The difference between IRFU and FAI standoffs? This one will drag on

This time around, it’s not clear how the IRFU will deliver, particularly from a group of athletes and former players who have no faith in that organisation. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

In Irish sports administration it isn’t even the scale of the outrage, rather the speed of the rectification, that matters most.

During times of great stress for Government and Sport Ireland in the midst of a federation scandal, the amelioration process is king — or queen in the case of the IRFU.

The Department of Sport and its statutory partners will pour great energy behind the stricken non-government body (NGB) to ensure a swift resolution that doesn’t reflect badly on its ministers, or in turn, on their watching constituents.

Such statutory enthusiasm is always absent in the lead-up to a disaster, permeating myopia which seems like a constant in the DNA of sporting governance.

But once that first Hail Mary is delivered with devastation as we saw from the “deeply discouraged” women of rugby, the wheels of power quickly churn into action.

The great difference between the rugby players of today and the women’s international footballers of 2017 will be the time required to resolve this mess.

Time is something the IRFU doesn’t have here — the battlelines have been drawn with impunity and that brings the potential for lengthy and open warfare, particularly once the players become more vocal and start appearing in the media.

While 2017 was deeply troubling and devastating for the image of football, equality and for Irish sport itself, it was very clear what the issues were.

Players were no longer going to accept fob-off through a lack of restitution of basic needs — per diems, tracksuits and “no more humiliation in airport public toilets, thanks”.

Today the demands centre around ‘governance’ and ‘transparency’ — the two greyest areas in Irish sport — these core objectives as laid out by the 62 rugby players past and present have never been adequately dealt with by any sporting organisation.

Sure, the terms are name-checked with hyper-regularity in sporting strategies, as governing bodies demonstrate their credentials to Governments and stakeholders, whose statutory and commercial KPIs insist on such fantastic credentials — but really it’s pretence.

At least in 2017 there were achievable objectives and requests laid out by the players and their representatives from the PFAI — a formidable cocktail that even in its most intransigent state the FAI didn’t dare to turn down, once shots had been fired.

Even for an organisation that had up to April ’17 deliberately side-stepped the issues raised by women’s football, the clear itemising of demands left no doubt as to how a speedy resolution could be reached.

This time around, it’s not clear how the IRFU will deliver, particularly from a group of athletes and former players who have no faith in that organisation.

Not sniping back in outrage would have been a good start, but the IRFU will be smarting from one of the greatest charges that can be made against an administration — that they’re not seen as fit for purpose.

The moment a scandal like this hits any sporting body, the most important aspect from all sides is to get into a room, or in separate rooms with an intermediary as happened with the FAI, and get the situation dealt with within 48 hours.

Killing news cycles as the story charges out of control is a key issue (although for some reason this particular issue hasn’t reached quite the same levels of fever pitch as almost five years ago).

For maximum impact with purpose, the players and their key advisor, the formidable and highly skilled lawyer Stuart Gilhooly knew the power of imagery — a press conference with household names recounting horrific stories of mistreatment quickly carried around the world.

The IRFU row failed to make the news headlines on Morning Ireland the morning after — although the country’s most influential radio programme did lead the sports bulletins with the fallout.

Also the fact that none of the signatories presented for media is hugely significant — a strongly worded letter is effective, but sound-bites and live quotes will always trump due process.

That’s not to say that this isn’t a hugely devastating development for Irish sport — and particularly for those in power.

Coming as it did on a day when the Department of Sport delivered €65m to Irish sport, the blow delivered by the rugby players was devastating for Government.

One message delivered privately to the IRFU from ministers and their operators will have been clear — “Sort this out, quickly.”

I was part of the FAI delegation that negotiated with the PFAI and the players in a Liffey Valley hotel in April 2017, in negotiations that were successfully concluded within 48 hours of the press conference which sparked the biggest shame in Irish sport. The period of time coincided with one of the greatest financial scandals, one which was deliberately misreported by the FAI as being €21.1m in liabilities but was later found to be €57m.

It would be entirely wrong to suggest that money was at the heart of the players’ demands. Team captain and a central leader in the now historic event was Emma Byrne, who spoke with eloquence of empowerment and respect.

Ultimately and very quickly the situation was rectified and fast, but such speed is not something that the IRFU can rely upon right now — the situation has become political and politics moves slowly.

Meetings are now organised with ministers, the Government is now involved at such a level that it never needed to be in the first place, and Sport Ireland may even have to take some responsibility. Once the fallout from the FAI situation in 2017 was resolved, I received a call from a leading figure in Sport Ireland advising of their deep disappointment that the organisation had been name-checked in the press upon the successful conclusion of negotiations.

A terrible situation had been made better, but those in statutory power were still worried about their own accountability — it kind of sums up where the priorities lie, and where the great fault lines exist in sports administration. This one will run, with no swift solution in sight.