Warrenpoint Town: South Down club's drop into expanded PIL confirmed
Last updated on .From the section Irish
Warrenpoint Town will play in an expanded Premier Intermediate League, Northern Ireland football's third tier following their licensing difficulties.
This was confirmed by the Northern Ireland Football League on Friday.
It was initially thought Warrenpoint would have to drop out of the NIFL structure after losing their appeal against not being granted a licence.
Annagh United take Warrenpoint's place in the Irish Premiership relegation/promotion play-off.
The Portadown-based club will face Dungannon Swifts in the play-off.
Warrenpoint's relegation to the third tier, which comes after the club elected not to escalate their case to arbitration on Tuesday, means the PIL will expand from 12 to 14 teams next season.
Lawlor 'thankful and delighted'
The PSNI, who finished bottom of the PIL last season, will be spared relegation and will be joined by two promoted intermediate clubs.
A NIFL statement said that the "two promoted clubs will be determined by the existing eligible applicants upon the conclusion of the current season across the regional intermediate leagues".
"Following Warrenpoint Town's licence refusal clearly preventing them from playing in the Premiership or the Championship, this provides us both the opportunity and need to increase the membership of the league," added NIFL chief executive Gerard Lawlor.
"After positive consultation with the Irish FA and our PIL Clubs the 14-team league proposal, which was previously suggested by the Irish FA as their preferred model in the recent review of Intermediate football, has support from our existing PIL clubs.
"In situations like this we must work together to find solutions to issues and I'm both thankful and delighted a solution has been found to solve a number of our potential longer-term issues, far and beyond Warrenpoint Town."
NIFL announced on Tuesday that the delayed Irish Premiership promotion/relegation play-off between Dungannon Swifts and Annagh United would go ahead next week.
NIFL said this followed Warrenpoint Town's unsuccessful appeal against not being granted a Championship licence.
Warrenpoint said, instead of pursuing arbitration, they would "continue the dialogue".
The south Down club said this would take place "with our football family in NIFL and our governing association partners at the Irish FA", adding that they "remain confident that through this approach, the bright future of Warrenpoint Town Football Club can be agreed".
Warrenpoint Town finished the season in second place in the Championship which meant they were scheduled to take part in the Irish Premiership promotion/relegation play-off against Dungannon, who finished second from bottom in the top flight.
However, Warrenpoint's failure to pay a tax bill by the stipulated time led to the IFA's licensing committee not granting their Championship licence for next season.
Warrenpoint considered seeking arbitration
Warrenpoint's appeal against that decision was rejected last week and the club initially indicated that it was considering taking the matter to arbitration.
However, Warrenpoint's decision not to do this has enabled NIFL to confirm the play-off dates for next week with the first leg taking place on Tuesday, 30 May before the return game at Stangmore Park two days later.
On the club licensing section of the Irish FA's website, it says that "in 2019, NIFL [Northern Ireland Football League] made the decision to extend mandatory licensing to all clubs participating within its third tier, the Premier Intermediate League (PIL). This was implemented for the first time during the 2020-21 season for the award of licences for season 2021-22".
Those rules appeared to suggest that Warrenpoint could be forced to drop out of the NIFL structure following their rules breach.
However, Warrenpoint's statement on Tuesday night indicated that they remain optimistic about the club's future prospects and that proved to be well founded following Friday morning's NIFL statement.
"We aim to continue to build association football in the south Down area, providing a community based club and a pathway for young people," Tuesday's Warrenpoint statement concluded.
NIFL also announced on Tuesday night that the Championship promotion/relegation play-off between Ballymacash Rangers and Knockbreda would take place on 30 May and 3 June.