UL Sport has cancelled the UL Super League following complaints of littering and drinking on Maguires Pitches. The league was postponed in its first week due to anti-social behaviour and fully cancelled last week.
Speaking to the Limerick Voice, UL Super League organiser, Dara Ryan, explained, “The social soccer was originally postponed due to drinking and littering, and after liaising with UL Sport, it returned; however, certain problems persisted with littering”.
“The Super League was doomed to fail this year due to being promised pitch space by UL Sport, which was then not given, leading to too many teams in the competition and teams sitting idle”, he added.
The UL Super League is a social soccer league which allows players who don’t want to play football competitively to have fun and play matches every week. The league has grown on social media, gaining 1,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram. This year, the league consisted of 23 teams with over 350 students involved.
On what the league means to students, Dara said, “The social football means a lot to players, there are many players who showed up every week, some guys came to soccer more than they went to college, they all made Instagram accounts and gave it their all”.
“The Super League means a lot to me. I’ve met a lot of people through it and made friends. It was a huge part of my week, giving many hours over the last year to the Super League, so to see it end like this is very upsetting”, he added.
The decision to cancel the Super League was a decision which was made by senior members of UL Sport and UL Soccer. It was noted in a statement made by the UL Super League on Instagram that, “UL Sport had the best interests of the college and players in mind as regards to safety due to the lack of insurance for a significant number of players”.
There is still hope by the organisers of the league that an agreement can be reached to bring back the social soccer group.
When contacted by the Limerick Voice, UL Sport did not provide a statement.