Delaney’s ‘bit of folklore’ an embarrassment

Following Ireland’s tame exit from Euro 2012, the glare of the media has again turned to FAI chief John Delaney.

More specifically, it has turned towards some aspects of his behaviour while out carousing with Irish fans.

Over the weekend, Mr Delaney was quick to defend his actions in Sopot, where he was carried aloft by hundreds of Irish fans who proceeded to remove his shoes and socks.

Unsurprisingly, Facebook and YouTube were awash with unflattering pictures and videos of the FAI chief appearing in a somewhat dishevelled state, issuing rallying calls to Irish fans in the wee hours.

However, the FAI chief said that he took “grave offence” to criticism of him having a night out on the town in Poland.

“We worked very, very hard,” said Mr Delaney. “And if I had a night out, with family, my sister was over there, my brother-in-law and some friends, I think that’s something I’m entitled to do on the odd occasion when I’m there.”

He also dismissed the now infamous incident in Sopot as “a bit of folklore, a bit of fun”.

“I’m coming home, 200 lads see me, they lift me up and carry me head-high to my hotel and they sing ‘shoes off for the Boys in Green’. And they handed me my shoes back and they handed me my socks back. Simple as that,” said Mr Delaney.

However, it was not as simple as that. The FAI chief executive’s explanation seems to imply that he was some sort of hero to the fans. Virtually all the fans I spoke to in Poland the morning after the incident said most took it as an opportunity to make fun of the man. The most commonly-heard descriptions of the event were “embarrassing” and “cringeworthy”.

One fan I spoke to said a female companion of Mr Delaney had “sprinted” into the crowd to remove him from the scene.

Certainly, the footage shows a number of companions having to physically extract the worse-for-wear FAI chief from fans.

Speaking the morning after the shoes and socks incident, David Farrell from Wicklow said it was farcical that Mr Delaney couldn’t project a professional image for the two weeks Ireland lasted in the tournament.

“His shoes and socks had been taken off him at this stage. The crowd were loving it,” said David “For one or two weeks of his life he has to be professional and he couldn’t manage that.

“People had their phones out; they were taking pictures and videos. It’ll be up on YouTube before the tournament is out I’d say. It was crazy stuff.”

Sure enough, it was up on YouTube. The comments were pretty scathing

“What a joke of a man, partying it up in Poland until the wee hours whilst the domestic league is falling apart”; “Cringe on pretty much all levels”; “This makes me embarrassed to be a fan of the LOI. Yet another club goes under at home and he’s in Sopot on the piss with ‘the lads’.” Just some of the comments on a myriad of clips of the incident.

Defending his dishevelled state, Mr Delaney decided to trot out the line that he had seen journalists in more dishevelled states when on Irish away trips.

“I’ve seen journalists more dishevelled on occasions and I’ve seen people who believe they have a more credible life a lot more dishevelled,” he said.

While that may be true, journalists are not paid over €400,000 annually to represent Irish football to the world. Mr Delaney is.

Furthermore, his antics were not just ridiculed by his own people. The Guardian took to calling him a “clown” and the “FAI’s prize cabbage”.

Not exactly a Saipan-size catastrophe, but Mr Delaney has hardly covered himself in glory.