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Rugby star and city councillor McLoughlin breaks silence over referee furore
GERRY McLoughlin, the Labour councillor and Limerick rugby legend, has broken his silence on the controversy surrounding a Shannon match, after which he was alleged to have verbally abused referee George Clancy.
The controversy led to Shannon RFC being fined a record €25,000 by the Irish Rugby Fooball Union and arose at the end of a match against Cork Consititution on December 5.
The IRFU also imposed a six-point deduction, suspended until the end of the 2010-11 season.
The reports from the referee and linesmen were sent to the IRFU and Bruff official George Clancy said that on walking off the pitch he was "subjected to severe verbal abuse from the Shannon supporters". He said Cllr McLoughlin "in particular ... repeatedly accused me of being 'a cheat'."
In his report, assistant referee Tommy O'Donoghue alleged that "it was quite evident that Gerry McLoughlin was leading an amount of verbal abuse at George Clancy, calling him a cheat, a c*** and a bastard. This gave way to people coming behind Mr McLoughlin and join in on the verbal abuse."
However, speaking publicly for the first time on the episode, Cllr McLoughlin categorically denied using the offensive language attributed to him by Mr O'Donoghue. Two witnesses who were close to him at the time have also insisted he did not say the offending words in the assistant referee's report.
"I abhor those words. It's disgusting," Cllr McLoughlin said. "I'm accused of saying words I never said. And I would put my hand on the Bible and say that. And I know people who also will do the same thing. And that to me is where I stand."
The former Shannon, Munster and Ireland prop forward said the controversy had had "a huge effect on me".
FOR MORE ON THIS STORY, PLUS A DETAILED INTERVIEW WITH GERRY McLOUGHLIN, SEE OUR CITY EDITION
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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