Farce in Limerick as relegation tie delayed 25 minutes due to a sleeve clash

There were farcical scenes at the Market's Field in Limerick on Friday night as the home side's Premier Division tie with Galway United was held up 25 minutes over clashing sleeve colours.

 

The match, which eventually finished 2-2, as second-half goals from Galway's Ronan Murray and Eoin McCormack cancelled out strikes from Rodrigo Tosi and Chiedozie Ogbene before the break.

 

The result guaranteed Limerick Premier Division football and lifted the Tribesmen out of the relegation zone, at least until Sligo Rovers play on Saturday night.

 

There was already one postponed game in the Premier Division on Friday night after fellow strugglers Finn Harps' home clash with relegated Drogheda United was rained off.

 

And the game in Limerick may not have gone ahead at all after referee Anthony Buttimer deemed The Blues' blue home strip and Galway's white away gear to be too close in colour.

 



The first inkling there was any bother emerged a little over 20 minutes before kick-off, as Limerick Leader and former Extratime.ie journalist Andrew Cunneen stated it was unlikely to be a timely start.

 

 

 



Five minutes after the game was due to kick off, a revised start time of 8.10pm – 20 minutes later and 25 minutes after the scheduled kick-off – was confirmed.

 

 

Word then filtered down that the delay was down to the fact both Limerick and Galway's strips had white sleeves, and presumably could then cause confusion in the case of identified the source of a handball or a flailing arm.

 

 

The game eventually went ahead when the home side agreed to wear their (hideous) illuminous green away shirt along with blue socks, thus avoiding the dreaded colour clash.

 

 

Referee Buttimer has form where unusual colour clashes are involved. A ten-year-old Irish Independent article recounts one such fiasco in a game between Dundalk and Shelbourne, where the game eventually went ahead with both keepers wearing t-shirts.

 

while Irish Sun journalist Owen Cowzer cited an eerily similar example to tonight's.

 

 

 

    About Dave Donnelly

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