FAI to debate betting sponsorship policy

By Liam Mackey

John Delaney has said that the FAI will debate its policy on sponsorship by gambling firms in the autumn.

A two-year deal which saw Ladbroke’s become the association’s official betting partner in 2016 expires this month while there are still two years to run on the Trackchamp sponsorship which provides performance data to League of Ireland clubs but requires opening an online betting account for overseas viewers to access live streaming of games.

It’s a fair debate to have but the first place to have those debates is internally, then you present your decision as to why you did, or did not, take a sponsorship,” the FAI chief executive said yesterday in Cork, where the FAI’s week-long Festival of Football concludes tomorrow with the 2018 AGM.

“It’s a debate we will have at board level and decide which is the best policy. Bear in mind that when you drop a sponsor you are dropping that revenue so you have to have a debate in an informed way.

“I think with all sponsorships, it’s ultimately about where can you run programmes to make a difference. If you were here (in Cork) this week, for instance, you see what we do in Football For All, working with kids in really disadvantaged areas. People say, for instance, ‘well, should you have a sponsorship with alcohol?’ But (it’s) how you spend that money and where it goes to benefit football and benefit society.

“There are a couple of categories in sponsorship which, how will I put it to you, are sometimes controversial.

Ultimately for the Association — and this applies to a lot of sporting bodies — when you get that revenue, where does that revenue go? That’s the key to me.

Speaking at a media briefing, the FAI CEO also said he was “not surprised” that next month’s Liam Miller tribute game is a complete sell-out.

“I am delighted for the family,” he said. “Our position was to make sure that what came within our remit was done well. I met Liam two weeks before he died. I made a commitment to him, which the board were brilliant about, and we negotiated a fee from the Scott Brown testimonial which we paid directly to the Liam Miller Fund, and we paid tributes to him.”

Despite the sometimes wild emotions stirred up by the initial controversy surrounding the availability of Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the game, Delaney insisted that the relationship at the highest level between the FAI and the GAA remains positive.

“We would have met Pádraic Duffy on a regular basis and we will do the same with (director general) Tom Ryan,” he said.

We will, of course, be competing for kids in terms of playing each sport but we have common interests, and relations are very good between the FAI and the GAA.

For his part, Martin O’Neill, who will manage the Ireland-Celtic side against Roy Keane’s Man United legends in the tribute game and charity fundraiser on September 25, said he was pleased the controversy of recent weeks had been resolved, adding, “I’m delighted it’s sold out, it’s a real tribute to Liam.”

In the course of an interview with this reporter, the Ireland manager also mentioned his own strong family background in gaelic football and recalled how, on the occasion of Ireland’s Euro qualifier against Wales at Croke Park in 2007, he had made a point of a booking a box at the stadium so he and his family could attend the historic first soccer match at GAA headquarters.

Meanwhile, at an FAI event in Cork tonight, the Ireland manager will re-present Liam Miller’s family with all the player’s international caps.