Rebel Radio would like to inform supporters that we will NOT be covering Cork City's EA Sports Cup Round of 16 game away to Limerick FC at Market's Field, after the appalling experience we had trying to cover last Friday's Airtricity Premier Division game at the same venue.
Having applied early for accreditation five days before the event, we were pushed from pillar to post on the day, and were forced to do the game out in the rain with our mobile phone for the second half.
Obviously having been around the block, we understand often things can be difficult to fully organise, given limited facilities and several other pressures which better staffed and better equipped clubs in other countries do not suffer from.
However, the debacle of our coverage at Market's Field last night, given the actions on our part, were completely inexcusable, and this is is a first for the radio service, and we hope Cork City fans understand our decision to respect ourselves and the service we provide. We would also like to give our version of events to fully clarify the situation.
Quite conscious of the limitations in terms of capacity and tickets (City fans were made well aware of this before kickoff) we tried to locate the name and contact details of the press officer on Sunday night, however this information is not available on the Limerick website.
We decided the best course of action would be to email the club, again Sunday night - five days before the match - at their official email address (info@limerickfc.ie), and ask to either be granted accreditation, or to be pointed in the direction of the relevant person.
From there we gave it three days, and with no response coming we emailed again asking them to get back to us on Wednesday night. Once again no response from the club, so we was forced to tweet to the club, and they messaged back fairly promptly.
In the message they informed us space would be tight, but they would be happy to accommodate us (which I still believe at the time was 100% genuine), and we forwarded on the original email to their press officer. We required as usual just a seat and a desk space, no plugs, no line, just a single seat.
We arrived at the ground over an hour before kickoff, to find the press-box well filled, with only a few seats available. There were labels for journalists, but these were broadly ignored by members of the media, with certain outlets occupying more than their allocated space, and a general free-for-all, too commonly seen at big League of Ireland games.
Moreover, despite the club saying they were happy to accommodate me, we had no seat reserved in the press area, and nobody at Limerick FC had told us about the arrangements in place, or that we wouldn't have a seat allocated in the press area. We just took a free seat and sat down, and began broadcasting.
There were extra seats allocated in front of the press area for extra members of the media, but, incorrectly stewarded, they had all been filled up by the Limerick singing section ahead of the game, who were positioned directly in front of the press area.
We were then informed, already live and just five minutes before kick-off that we were sitting in an allocated seat, which left us the option of trying to do a radio commentary service for Cork City supporters, in among the singing section of the Limerick support, which seems more like a comedy sketch than a genuine expectation.
We were directed to the VIP section, but arriving, again, it was a totally unsuitable place for a radio commentary, in a room virtually silent, filled with families looking to enjoy the match. an excitable radio commentator from Cork wouldn't have lasted long!
A very suitable compromise was found before the game, as we climbed up to what we only subsequently found out was the control room, but thought it just an office area, and Limerick's Press Officer was glad to accommodate us, and kindly some equipment was moved so we to speak out of so to not distract anybody. This was a perfectly suitable workaround, and we were happy not to make a deal out of things.
We finished the first-half and were then interrogated about why we were in the room, before a Market's Field representative start having a cut off us for comments others had made on social media following the initial debacle.
We were forced the option between, again, the completely unsuitable, VIP area. Or to be given a table by the corner flag, out in the open, which, given the changeable night, was again totally unsuitable.
In the end we were forced to do the second-half behind the goal in the Cork City end under the rain, speaking through a mobile phone, after absolutely shambolic treatment by a supposedly Premier Division club.
We understand we are not an official media outlet to the League of Ireland, nor are we a national broadcaster, however, being ignored from the outset, to being pushed from pillar to post around the ground while trying to produce a live radio broadcast is completely unacceptable, and extremely disrespectful to a volunteer service that provides coverage not only for Cork City fans, but Limerick FC fans in the past.
We sent an email to the club the evening of, outlining our issues, we received no word from the club and forwarded that email to the FAI which we also got no response from. We have been treated appallingly by so many, we refuse to revisit the Market's Field, beginning with the game next week.
Kev, Dave, and Colm,
The Rebel Radio Team.