Igor Labuts and Dragos Sfrijan secure temporary High Court injunction

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Former Athlone Town players Igor Labuts and Dragos Sfrijan secured a temporary High Court injunction over the Football Association of Ireland’s intention to introduce new evidence in their appeal against 12-month bans. The proceedings were reported on 21 December 2017.

The FAI had found both players guilty of three offences: bringing the game into disrepute under Rule 99, manipulating matches under Rule 105, and betting or gambling under Rule 106. The charges related to Athlone’s First Division match against Longford Town on 29 April.

The proposed new evidence included newspaper reports, a redacted statement from someone who had played with Sfrijan, and social media extracts.

The Professional Footballers Association of Ireland questioned the methods used to investigate the allegations and the resulting evidence. It said it would support both players in their fight to clear their names.

The report said the players had taken the first steps to appeal earlier that month and that the case was expected to be heard the following week.