The manager of a schoolboy's soccer team has lost a High Court challenge to a 20-year ban imposed on him for allegedly punching a referee in the face after an under-11s cup match.
Edward Griffin, Forest View, Gooldshill, Mallow, Co Cork, had challenged a decision taken by the Cork Schoolboys League in February 2005, affirmed by the Schoolboys Football Association of Ireland, to prohibit him from all football activity for 20 years.
Mr Griffin, who strongly denies assaulting the referee, claimed he was denied natural justice in relation to how the ban was imposed. He contended he was not allowed to appeal his suspension by the SFAI and argued the suspension was "unfair and unreasonable".
After hearing legal argument yesterday, Mr Justice Peter Charleton dismissed the application as not appropriate for judicial review. While this was a serious dispute, the schoolboys leagues were not statutory bodies and the source of their powers did not come from the legislature, he said.
While the league's disciplinary procedures could be seen as being unfair, they were not "deliberately unfair", he said.
The judge further held that while the consequences of the ban were serious, Mr Griffin had not lost his job. Any agreement or contract between the respective parties was "in the private sphere", he said.