End of the road for Carling Nations Cup as North pull out

THE Carling Nations Cup looks to be definitively dead, with FAI sources indicating they have no will to push for a second staging of the competition.

The news comes after yesterday’s quotes from IFA president Jim Shaw, effectively confirming Northern Ireland’s withdrawal – and, by extension, the tournament’s end.

But, while the main reason for calling off the competition is its poor performance in terms of attendance and interest, it is understood there is a significant degree of annoyance towards the Scottish FA from the three other bodies that has affected working relationships.

In the long-term, however, all four associations are unified on one point: a second Carling Nations Cup that was provisionally to be held in Wales in 2013 will now not take place.

One FAI figure confirmed the event was “simply not on the agenda” and that all of the associations had been “thinking along the same lines” as Northern Ireland. Indeed, Shaw’s public quotes were “not unexpected”.

It is also expected the pay dispute with the Scottish FA will soon be resolved, but not without residual ill-feeling. Just before Christmas it was widely reported that the SFA were unwilling to accept a reduced fee for the tournament in accordance with its profits, and were even prepared to pursue the matter with FIFA. The Scottish body said that it is owed £1.2m for its participation.

That prompted a joint statement from the FAI, IFA and FAW with the three bodies very stridently standing together.

Progress has been made in negotiations, however, and it is understood the SFA will not now refer the issue to FIFA. But there is a feeling among the other three bodies that the Scottish have had an unrealistic and relatively intransigent attitude.

The Scottish FA did not return requests for a comment yesterday while the FAI had no official statement.

The IFA president Jim Shaw, however, was yesterday quoted assaying “it [the Carling Nations Cup] was a one-off to start with. There was never any agreement to continue. I suppose if it had gone well there is the possibility that it could have been repeated. I don’t envisage it happening again but circumstances can change.”

If they do, though, the tournament is likely to struggle for a sponsor. The Irish Examiner understands Carling would not get involved for a second year and are actually contemplating pulling out of football sponsorship entirely.

The tournament was beset by problems from the start last year, with a nadir reached when only 529 spectators attended the match between Northern Ireland and Wales at Lansdowne Road.

There were also significant absentees on the pitch with a number of Irish Premier League players not reporting for duty on time.

Ireland eventually won it but it now appears highly unlikely that they will ever get the chance to defend the trophy.