Ireland lose the moral high ground
The process of transformation might have taken all of six years from but, thanks to that €5million deal struck behind closed doors between the FAI and Fifa in early 2010, the details of which have only belatedly and sensationally made it into the public domain, the FAI has managed to surrender Irish football’s position on the high moral ground.
That’s no mean feat considering how highly, benignly and even compassionately we were regarded in the football world in the immediate aftermath of that 1-1 draw in the World Cup play-off at the Stade de France in November 2009, a hugely controversial match and result which meant that, on the back of their first-leg 1-0 victory in Dublin, it was France who would progress at Ireland’s expense to the World Cup Finals in South Africa. (And there’s another measure of changed times: even the mere mention now of that 2010 tournament could easily see a careless scribe mistype FBI for FAI).
