A football club from Ireland have decided to apologise after they were caught lying about their player’s death when he was actually alive.
Ballybrack FC told the Leinster Senior League that their Spanish player, Fernando Nuno La-Fuente, had died in a traffic accident.
A Saturday fixture of theirs back in 2018 against Arklow Town was postponed and a minute’s silence was held before other fixtures were played.
Both teams observing a minute silence in memory of Ballybrack player Fernando Nuno La-Fuante who was killed in a traffic…
Posted by Liffey Wanderers FC on Saturday, 24 November 2018
Incredibly, it has emerged that the ‘dead’ footballer was in fact alive back in Spain, causing the league, who even placed a death notice in a newspaper, to launch an investigation.
Ballybrack FC said stated: “It has come to the attention of both the club, senior players and the management team that a gross error of judgement has occurred emanating from correspondence sent from a member of the senior set-up management team to the Leinster Senior League.”
“An emergency meeting was held and the person in question has been relieved of all footballing duties, within Ballybrack FC, its senior team and roles within the club itself.
“The club has contacted Fernando to confirm his whereabouts, wellbeing and are thankful for his acceptance of our apology on this matter.
“This grave and unacceptable mistake was completely out of character and was made by a person who has been experiencing severe personal difficulties unbeknownst to any other members of the club.
“At this stage we can only offer our sincere apologies to the Leinster Senior League, our opponents Arklow Town FC and the host of clubs and football people who made contact with us or offered messages of support in recent days.”
The chairman of the league has told RTE that the club’s secretary had resigned: “The young lad didn’t die in a motorbike accident last Thursday. He went back to Spain four or five weeks ago apparently.”
“The Leinster Senior League rang. We wanted to show our sympathies and go to the Mass and maybe meet the family and see what we could do to help in this horrible situation.
“And we were told he was flown back to Spain on the Saturday. Straight away, that rang alarm bells for us. How would you die early on Friday morning and be flown back to Spain on the Saturday?
“We checked the hospitals, we checked everywhere. Nobody could find anything about this young fella. Obviously, some of his team-mates released stuff on social media saying he went back to Spain four weeks ago.”
The Leinster Senior League released a statement: “The Leinster Senior League will co-operate with all relevant agencies in the investigation of this matter and the league will also deal with this issue through their own internal disciplinary procedures.”
After the news came out, a parody account named Ballybrack FC mocked the story with the following tweets…
For sale:
11 black arm bands
Mint condition, only used once— Ballybrack FC (@BallybrackFc) November 28, 2018
Anybody know what the returns policy on a coffin is? Asking for an amigo
— Ballybrack FC (@BallybrackFc) November 28, 2018
In a statement issued, Leinster Senior League said “Ballybrack FC will accept all sanctions handed down by the league and have thanked Arklow Town for their support throughout this process.
“The league have ruled that sanctions – which match FAI Rules – have been imposed on Ballybrack FC for failing to fulfil the fixture,” the statement continued.
“The club has been sanctioned for bringing the game into disrepute, and the individual involved is also sanctioned for bringing the game into disrepute.
“All correspondences between the league and the club will remain private, but the league can confirm that Ballybrack FC were not removed from the league altogether.
“The league would like to appeal to the media and the general public to respect the privacy of the former club volunteer involved in the incident, who made an error that they have privately apologised for.”
Fan reaction after seeing that the football club have decided to apologise after lying about a player’s death…
@benjmnblake: Faking a player’s death to get a game called off? Ballybrack have won the prize for maddest Leinster Senior League story I’ve heard in a long, long time.
@Johnferns88: Everyone needs to calm it, what Ballybrack F.C. did was fucking hilarious… 👏🏽😂
@Bazzyb85: Best returns from the dead in history, a ranking :
5. Gandalf (Lord of the rings)
4. Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)
3. Kenny (South Park)
2. Jesus Christ (Jerusalem)
1. Fernando Nuno La Fuente (Ballybrack FC)
@DavyMacThings: Absolutely top notch shithousery from Ballybrack faking a players death, higher level bastardy, peak example of that #eliteMentality
Ballybrack FC team photo 2018/19 pic.twitter.com/xI1ZsBU0An
— david henderson (@dvehendo) November 27, 2018
On what planet did Ballybrack think they were gonna get away with that
— Michael (@MichaellClearyy) November 27, 2018
They have also flooded Twitter with hilarious memes…
Some great memes going around about Ballybrack’s fake dead player. #Rtept pic.twitter.com/qycZQUJk0g
— Mark Tighe (@marktigheST) November 27, 2018
SIMULATION
Ballybrack player sees red for going down in the box. pic.twitter.com/qsBVpZXNpf
— máirt (@HolyHonda49) November 27, 2018
The latest from Ballybrack… pic.twitter.com/AUrRantFWu
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) November 28, 2018
Ballybrack backtracking to the League pic.twitter.com/Dx5CVpHGvo
— Ireland Simpsons Fans (@iresimpsonsfans) November 28, 2018
Ballybrack, sit perfectly still… pic.twitter.com/NxXpw8CigK
— Ireland Simpsons Fans (@iresimpsonsfans) November 28, 2018
SEE MORE: Club apologise and change ‘insensitive’ name of 12-team cup competition
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