IFA 'sorry' over Iceland flight
Keith Gillespie (pictured) was seen fighting with George McCartney
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Tuesday, 18, Sep 2007 10:53
The Irish Football Association has issued a public apology over the bust-up between two of their players on the flight back from Iceland last week.
Keith Gillespie, who plays for Sheffield United in the Championship, and West Ham United's George McCartney have also both been fined for their part in the incident.
The two players came to blows after a disagreement when boarding a plane back from Reykjavik where the Northern Ireland team had lost a vital Euro 2008 qualifier 2-1.
Gillespie has since made a public apology himself for his part in the fracas.
And while the IFA said this goes "some way" to recovering the public's confidence in the federation it has still decided to issue a complete apology "to any members of the public who were affected in any way by the behaviour of these players".
The president of the IFA, Raymond Kennedy, said: "The IFA has been shown up in a poor light as a result of behaviour, which of course is unacceptable.
"And whilst the public apology from Keith Gillespie goes some way towards a recognition of that, the players concerned have been told quite categorically that such behaviour has caused unnecessary embarrassment to the IFA in the eyes of the football world and the public as a whole and will not be tolerated in future."
Northern Ireland's hopes of qualification for the Euro 2008 finals were dealt a major blow in last week's double header against Latvia and Iceland.
The back-to-back away defeats mean Nigel Worthington's men are third in group F, three points behind Sweden and Spain above them. Denmark in fourth will also move ahead of the province with a victory in their game in hand.