The Spanish player whom Dublin club Ballyfrack FC declared dead in order to get a match postponed, Fernando Nuno La-Fuente, is alive and well in Galway, and says he can see the funny side.
Ballyfrack FC announced that one of their players had been killed in a car accident last Thursday in order to delay a match in the Leinster Senior League on Saturday.
There was a hell of a response from the community with players from other teams wearing black armbands and minutes of silence being held at matches.
He even made it to the front page of the local paper
The only problem, Fernando wasn’t dead. Far from it in fact, he’d just made the inherently life affirming decision to move to Galway.
Speaking on ‘Today with Sean O’Rourke’ yesterday Fernando said that his former teammates had let him know ahead of time that he might hear something about an accident, but left out the part about his being killed.
He had been taken out of the team’s WhatsApp group and knew something was up when he got a call from the team telling hime not to worry if he saw the League post something about him being in accident.
“But I thought it was the breaking a leg kind of accident,” he said.
Fernando, who lives and works in Galway, had just gotten home from work when he got calls from his colleagues telling him “you’re celebrity”.
That was how he got the news of his tragic death in a car accident.
After the news broke he called the club and they apologised to him, but Fernando said that he can see the funny side of things.
“It was serious on their part, but I’m finding it a little funny. Because, basically no-one was harmed.”
As for his family getting the news, Fernando said that his wife knew when he did and had got some messages on Facebook, but he had to call his mother straight away before she heard the news.
He’s since spoken with the team and said that it seems that this was “a one-man decision” with most of the players not involved.
Asked why the club was so desperate to avoid the match with Arklow, Fernando suggested they may have had difficulty fielding a team, as most of the player have full time jobs and other responsibilities.
Ballyfrack FC has since apologised at large for the “gross error of judgement” that led to these fake reports.
Officials for the Leinster Senior League are expected to meet with the club today. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that meeting.
