"A gross error of judgement has occurred"
Ballybrack FC, an amateur Irish football team, have released a statement which stresses that "a gross error of judgement has occurred" after the club recently posted a tribute to one of their players that was reported as dead.
As it turned out, the player in question - Fernando Nuno La-Fuente - is very much alive.
The Dublin club recently posted a tribute to La-Fuente who was said to have died in a "traffic accident".
The Leinster Senior League team have since confirmed that the player is in good health and that he has returned to his native Spain.
Over the weekend, teams in the league also held a minute silence for the player who was believed to be dead.
In a post to their
Facebook page, Ballybrack FC have said the following:
"In response to recent events and the information which is currently in circulation across social and mainstream media. 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."
"As of this evening, 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. The club will continue to provide a duty of care to all parties and offer the support that may be needed at this time. This person had previously contributed greatly to the senior team within the club in recent years and to the wider footballing community across Dublin for decades."
"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 past few years has seen good progress made in regards to renewal of senior football in the Ballybrack area. We are all taken aback by this event and hope to try work with all relevant organisations and agencies to learn from this mistake."
Regarding this matter, the Leinster Senior League previously released a statement via their media partner, Herald Striker.
The statement claims that Leinster Senior League were notified of the death of the player by a representative of Ballybrack FC and that they acted in good faith at all times.
Here's their statement in full:
"The Leinster Senior League would like to acknowledge that the notification of the death of a Ballybrack FC player as shared with all member clubs and media partner, is, without foundation."
"The Leinster Senior League acted in good faith at all times and when notified by a representative of Ballybrack FC as to the death of a member player we immediately offered our heartfelt condolences and also shared the sad news with all other LSL clubs in order for them to offer their own individual condolences."
"We are glad to hear that the player is in good health and has returned to his native Spain."
"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."
"The Leinster Senior League would like to offer their sincerest apologies for any distress caused as a result of notifying clubs as to the demise of a valued player."
"The league acted in absolute good faith with the information supplied by the club and only had the welfare and interest of those affected by the reported "tragedy" as our uppermost concern at all times."
