No, they said "there is no physical reality to the matter", where, judging by context, "the matter" is the question of whether the Earth revolves around the Sun.
The conclusion that there is no physical reality to this is based on the what @aluren mentioned - you can take any immutable point of reference and describe the movements of the others from it using the same laws of physics, thus "the matter" becomes one of philosophy and choice of point of reference rather than physics itself.
You may disagree with this point but I don't think anyone disputed the existence of a physical reality, they simply moved one particular question out of its domain.
Changing the point of reference will change your mathematical model, sure, but it will still describe a movement around a barycenter, and the statement remains true whatever your philosophy. Numerous ways to model a phenomenon don't deny its existence.
Again: not denying the existence of the phenomenon, only removing it from the realm of physical reality to that of philosophy and mathematical point of reference.
The conclusion that there is no physical reality to this is based on the what @aluren mentioned - you can take any immutable point of reference and describe the movements of the others from it using the same laws of physics, thus "the matter" becomes one of philosophy and choice of point of reference rather than physics itself.
You may disagree with this point but I don't think anyone disputed the existence of a physical reality, they simply moved one particular question out of its domain.