Salford City Reds and Ireland full-back Karl Fitzpatrick has issued a public apology to the Widnes club and its supporters for his behavior in the wake of his red card in yesterday’s friendly against the Vikings.
Fitzpatrick was on the end of a high tackle from Tommy Coyle and reacted by hitting out, resulting in referee James Child dismissing both players from the game.
A clearly upset Fitzpatrick was then involved in an incident where he threw his sports drink into a section of excitable Widnes supporters before heading to the dressing room.
However, when approached by Reds’ staff about his behavior it became apparent that Karl had no recollection of hitting anybody or throwing anything at supporters, and was suffering from a severe blow to the head.
While certainly not looking to excuse his behavior Karl hopes that his previously exemplary record will point to the fact that he is not that kind of person, and the player himself is devastated at the turn of Sunday’s events.
He has offered to personally meet and apologise to any Vikings supporters that were affected by his actions.
Director of Football Steve Simms said: “Karl was shook up by our version of events and he has no recollection of any of it. The blow to the head has knocked the sense out of him and I guess we should be thankful he is not more seriously injured.
However, none of this condones what happened out there, for which Karl and the Club are deeply apologetic. The incident took the shine off a good performance from us and I hope the Widnes fans can accept Fitzy’s apology and understand that he is certainly not a malicious player, and is usually exemplary in the way he conducts himself.”
Fitzpatrick will appear before the RFL’s Disciplinary Panel next Wednesday
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