A number of fans were allowed to attend Friday night's match between Coleraine and Ballymena United.
The game was played less than two hours after the Minister for Communities Carál Ní Chuilín announced it was necessary to stop spectators from attending sporting events under new Covid guidelines.
A number of Coleraine fans were already inside the Showgrounds when the announcement was made, with many more congregated outside ahead of the 7.45pm kick-off.
Coleraine chairman Colin McKendry said the decision to allow entry was based on the health and safety of spectators who were already at the ground.
Coleraine had sold 450 tickets for the curtain-raiser against Ballymena United which was the reduced capacity under previous coronavirus restrictions.
But on Friday evening Minister for Communities Carál Ní Chuilín MLA sent a letter to sporting bodies saying it was "necessary to stop spectators from attending sporting events and align the sector with the health regulations restricting the number of people permitted to gather for a common purpose, that figure is 15."
The new restrictions will remain in place for the next four weeks as part of the latest mini-lockdown.
Speaking to the BBC, Coleraine chairman McKendry said: "I took advice from the PSNI.
"We had been awaiting guidance and the announcement was made around 7pm that there was to be no fans in the ground.
"Our board had to make a decision based on a public order offence that was being created outside our ground. We had people who were crowding outside the ground.
"We had to open the gates as people were starting to get irate, so we felt they would be safer inside our ground than outside. Therefore, we opened the gates as we feared somebody was going to get hurt outside.
"The advice we received was that it was over to the club to make the decision, but we had no other decision to make if we were to prevent people getting hurt.
"It was not ideal. We made a conscious decision and I don't know what will come of it. We felt people were safer inside the ground than outside."
