Courts

South Dublin football club ordered to invite children from halting site to soccer fun day

Official at Wayside Celtic refused to accept two Traveller boys as members last year, Workplace Relations Commission told

Wayside Celtic Football Club has been ordered to invite children living at a halting site next door to its soccer fun day. Photograph: Getty Images
Wayside Celtic Football Club has been ordered to invite children living at a halting site next door to its soccer fun day. Photograph: Getty Images
Stephen Bourke
Wed Jun 26 2024 - 17:43

A south Dublin football club has been ordered to invite children living at a halting site next door to a “soccer fun day” with other local children after one of its officials refused to accept two Traveller boys, aged eight and nine, as members last year.

After noting that a “punitive financial award” might stand as an “exemplary headline setting for all sports clubs”, adjudicator Michael McEntee ultimately found that any redress had to be “focused on inclusiveness, not penalisation of one party ... leaving a possible legacy of anti-Traveller bitterness”.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found it was “clear that a technical case of discrimination had taken place” when the official blamed property damage at the club on “this group of people” as he refused the boys.

The tribunal heard the official, a long-standing volunteer at Wayside Celtic Football Club, was having a “bad day” at work and was under pressure when he took the call.

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As part of a compliance direction under the Equal Status Act 2000, the tribunal has ordered the club to set aside €1,000 to fund the event, to give each boy a €50 voucher for Smyths Toys and to appoint a voluntary community liaison officer to deal with its next-door neighbours in the Traveller housing estate on the Glenamuck Road in Kilternan, Co Dublin.

It follows a complaint against the club in May 2023 by Jim Connors, on behalf of his sons Jim and Michael, after efforts to resolve the dispute through mediation were unsuccessful.

Anna Birbeck, of the Traveller support agency Exchange House, told an equality hearing she had phoned the junior club official at Wayside FC in March 2023 asking whether the club would admit the boys as juniors.

The response from the junior official Mr D was that it would not be possible to take them – and he went on to state that “their group of people” had caused trouble for the club, referring to allegations about fences being broken and scramblers being driven on the pitches, Ms Birbeck said in her evidence.

Mr D added that it was “too late in the season” for the boys to join and that the teams were “already full”.

The tribunal was told the boys were “very keen on football” and that being refused as members because they were Travellers had a “very negative effect” on them.

The adjudicator noted that the witness accepted that neither of the boys had “anything to do” with any damage to club facilities.

Wayside Celtic had formed decades prior as a rural club and had since been surrounded by suburban development and a “rapidly expanding population”, the WRC was told. Mr D’s position was that demand for spots on junior teams was “almost insatiable” and that when he took the call, they were all “fully subscribed”.

“It was very clear that he could possibly have handled the call better. No one is a saint, and if it was a discriminatory response, it was at the very minor end of discrimination,” the club submitted.

Wayside FC wanted to be “good neighbours” and “sort the complaint out amicably”, its representatives added.

Mr McEntee, the adjudicator, wrote in his decision: “It was clear that a technical case of discrimination had taken place in the phone call.”

In a compliance direction, he ordered Wayside Celtic to interview for and appoint a voluntary community liaison officer tasked with working with “the Traveller community next door”. Mr McEntee recommended the club apply for State or local Government funding to pay the volunteer’s expenses. He said Exchange House could support the club in appointing and training the candidate and applying for funding.

Finally, he ordered Wayside Celtic to “recognise the incredible voluntary contribution” of the official, Mr D.

“He informed the hearing that he was ‘stepping down’ after many years’ service. A brief ‘bad day’ phone call should not take from this,” Mr McEntee said.