A meeting to try to resolve the issues surrounding the number of teams competing in the Premier Division next season is set to take place Thursday night.
Ennis Town notified the league that they could be forced to withdraw from the Premier Division with concerns over a lack of numbers for the season ahead.
A meeting was held last Friday to try to decide when the new season would kick off but no agreement was reached between the parties present with the start date set to be discussed tonight.
The current situation raises the possibility that Sporting Ennistymon, who were relegated from the Premier Division last season, could be reinstated.
The club were angered by a ruling over their use of a Ukrainian refugee as they were deducted points which meant they faced a play off against Kilrush Rangers to try and ensure their survival in the premier division of Clare soccer.
Sporting Ennistymon subsequently did not field a team in that Promotion/Relegation Play Off, citing a lack of clarity surrounding the date this game would be played.
The game was set for the same date that the Clare hurlers competed in the Munster Final against Limerick with the club stating that players had already booked tickets for the game and would subsequently be out of pocket.
Shannon Olympic finished second from bottom last season and were relegated as a result. They could be asked to participate in the Premier Division next season.
There is a feeling amongst clubs that more needs to be done to ensure they can continue to field teams with Ennis Town’s struggles raising concerns.
Despite their U19 side reaching a Munster final last season, the club now look set to drop out of the Premier Division.
Meanwhile, at the CDSL AGM, the rules surrounding the awarding of points following walkovers was amended.
There was huge controversy over the awarding of the Second Division title to Rhine Rovers with Connolly Celtic leading the way until a walkover completely altered the landscape of the title race.
At the 2021 AGM, Rhine Rovers proposed that where a club or team is sanctioned for failing to fulfil fixtures that its record for the entire season be expunged and all teams in the Division be awarded six points regardless of whether they have played that team or not.
This rule ended up having a major bearing on the destination of the title with Manus Celtic being forced to give a walkover to Kildysart in a game which should have had no relevance to the title race.
However, as this was Manus Celtic’s second time to give a walkover, as per rule 47(d), which was altered at Tuesday’s AGM, it meant that they lost all their points for the season with their points redistributed.
As a result of Manus’ elimination and the distribution of their points, Rhine leapfrogged Connolly Celtic who still had a game in hand. Connolly Celtic had previously beaten Manus so it was Rhine Rovers who gained from Manus’ situation. Had Connolly won their two remaining games, they would have been crowned league winners.
Under the new amendment of the rule, a team will not lose all their points should they provide two walkovers in a season.