After early skirmishes, FAI delegation come under second-half pressure

At an early stage in a long day’s journey into evening, FAI president Donal Conway had been listing some of the positive things being done under the association’s leadership, among which he included the promotion of ‘glow football’ which, played under ultra violet light, he told the Oireachtas Committee, allows for the game to be played “in the dark”.

By the end of the day, the phrase “in the dark” had come to cover a multitude of far from glowing things, ranging from the extraordinary revelation that, contrary to previous press statements issued by the association, the majority of FAI board members hadn’t known for two years about the controversial €100,000 loan provided by then CEO John Delaney in 2017, to the mounting sense of frustration among the politicians that – in the face of various constraints imposed by legal advice, commercial sensitivity, employment contracts, on-going reviews and reports and changes in key personnel at the FAI – they were going to end up, as they had begun, with far more questions than answers.

Photo:Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

In something of a game of two halves, there had even been a feeling after a morning session in which Donal Conway had taken over from John Delaney as the main face and voice of the FAI - and generally come across as largely unflappable in the teeth of the challenge - that the politicians had failed to put the opposition under too much pressure.

But as the second half wore on and various committee members lobbed questions that seemed at times more like hand grenades than tennis balls, the day got steadily tougher and more uncomfortable for the FAI delegation.

There were a couple of especially uneasy moments, not least when, on being questioned by Fine Gael TD Noel Rock, honorary treasurer Eddie Murray had to admit to having not being told about the €100,000 loan. He wouldn’t say that he had been “undermined” in his role as a result but did concede that he would have expected the information to have been given to him before signing off on the accounts.

There was the odd moment of light relief, although clearly some other members of the committee manifestly failed to see the funny side of a contribution from Michael Healy-Rae in which, addressing John Delaney directly, he went merrily against the tide by telling him that the “only thing you could be accused of is being passionately committed to the job”, adding that his reputation was “second to none in my humble opinion” and assuring him that there will be the “mother of all welcomes for him” the next time he comes to Kerry.

But altogether more reflective of the generally baleful mood among the majority of the politicians were the closing comments by the chair of the committee Fergus O’Dowd who, having at the midway point suggested that the FAI delegation might reflect on “regime change” ended the day by offering his own view that the best thing for the association would be if the current board members “moved on.”

The only hint yesterday that such a thing might happen was when, in answering a question from Fianna Fail’s Robert Troy about making changes to the board, Donal Conway said that they “would take whatever action we have to take” so as not to jeopardise future State funding.

When it was all over, Ruth Coppinger alluded to the gravity of Sport Ireland’s decision to withold that funding for the time being, when she told reporters: “I don’t know that we’ll ever get to the bottom of this loan and why it was given. But I do think that this is something really serious for the FAI.

This is the first time in their history that they have had their funding withdrawn – and they do need it.

"They made that clear in their own statement. So there is pressure on them.”

And adding a critical voice from the perspective of the domestic game was former Cork City board member Jonathan O’Brien, the Sinn Fein TD who, during the proceedings, had failed to get the answers he wanted to some detailed questions about the nature of the loan and the FAI’s finances at the time.

Asked afterwards if he had confidence in the board, he replied: “I don’t, as someone who is really passionate about the League of Ireland. I heard (director of competitions) Fran Gavin say that they had made huge improvements since they took over but the vast majority of the improvements from League of Ireland clubs are down to the volunteers themselves, the people who work in the off-season, cutting the grass, washing gear, cleaning the stands. They are the real champions of domestic football, not the FAI. So where to now?

“We need to look to Sport Ireland next week,” he said. “I hope funding is restored but I think the board needs to step aside. I think there needs to be a complete shake up and if there isn’t, it’s very hard to restore confidence in the FAI.”