Duff expects to be fit for France showdown

“I’M feeling fine and I’ll be fit to play against France.”

That was the upbeat message communicated to the FAI yesterday by Damien Duff, and it will be music to the ears of Giovanni Trapattoni as the Republic of Ireland manager prepares for the World Cup play-off games in just over a week’s time.

Fears for the winger’s availability had grown earlier this week when his club Fulham indicated that he would not figure in their game against Wigan at the weekend.

But manager Roy Hodgson has often spoken of Duff’s unquenchable desire to play for his country and, even if the player doesn’t feature at the weekend, he is unlikely to stand in his way as Ireland’s biggest games in many years loom large.

Duff, who had suffered an achilles flare-up in Fulham’s 3-1 victory over Liverpool on Saturday, informed the FAI that he expects to return to training today and, assuming he doesn’t suffer any reaction, is clearly confident he will be able to join up with the Irish squad when they convene in Dublin next Tuesday to begin their build-up for the first leg of the play-offs at Croke Park on Saturday week.

FAI chief executive John Delaney has sought to allay fears that the second leg of the game won’t be available on Irish television after it emerged that a joint offer by RTÉ and Sky – reportedly worth €600,000 – had been rejected as the French Football Federation held out for a fee of €1.5 million.

Said the FAI boss: “There’s always a sense of what you’d call commercial posturing going on in the weeks before a game like this and I would imagine and I would hope, for sure, that the Irish fans who don’t travel to France get to see that game on terrestrial television in Ireland.

“I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t happen.”

Delaney said that the FAI were happy with the deal they had struck with French television for coverage of the first leg but declined to comment on media reports in France that the M6 channel had paid €5m for the rights to the game in Croke Park.

Meanwhile, at Abbotstown yesterday, the FAI also announced new regulations for football scouts in Ireland aimed at protecting young players who are offered trials and deals outside the jurisdiction.

Former Ireland manager Eoin Hand, now the Association’s Player Support Services Manager, told a press conference of “horrific situations” involving people claiming to be scouts who were selling trials in England and of youngsters being bullied, abandoned at airports or put up in sub-standard accommodation.

Under the new system, all scouts not under the jurisdiction of the FAI will have to register with the Association in order to operate in Ireland, while permission to leave the country to go on trial will not be granted to any player under 14.

Said Hand: “I must stress that most scouts here are very hard-working, genuine and scrupulous people but there are loopholes and cowboys who try to exploit them. These new regulations, which I think are fantastic, are all about accountability in what is a very vulnerable and sensitive area.”

Full details are available at www.fai.ie