Institute: Club decide not to pursue arbitration route after automatic relegation
- Published
Institute boss Sean Connor said news of his side's relegation was the low-point of his football career
Institute have said they will not be going down the route of arbitration to attempt to overturn their relegation from the Irish Premiership.
The decision means they appear to have accepted the inevitability of their relegation after the rejection of their appeal by the Irish FA on Wednesday.
Institute said they would not devote further resources into attempting to achieve an "unattainable outcome".
A club statement said this was a "difficult decision".
"We are aware that it has been a difficult and challenging season for all clubs and that the resumption of competitive games, with supporters present, is key to ensuring the financial viability of most of them.
"Consequently, and in accordance with a 'least harm' philosophy, we do not want to contribute to any further delay in achieving that objective.
"Accordingly, the club's management committee have made the extremely difficult decision not to pursue the issue by way of arbitration, but to try to move forward and rebuild in pursuit of the wellbeing of our club, our players, our supporters, and of football in general.
"We would like to acknowledge and applaud the efforts of other clubs, Glentoran, Larne and Crusaders in particular, who attempted to explore potential solutions in keeping with the principle of solidarity, only to be frustrated by the vested interests of others."
Institute were relegated to the Championship after a mathematical formula was used to decide standings in the Northern Ireland Football League.
The club submitted their appeal to the Irish FA on 26 June, citing it was statistically possible to avoid relegation with seven games remaining.
Announcing the outcome of the appeal on Wednesday, the IFA said that while it had empathy with the club over the outcome of the curtailed season "automatic relegation is a part and parcel of the football cycle".
It also rejected Institute's claim that the issue of relegation had "not been either communicated or had been ignored", citing minutes from a NIFL board meeting on 22 June and denied that "undue influence" had been exerted by members of the Steering Group or the NIFL Board.
