Thomond Park stadium boss says Clichy banana incident was ‘reprehensible’
Roberto Mancini with Limerick FC chairman Pat O'Sullivan (left) and John Cantwell, Thomond Park stadium director. (Picture: Kieran Clancy)
John Cantwell, stadium boss in Thomond Park, has said the “full weight of the law” will be brought on the person who marred Limerick FC’s friendly with Manchester City by throwing a banana at defender Gael Clichy.
Mr Cantwell denounced the incident as “reprehensible” and one that was “not representative of Limerick or the region”.
“We are not paying this lip service, we started investigating this incident first thing Monday and it is ongoing at the moment. We have handed a recording of the whole match to the gardai and they are assisting us,” he explained.
“We would be bringing the full weight of the law against this individual. We are hopeful we will be successful in our efforts to find this person but the process is ongoing at the moment.
“We are not shying away from it, it did happen and therefore we are treating it with the utmost seriousness. It has never happened at Thomond Park before, so it is very much an isolated incident. A totally reprehensible one, and that is why we are treating it so seriously.”
He noted that the tickets for the match were sold nationally and indeed in the UK, but he said the stadium and the gardai would “collate” the evidence and were “hoping to get a result”.
Doras Luimní have called on anyone with information about the ‘cowardly act’ of racism towards Clichy to come forward, a sentiment fully backed by this newspaper. They said they were “asking for the culprit to be identified by releasing their image to the media”.
Clichy, has acknowledged “all the Irish football lover [sic], Limerick and Munster fans”, who he would “never put in the same basket of this/those people”, adding “the support was great and it was a great day. Thanks again for that”.
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Weather for Limerick
Thursday 20 June 2013
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Light rain
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