Gerard Lawlor confirms NIFL to look at reimbursing supporters as 'a gesture of goodwill' after Irish League postponements

Due to the effects of Storm Darragh, which brought heavy rainfall and significant wind to Northern Ireland from Friday evening into Saturday, all six Premiership matches were ultimately postponed.

Fans from Linfield and Portadown were particularly enraged by the timing of announcements with the Blues’ clash at Dungannon Swifts and the Ports’ trip to Coleraine both called off 70 minutes before kick-off when players and some supporters had already arrived at the ground or were travelling to it.

Speaking to the Belfast News Letter at Stangmore Park on Saturday, Linfield fan Lorna Smyth of 1st Bangor Linfield Supporters Club said their bus cost £370.

Lawlor issued an apology on social media on Sunday, admitting decisions NIFL made had “backfired” and assured measures would be put in place to stop something similar happening again in the future.

Speaking to BBC’s Good Morning Ulster on Monday, Lawlor acknowledged the possibility of potentially reimbursing fans that were left out of pocket, saying: “I wrote to our member clubs yesterday (Sunday) and we will put a process if people are out of pocket at supporters clubs we will look at seeing if we can help in some way as a gesture of goodwill.”

Many had criticised NIFL for not implementing a blanket ban on Saturday’s matches with weather warnings put in place by the Met Office and travel impacted with Translink suspending services in certain areas.

Both Ballinamallard United boss Mark Stafford and Newry City manager Darren Mullen were furious that their sides made near four-hour round trips to face Ards and Limavady United respectively in the Championship.

Lawlor says they remained in constant contact throughout with clubs, but admits mistakes were made that they’ll learn from.

"Come Friday, we looked at everything and spoke to our clubs because our clubs and supporters are the lifeblood of the game,” he added. “A number of clubs had asked us not to make a widespread blanket ban because they felt they were going to be ok and wanted to make informed decisions.

"I believe we put robust plans in place which worked successfully bar maybe two of the situations we were left with, and that was that we'd speak to safety officers on Saturday morning and see what the weather is.

"We had a weather warning and with hindsight we tried to give it every opportunity to play football for a number of reasons. We would never want to put anyone at risk or in a situation where they have to make really difficult decisions and that's what I apologised for because we did that.

"We're a professional sport, under extreme pressures with sporting integrity and many other factors. Our measures failed at two grounds and for that we've apologised and we will learn from it and move forward.

"If we'd made a blanket ban on Friday then come Saturday we'd have had social media filled with sunny pictures and people criticising us. We tried to manage it, we didn't get it 100% right and got it wrong in many cases, but we learnt from it and will move on."

Three matches – Glentoran vs Ballymena United, Loughgall vs Larne and Glenavon vs Crusaders – were all postponed on Saturday morning and Lawlor believes there are also positives to take from decisions made around those matches.

"We will have a meeting with our clubs in January and will learn and discuss from the situation,” he said. “It's an adult conversation that needs to take place.

"People are talking about the 70-minute postponement at Dungannon - my staff had been working from 7am, we had numerous phone calls with those home clubs, with some of the away clubs and we were told by people in the area there was no threat to the game and it was playable.

"You know Dungannon were very angry at the referee calling off the game and felt their game on Tuesday (night against Crusaders) was played in worse conditions than Saturday. We can only take the information relayed to us in the office and the referee made a call.

"The positives were that the security officer at Glenavon told us at 10am there was a sign hanging off the ground so we immediately called the game off. Loughgall and Larne both wanted to play, but the safety officer said no and we called the game off.

"The Oval was waterlogged, there was a safety concern late at Solitude and we spoke to Coleraine all afternoon and they felt the game was playable...the referee made a call."