Glentoran chairman Aubry Ralph has threatened walking away from the Irish Football Association (IFA) in protest over the decision to ban the club and Linfield from playing each other during the festive period.

Violence marred the meeting between the two sides on St Stephen’s Day last and the IFA yesterday fined each club £1,000 and banned them from meeting eachother over Christmas.

Ralph and Linfield chairman Jim Kerr, both concerned over the loss of lucrative gate receipts, reacted angrily to the decision and today the Glentoran chairman claimed the bigger clubs in the league were growing tired of being “dictated to by junior clubs”.

“I want to send out a challenge to the IFA president,” he told BBC Radio Ulster. “It is time to wake up and smell the coffee. This Irish League is going to hell in a handcart.

“The Premier League clubs have had enough and we are not going to be dictated to by junior clubs.

“If we do not get the action we require, the Premier League clubs will have to consider their position within the IFA, and that is no idle threat.”

Linfield chairman Jim Kerr was not as bullish but said: “You are depriving the great number of people who come home to Northern Ireland at Christmas time the opportunity of seeing Linfield and Glentoran play.

“Are the hooligan element going to be driven away because the match is being played on a different day? I do not think so.”

IFA president Raymond Kennedy insists a “strong message” had to be delivered to the clubs and though both will appeal the decision there appears little hope of success.

Kennedy feels families will be dissuaded from attending matches in the future unless the IFA takes steps to eradicate violence at Windsor Park, where Northern Ireland play their home games.

The match in question was held up for about seven minutes when riot police had to be called in as spectators tore out seats and hurled missiles at each other.

Kennedy said today: “We have to send out a strong message that the IFA are not going to tolerate or accept such incidents.

“This was a serious incident and people could have been injured. We were lucky the game was not abandoned.

“Against that background the committee made the decision and I will stand by it.

“I have been slightly surprised by the reaction but people do not like to be punished.

“Let’s not forget either there had been one or two previous incidents of bottles and fireworks being thrown,” said Kennedy. “It is not the images we want to see, especially as we are trying to attract more families to games.”