Boreham Wood Football Club having completed a thorough internal investigation and spoken with Carlisle Utd wish to make a final statement regarding the laughable accusation of our players urinating in the dressing room after the recent FA Cup tie at the Carlisle game.
With this perhaps being the biggest non story of all time and something that detracts from a wonderful performance from a non league club 74 places below Carlisle in the football pyramid. It seems that it is now accepted by the Carlisle Chairman John Nixon that the wrong conclusions were made on their behalf.
John Nixon has spoken to our Chairman personally, he has also admitted on a left answer phone message, that there is in reality no evidence that anybody urinated in the away dressing room. Neither he nor anyone actually saw any evidence of this other than the simplistic photos produced that could be anything and that conclusions were reached..
However Boreham Wood Football Club, as a way of explaining our position, wish to make the following observations to the four photographs and letter subsequently sent to us from Carlisle Utd.
Having been goaded by the Carlisle players, when Carlisle Utd scored their winner and we all accept if you give stick out you also have to take it. The game turned fractious, as witnessed by 1,500 supporters.
Mark Jones our left back, still angry at that treatment at the end of the game, entered our changing room and immediately kicked out at our Juice (plastic urn) container that sat on the floor. The plastic urn was sent flying across the dressing room and the content remains of orange juice was sent across the floor.
That is the complete non story, it is the simple boring truth and to suggest our 
players have stood and urinated in front of our manager Ian Allinson (over 500 football league games) and in front of our two female medical team is beyond belief..
The allegation of a damaged door was then reported to us by the local press (not Carlisle Utd) this was again taken seriously but after examining the pictorial evidence or total lack of evidence. We still did the correct thing and spoke to each and every player, to our Manager, to our kit manager and to our medical team, we now know this further allegation to be a complete and utter falsehood.
Our observations are that the dressing rooms at Carlisle are simply old and lack investment. In truth they are very shabby as is clearly shown in the pictures they sent and without being disrespectful they were dirty on arrival. However that is not our business and this is nothing that we do not encounter on an occasional basis in the non league world but we can categorically deny any wrong doing. The pathetic picture of a damaged door, appears to show a 60 year old red door or wood panel with a sixpence size hole that looks like it has been damaged in 1970 and the damage was hardly something a boot would do, if that is indeed their suggestion???.
Finally an old tea pot they say was put in a urinal by ourselves.. Our observations are again simple, that on our arrival back to the changing room at the end of the game. A tea pot full of hot tea had been put by a Carlisle official on a very narrow beveled ledged wall exactly at the point of entry into our shower area.. Why it was put there is anyones guess but we can show the pictorial evidence of the beveled ledge of little more than 4″ wide and put simply it is no place to balance a hot tea pot..
Our medical department told the club during our investigations, that they thought it was an accident waiting to happen. After checking if anybody wanted a cup of tea. Our kit managers were simply asked to empty the tea pot contents down the shower drain before the boys showered and they then placed the tea pot by the adjacent sink next to the urinals.
That is where it remained until after we left the changing area. After we exited the changing area that evening, not one Carlisle club official made any complaint what so ever to any BWFC club official, not to our Chairman, not to our staff, not to our players and not to our manager, who then all proceeded onto our team coach, very proud of the performance we had put in..
The Carlisle Utd, YTS boys were at this point in our dressing room and shower areas cleaning up, which is apparently all part of their normal duties. It appears by the letter that we have subsequently received from Carlisle Utd the next day, that the local press were then called into this area, the allegations were then made and the subsequent witch hunt orchestrated by Carlisle Utd media team began…
The tea pot was suddenly not by the sink and the fact it was subsequently photographed in a urinal looks like mischief making, it is certainly a contrived photo and it was very convenient for a local press photo opportunity.
Perhaps that story deflects from the poor behaviour and performance of their players and management team. Who were so disparaging to our players over the two games, failed to accept our hospitality at our place and the fact that our players were then left with absolutely no hospitality or food after the game at Brunton Park perhaps says a lot, though the Carlisle players were of course fed..
In summary, our Chairman has now spoken to John Nixon the Chairman at 
Carlisle Utd and John was asked why we were not informed immediately if there was a problem. Why did his media department hang us out to dry and why did the local press contingent led by their own press employee Andy Hall end up being judge and jury??
John Nixon has admitted to his credit in person and in a long phone message left on our Chairman’s phone that his staff may have completely jumped the gun, he has admitted they have no evidence what so ever, he has accepted the urine allegation was in fact orange juice, just as we have maintained throughout and apologised for no food being laid on for our players.
The “he said, she said” nonsense perpetuated by Carlisle Utds media man Andy Hall however has not gone away. He does a disservice to a competitive two game FA Cup tie, where a small non league club shook Carlisle to their boots and did a great disservice to both sets of supporters. He has shamefully put two and two together, come up with 5 and anyone with a modicum of common sense, can see that from the photoss and he is now scrambling around trying to justify his actions..
The urine allegation is of course disgusting and because that allegation is so serious, it has tainted our whole FA Cup experience, our clubs good name and what we achieved on the night. We obviously cannot let that go unanswered, as such we will now fight that allegation robustly in the high court as this has gone beyond an FA matter.
The fact that a Carlisle Utd media man and employee Andy Hall, invited the local press into the dressing room area. The fact that he did so on behalf of Carlisle Utd, the fact he contacted our local newspaper, the fact he orchestrated a fabricated story on behalf of Carlisle Utd with their local paper and gave credence to all this on a Carlisle fans forum, has slandered our name and we feel we need to take this matter outside of the FA’s and football domain.
Our solicitors have already been instructed to begin court proceedings against Carlisle United and we will now take this to the high court. It is for Carlisle United to either prove their accusations or to compensate our football club for creating this fiasco.
The only way that can be avoided as we’ve told John Nixon is for a full unequivocal retraction and written apology by Carlisle Utd, that is made public, that is addressed to Boreham Wood Football Club, its players, its management and to our supporters..
No other public statements will be made on this issue, due to the impending court case.
