IFA says no to talks on all-Ireland soccer league

Hopes of an All-Ireland soccer league were dealt a fatal blow when the IFA refused to enter talks, the FAI said tonight.

John Delaney, chief executive of the FAI, said his Northern counterpart Howard Wells had effectively ended all prospect of a new cross-border league. Mr Wells, IFA chief executive, wrote to the project’s main commercial driver, Platinum One boss Fintan Drury, last month insisting the IFA had more pressing matters to deal with.