John Fallon: FAI drop the ball in latest football family rift

FAI CEO Jonathan Hill at the FAI AGM, Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley, Dublin. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

IT SHOULDN’T have happened and, worse still, shouldn’t have been allowed to happen.

A veteran of 40 years to the game, fulfilling every role possible, Tom Browne deserved better than what amounted to a public humiliation at Saturday’s FAI annual general meeting.

Plenty of people in the room and online of the 100-strong audience had endured the sinking feeling of losing an election, including the FAI president, but in this bizarre situation there was no rival for Browne to congratulate upon taking his seat on the board.

This ballot was solely to rubberstamp the nominee from the schoolboy/girl pillar of the FAI’s structure, one of only four that has a guaranteed seat at the top table of decision-making on football matters.

If anything, the outcome of a 46-44 defeat was a protest demonstration, rather than personal.

Not that it felt that way watching the dethroned incumbent being sympathised with by his colleagues at the top of the room.

Browne’s sin, if he’s to share any culpability, is being a product of flawed governance.

Packie Bonner highlighted in his successful pitch for reelection a determination to “avoid never going back to where we were before”, an era he was all too aware of by working under former FAI chief executive John Delaney.

And while the financial mismanagement of that chapter is being rectified, the integrity of their governance reform agenda took a battering from this episode.

Even during the dark days of the previous regime, it was the schoolboys wing that railed against groupthink, an outlier willing to utilise their numerical strength.

Pat Quigley, still active as a teller in Browne’s ballot on Saturday, famously titled one of their mutinous uprisings during his term as president till the turn of the millennium as the “tail wagging the dog”.

Nowadays, that fraternity, bolstered with girls’ leagues, is riddled by division, manifesting in a sprinkling of members voting against their parish’s own nominee.

Saturday’s veto, however, wasn’t purely local, for a portion of delegates representing the amateur and professional ranks also reflected their unease in the ballot box.

They weren’t satisfied with the handling of the nomination by not just the SFAI but also their ultimate guardians in the FAI.

It was particularly sensitive that the relevant parties were inadvertently offered a second chance by the December AGM being abandoned to get their act together.

These steps, lest we forget, are enshrined in the FAI’s own electoral code; a system introduced when various overlords, Uefa, Fifa, and Sport Ireland, sought evidence from the new board that all bases were covered when it came to being whiter than white.

That they knew and were notified that wasn’t the case prior to Saturday’s gathering — and the inevitable consequences — is a poor reflection on the association’s leadership.

Correspondence seen by the Irish Examiner shows a directive by the FAI for the SFAI to open Browne’s candidature to competition — a plea subsequently ignored.

Moreover, Derek Moore from the Dublin District Schoolboys/girls league informed the floor that neither he nor his colleagues had been invited to the virtual midweek SFAI meeting ratifying Browne’s nomination.

It was therefore disconcerting for FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill to assert during the debate: “The SFAI revisited that in the way they felt appropriate.”

Shades of grey shouldn’t encroach the black and white domain of rules and procedures.

Football might be a game of opinions — and there’s enough topics in Ireland to consume discourse — yet the lessons from the recent past ought to propagate clear, defined procedures.

Sure, the FAI last year paid management guru Aidan Horan to conduct a review of the SFAI similar to that carried out on the mothership as the inferno blazed through Abbotstown during 2019. And yet words on paper are irrelevant without implementation.

Taking Browne’s reelection off Saturday’s agenda till a later summit — which is going to be called anyway — was the sensible call that the FAI failed to make.

Your columnist sought clarity on their responsibilities around this issue after the latest bloodbath.

Irish Examiner (IE): “Did the SFAI follow all the steps laid out in your correspondence?”

Jonathan Hill (JH): “We interacted with the SFAI, asking them to do X, Y and Z, and they talked to both their executive and their council in the way they felt appropriate.

IE: “So you cannot guarantee they followed the steps?”

JH: “We weren’t in the meeting. There has to be a degree of trust and confidence that all affiliates are doing the right thing.

“It’s my view, and the board felt, once we heard what the process was, that all the people that needed to be asked that question about Tom Browne had been asked. To me, that ticks the box of accountability, transparency, and democracy.”

IE: “Given today’s outcome, is it preferable for the FAI to have a more hands-on role in future?”

JH: “The FAI board will have conversations about the process for consistency.

“We’ve to move to the point where there’s the right link between our constitution and our affiliates.”

President Gerry McAnaney interjects: “We’re here to help but take a LOI club or university: do we now go in and oversee every election of St Patrick’s Athletic or whatever? You have to trust the people to go with the process of the association.”

IE: “But you had no FAI safeguards on implementation?”

JH: “We sent the SFAI a communication, asking to do something that in fairness they felt they’d already done.

“To that degree, we were involved but we didn’t sit in the meeting. We don’t want to be sitting in every affiliate’s meeting.”

SOME facts to finish. There is precedent as the FAI took control of the recent election in the professional pillar that saw Niamh O’Mahony emerge as a new director.

Furthermore, nobody is expecting the FAI to micromanage every club and league in the country. What’s at play here are three pillars who nominate four directors; by design at least, an event repeated every second year.

Not too much to ask. Search fundamentals might go some way to offering sustenance to the “We Are One” Slogan the current FAI custodians trumpet.

Prince Tommo a maverick who leaves legacy to be cherished

Christy Ring and Mick O’Connell — two of the finest exponents of handwork in sport — could only applaud the contribution of goalkeeper Peter Thomas to Waterford United’s league-winning display at Flower Lodge just over 40 years ago.

That was a belter of an occasion in front of 25,000 fans to decide which of the Munster giants would lift the 1972 crown.

Cork Hibernians were on course for the mantle by blazing into a 2-0 lead but splendid stops by Thomas are still recalled with pride in a game Waterford eventually won 3-2 to claim gold.

It wasn’t just shot-stopping and catching that earned Coventry-born Thomas the nickname of The Prince.

In a departure from the tried and trusted punt downfield, he became a pioneer of his generation by using power, but more so accuracy, to throw the ball and kickstart attacks.

Regarded as the best League of Ireland goalkeeper of his time — or any time, according to many — frustration at getting stuck on two caps was apparent. The second and last of those was in front of 120,000 fans at the Maracana Stadium in 1974, Thomas and Ireland restricting World Cup holders Brazil to a 2-1 win.

That aside, five league titles in six years — and a man-of-the-match display in the 1980 FAI Cup final win over St Pat’s — etched the Prince into Blues royalty long before he was taken last week aged 78.

Barry snub a setback as clock ticks on France showdown

Dressed up in any guise, Anthony Barry rebuffing Stephen Kenny’s invitation to slot back onto his Ireland backroom team is a blow ahead of the Euro qualification campaign.

Research and tactical analysis on group opponents, starting with France on March 27, has been underway since the draw was made in October and a newcomer will be playing catch-up.

Barry was the obvious first-choice, given his reputation since walking out for Belgium has remained one-directional, particularly since changes of management at Chelsea don’t appear to change the esteem he’s held in.

Whether he reunites with Roberto Martinez in the Portugal set-up will prove whether the 36-year-old still has the appetite to broaden his toolkit into the international sphere.

But Barry has shown shrew judgement in his various decisions so far. When Tranmere Rovers offered him a route into standalone management in 2020, he instead chose to accept Frank Lampard’s invitation to join him on the Chelsea staff.v He’s remained as a loyal lieutenant since, shunning chances to take the reins at Portsmouth and other clubs while also maintaining his Chelsea service despite Lampard wanting him at Everton.

Leaving Ireland for Belgium was deemed a “no-brainer”, an attraction he hasn’t felt about an Ireland return. Kenny will do well to find a suitably qualified back-up candidate.

Email: [e-mail]