Genesis ‘will go ahead’ despite Rooney exit
However, the Minister for Sport John O’Donoghue said he was appointing his own representative to the joint Irish Sports Council/FAI Liaison group which is overseeing the reform process.
Senior football chiefs expressed their confidence in attaining that goal in a meeting with Mr O’Donoghue yesterday. They are planning similar talks with the ISC next week.
FAI President Milo Corcoran, along with Michael Cody, (secretary) and John Delaney (treasurer) insisted the Genesis recommendations will be acted upon.
“It was a very cordial meeting and the minister stressed the importance of the Genesis Report which we told him we were fully supportive of,” Mr Corcoran said
“We may have lost a chief executive but that does not mean the end of Genesis,” he vowed.
“The minister never brought up the issue of funding and we hope to hold talks with the Sports Council shortly.”
Mr O’Donoghue said the continuation of organisational turbulence within the FAI was of serious concern to him and the Government.
He said it was “having a corrosive impact on public confidence in the ability of the Association to promote and develop soccer in this country and was also damaging to the international standing of the game here”.
He said: “It is vitally important that the Association should act decisively at this time to restore public confidence and to put the disharmony of the recent past behind it.”
He has also asked the FAI to maintain regular contact with his department on matters affecting the development of the Association.
Meanwhile, the Irish Sports Council have confirmed they will meet FAI representatives in the next week to discuss the grants which have been withheld over the body’s failure to implement the Genesis report.
FAI President Milo Corcoran invited Sports Council chairman Pat O’Neill and chief executive John Treacy to meet with the FAI Board of Management.
The ISC has suspended €300,000 in funding that was due for the FAI, as they had set a deadline of last week to implement the Genesis report.
While the Sports Council felt the departure of Rooney was an internal matter and didn’t directly affect the funding issue, they are keen to meet with representatives from Merrion Square to discuss the withheld grants.
But while gaining the trust and confidence of the ISC and Government once more will be important, the Association also face the task of regaining the trust of the grass roots.
Denis Cruise, Secretary of the Athletic Union League and National Council delegate for the FAI Junior Council, believes the Association’s public image has suffered greatly.
He said: “The image of the association has taken another hit, which does have an affect. Why would anyone volunteer to get involved?
“If there is a problem, it should have been dealt with privately. We cannot continue to wash our dirty linen in public,” he added.
Fran Gavin, General Secretary of the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI), was also dismayed by the feuding within the FAI.
Gavin, in Dundalk yesterday for discussions with Dundalk FC over the non-payment of players wages was annoyed that, at a time when the eircom League is struggling financially, the FAI is once again paying off a chief executive.
“It’s ridiculous that at a time when we’re looking for players to get the wages they’re owed, the FAI chief executive gets a big payoff,” he said.
“I’m disappointed. That’s the fifth chief executive in eight years and I think for football to develop in Ireland, we need stability.
“I don’t think Rooney leaving will have any direct affect on the PFAI because we deal with the eircom League. But I don’t think the eircom League was a big issue for him. That was the impression I was given.”
Gavin admits that, without stability, he holds little hope for the future, and ‘stability’ seems to be the buzzword around Merrion Square.
FAI secretary Michael Cody is to assume the chief executive’s chair on a temporary basis until a replacement can be found.
Cody, along with Corcoran, met staff at Merrion Square yesterday for a meeting which was described as “civil and constructive,” and the former FBD Insurance executive will assume the role when Rooney officially leaves the FAI tomorrow.
Next week, the search for a successor will begin in earnest when the board meets, though it still has to be decided whether to make the hunt for a new chief executive internal or external.
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