THE Sean MacCumhaills club has been rocked by the news that two leading officers of the club have been handed 12-week suspensions.

The Twin Towns club has confirmed that it will lodge an appeal with the relevant people after being informed that its chairman and secretary have been handed 12-week bans by the Competitions Controls Committee (CCC).

The pair have been sanctioned under rule 6.2 (c) (i) of the Official Guide: ‘Competing for a Club for which one is ineligible to play within the county of one’s own club’. It relates to a player who lined out for the club’s third team in Division 5 of the All-County Football League, with the player allegedly ‘ineligble’ to do so.

The CCC has declined to comment on the matter.

On foot of receiving notification of the sanctions, the Sean MacCumhaills club has reacted strongly and has confirmed that it will be contesting the decision of the CCC, which is understood to have been made last Monday night.

“We will be appealing this,” a MacCumhaills spokesman said.

“The club is extremely annoyed so, naturally, we will be lodging an appeal.

“The club will be backing the people concerned to the hilt on this. The club is shocked and amazed by the suspensions because have done nothing wrong.

“It is a very unfair suspension and it should serve as a warning to officers of others clubs. This should concern every chairman and secretary in the county. Are they actually to be responsible for each and every player? For a club the size of ours, that is almost impossible to police and manage.

“It’s very disappointing that the chairman and secretary have been picked out and suspended like this.”

The player in question is also set to be handed a suspension under the same rule.

Meanwhile, MacCumhaills dual player David White is set to have his appeal heard tonight (Thursday) by the Ulster Council. White was handed a 24-week ban last month over comments he made on social media criticising the decision not to play extra time in the Donegal SFC. A subsequent appeal to the Donegal Hearings Committee saw the ban cut to 12 weeks, but a subsequent appeal was lodged to the Ulster Hearings Committee, who are due to hear the case.