FAI must stand firm on club and country issue

THE new chief executive of the FAI, Fran Rooney, predicted on his appointment something will happen over the next few years that will test the FAI’s ability to respond.

He made the comment in the context of Saipan and the ensuing controversy that threatened to ruin Ireland's World Cup. He said the FAI could not have anticipated the events in Saipan but they could have dealt with it better. Rooney went on to suggest that what the FAI must do is to make sure how they respond to a crisis.

"Life is about responding to what happens," he said.

May we humbly suggest the issue most likely to test the new FAI leader and his team is the securing of players when they are needed to serve the interests of Ireland's international team.

Anybody who has not noticed a developing storm around this issue has not been paying attention.

The major clubs have become progressively more strident in their criticism of the international programme of matches and the demands of the national associations.

The number of matches now demanded of top players is obviously too high. Ipswich Town, in the English first division, are far from being a top club but Matt Holland, as an ever-present in their team, had played more than 60 games this season before he reported for duty with Ireland last week. The reasons why are two-fold.

The increased number of teams playing international football in Europe since the fragmentation of the Soviet Union meant more matches than ever in World Cup and European Championship qualifying tournaments. And the clubs' programmes have also expanded.

The upcoming games for Ireland in the European Championship help to illustrate the situation. Ireland will play Albania on June 7 and Georgia four days later and both matches will be in Dublin. These matches will be played after the close of the English club season, of course, and manager Brian Kerr intends to take advantage by bringing his players together for a longer preparation than usual.

They will train in Dublin for five days at the end of the month and return home for a break before regrouping five days before the Albania match. Inevitably this will annoy some club managers. Some will be asked to release players from club tours and others would prefer to see their players resting after a long season.

And with Europe's leading clubs demanding that associations pay the players' wages while they are on international duty, it will provide them with more ammunition to bolster their case. This is the issue certain to cause the FAI and other associations problems in the future.

The major clubs recently succeeded in persuading FIFA president Sepp Blatter to agree to discuss this again in the near future and they will continue to push the idea.

This would cause the FAI enormous difficulties. The FAI depend almost exclusively on the income from match days for their finance. This income will shrink when they will not be allowed use temporary seating at Lansdowne Road and the areas behind the goalposts will have to be kept empty of spectators. If the ground is closed for

redevelopment, taking their matches to Anfield and Old Trafford will increase their overheads substantially, even if the income from the increased capacity will help to offset much of it.

Fran Rooney is clearly a football man, and if this is the case then he must love the international team, and the glitz and glamour of international occasions. If he is looking for an area of potential threat to the FAI and its programme of development, he would be well advised to investigate possible ways of protecting the international game from the narrow-minded and selfish demands of Europe's major clubs.