which furtively canvassed for votes to further their own self-interests.”

The club had believed that voiding the season was the correct way to conclude the season.

“The Club contended that the arguments for voiding the season far outweighed the ones against. It asserted that the beauty of football was its unpredictability, that teams went on strong runs and poor runs and that some reacted well under pressure and some didn’t, the Club reasoned that an average points per game system reflected none of these as it did not factor in form, the fixtures list, squad changes, injuries or suspensions and that consequently there was an inherent unfairness in using such a system. If you start something you’ve got to finish it and if you can’t finish it you have to null and void it,” said the statement.

Town also had issues with the Appeals’ Committee ruling which allowed the appeal but only on the grounds that the league had not used the proper voting procedure. The initial vote had included votes of office bearers but this is only reserved for Extra-Ordinary General Meetings, which this was not.

“The Club is most concerned that there were several issues which the “Appeals Committee” appear not to have addressed or have erroneously addressed and will be making the IFA aware of these concerns in due time.”

It does argue though that Town have had their appeal upheld.

“The appeal has effectively been upheld in that the “Appeals Committee” ruled that the League did not act in accordance with its Rules and followed incorrect procedures in reaching its decisions. Consequently the Club isn’t too hung up on the apparent dismissal of the other grounds of its appeal in such a broad brush manner and as previously stated it will be in contact with the IFA regarding elucidation of the “Appeals Committee’s” decision.”

The matter was referred back to the Fermanagh and Western to deal with by way of whatever process to be decided upon within their rules with the league removing the office bearers votes from the initial tally. This left the two average point options (one with promotion and relegation and one without relegation) on 11 votes with null and void on 9. Null and void was then removed from the options and the clubs were asked to vote on the two remaining options.

Again though Town believe that the Fermanagh and Western have acted outside their rules.

“When they asked Clubs to vote for an option – “award Promotion only” – (this) flagrantly contravenes four of the League’s Divisional Rules - Rules which are clear, decisive, incontestable and not open to interpretation or subject to the discretion of the League’s Management Committee.”

With no relegation there is now a lopsided look to the divisions and the Town statement says this will lead to fixture congestion.

“The League is now currently faced with a disproportionate number of teams in their six Divisions. The expanded Division 1 will inevitably add to fixture congestion issues that have in recent seasons been a bone of contention for some teams and managers. The League must now accept the consequences of its actions.”

However, the statement concludes with Town saying that they are keen now to move forward.

“The Club looks forward to when we can move forward positively and quickly. The health and well-being of all stakeholders is paramount and given the unpredictable nature of the Covid-19 the League must ensure that sensible and pragmatic measures are in place in order to mitigate against the devastating consequences that a future outbreak of the pandemic would bring. To have an early start of the 2020/21 season is desirable but only when it is safe for all of us to do so.”