FAI embrace a new beginning

"We promised 12 months ago we would change the organization and what this meeting has done is to fast-forward that process."

THE sense of a new beginning that pervaded the conference room of the Galway hotel where the FAI held their AGM was so powerful it was tangible.

The 93 delegates who ushered through the revolutionary proposals of the association's executives were so committed, they only just stopped short of acknowledging their decision with a standing ovation.

As endorsements go, this was unequivocal. And the unanimity with which the proposed initiatives of the president Milo Corcoran, new chief executive Fran Rooney and their fellow officers were accepted, represented a triumph so complete it must have occasioned just a little surprise.

The delegates had before them a 22-page document stamped 'confidential' and containing the blueprint for the management structure of the FAI that Rooney and the executive wished to introduce.

The first proposal put to the meeting was key, for it was the most critical element of the overall document.

In its most basic form, the proposal was that rank and file delegates of the FAI voluntarily surrendered 12 seats on the pivotal board of management committee.

These were important positions that also bore, of course, a level of status and a range of perks that were commensurate with the level of responsibility involved.

A potential snag was immediately identified when debate on the proposal opened.

According to rule, suggested Noel Kenneally, secretary of the Dublin Amateur League and a well-known expert on the regulations, the CEO could not sit on the proposed new-style Board of Management.

Kenneally reflected the general desire for change and advancement when he proposed a course that would not necessitate a postponement of the issue until a rule change affording the CEO the right to sit on the committee was brought before the council.

He said: "I believe we have unanimous support for this document in its entirety in the spirit of change that is evident here today.

"Should the meeting unanimously adopt the document in its entirety, then it would not be necessary to go through the minefield of the rules for each proposal."

Kenneally duly put this new proposal to the meeting, it was seconded byCorcoran, and carried unanimously.

The president pointed out that any one objection to the proposal would cause it to fail but he need not have worried. His invitation for objections and/or abstentions was merely to conform to protocol.

The officer board could hard have anticipated such a sweeping welcome for their proposals.

And as a result the new Board of Management will consist of 10 president, hon secretary, hon treasurer, the CEO and the chairpersons of six sub-committees.

These committees will be consist of 12 persons and their responsibilities are indicated by their individual titles: domestic, international, underage, development, legal/corporate affairs and finance.

The FAI council was increased by four members from the previous maximum of 56, with extra places being allocated to the Ulster FA, Connacht FA and two extra places for the Schools' FAI.

Rooney laid emphasis on a new system under which any member of the football family will have three opportunities of making his or her way on to committee and through that committee on to the board of management.

Eight places on each committee will be reserved for the nominees of the affiliates. Any person not accorded a nomination can apply for one of two places that will be filled by election by the full FAI council.

Failing that, the person can apply to a committee of three the president, the CEO, and a nominee of council who will have the authority to nominate two members of committee.

Said Rooney: "The great thing about it if a person gets on to the committee, performs well, they could well be elected chairperson of that committee in a year or two and then they are sitting on the board.

"That's a big change, to have a person who can put themselves forward to get elected or selected and end up being on the board. I'm particularly thinking here of identifying people, perhaps young people, of ability who represent new talent.

"They may not be flavour of the month in their own affiliate body, but if they wants to be involved in administering the game of football they can pitch for that and have an application appraised objectively three times."

Little wonder that the officer board was exultant afterwards.

Little wonder also that they attributed the unity of the meeting to the many meetings the officers and the CEO had held with all of the affiliates over recent months at which they listened to submissions, complaints and proposals and explained the value of their new management structure.

Corcoran was especially praised for his part in drawing all of the affiliates together to encourage a level of

support that was unprecedented in the history of the association.

Said Rooney: "It was an absolute pleasure to go around the country and listen to what the people were saying. The message that was coming back from everybody that we met was that they wantedchange, they were excited about change and they really wanted to see the FAI improving that was the message."

There was praise also for the advice of John Treacy and the Irish Sports Council who met regularly with the officers and helped them fine tune their plans.

"John Treacy and the other ISC members were terrific in an advisory capacity" said Delaney.

He added: "We promised the Irish public 12 months ago we would change the organisation and what this meeting has done is to fast-forward that process.

"The affiliates must now go and meet and nominate their people for representation for election and obviously the selection process has to be put together."

The FAI council will meet on August 1 and will set a date near the end of that month for an extraordinary general meeting at which the personnel on the various committees will be identified and their elections endorsed.

Then the FAI will work under the system voted into being in Galway for a two-year period when the officers are committed to review it.

However, Delaney captured the new dynamism within the organisation when he said: "We'll continuously review it (the management structure).

The important point here is that no part of the game feels they are disenfranchised so you don't just leave it now for two years.

"It is there, it's adopted but if there are little tweakings of it we feel we have to do over the next two years we'll do that, and we've made that very clear. We're not going to wait two years to see if some parts of it wouldn't work.

"This is a culture change for the FAI and Fran has brought this thinking about continuously reviewing ourselves and continuously improving ourselves and measuring ourselves."

Said Rooney: "The message we've given around the country is that the review is to improve on this, that's the plan.

"What we might find, because we don't know how the committees will operate, is that maybe the balance is wrong in one committee and we make an adjustment.

"They are the type of things that we may have to look at. We don't see any need for that at the moment but in time and only through experience will we know what changes are necessary."