Niall Quinn: ‘The people’s game, when it goes well for our country, is our football’

Irish rugby has knocked the ball out of the park in both a sporting and a business sense.

Provincial and national teams are flourishing and the game is a magnet for sponsors and a model of good governance at most levels.

Niall Quinn knows and respects such facts, but the former Republic of Ireland international and Sunderland FC chairman refuses to believe that the oval game can hold a candle to football when it comes to its potential on and off the field.

“With the greatest of respect to the rugby guys, Johnny Sexton’s great moment, I was actually in Paris for it and it was excellent. I saw Neil Francis did a column on it recently – ‘Greater than 1990, the country stopped in its tracks’.

“Did they stop in Ballyfermot? Did they stop in Crumlin? Did they stop in Finglas? Did they stop in the North Wall? I don’t think so.

“The people’s game, when it goes well for our country, is our football.”

Quinn was keen to point out that the football ‘industry’ is not the FAI, who he described accurately as the game’s guardians.

He spoke passionately about untapped potential, how the game could benefit from tax breaks and what it could learn from rugby.

“We have got to give ourselves a great shot at getting back to those days. What does being at the Euros mean to the country?

“What does being at a World Cup mean to the country? I’d have our sport above rugby all day long for potential grants.

“But rugby is so good, they have some great people who have done a great job. I’d never give out about them.

“They’ve been excellent and they should give us something to aspire to, even though it’s a different set of circumstances.”