The FAI got caught up in the hurricane of a hunt for the guilty and the victims of Sepp Blatter’s FIFA reign yesterday after John Delaney admitted that a $5 Million payment from FIFA had been made after the notorious handball incident involving Thierry Henry in Paris.
FIFA’s statement after Delaney’s interview on RTÉ Radio outlined the precise nature as they saw it of what the payment was for.
“While the referee’s decision is final, and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) ultimately accepted it as such, in January 2010 FIFA entered into an agreement with FAI in order to put an end to any claims against FIFA.
“FIFA granted FAI a loan of USD 5 million for the construction of a stadium in Ireland. At the same time, UEFA also granted the FAI funds for the same stadium.
“The terms agreed between FIFA and the FAI were that the loan would be reimbursed if Ireland qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
“Ireland did not so qualify. Because of this, and in view of the FAI’s financial situation, FIFA decided to write off the loan as per 31 December 2014.”
The FAI last night issued a formal response seeking to dampen the media storm that was raging from Ireland to Australia and all points in between.
It said:
The matter has been reported before in the media however the Association has, until now, abided by the confidentiality agreement required by FIFA as part of the settlement.
The settlement was reached following strong legal advice given to the Association regarding the case against FIFA, and was a legitimate payment that enabled the Association to put €5m into the Aviva stadium project.
This is fully reflected in our financial statements which are audited independently. The Association accepted FIFA’s settlement offer to avoid a long, costly and protracted legal case. The offer given to the Association was fully written off by FIFA in 2014.
FIFA’s settlement with the Association has at no time influenced the FAI’s criticism of FIFA as demonstrated by our consistent criticisms of Sepp Blatter. Furthermore the settlement was made without any conditions other than confidentiality.
Ultimately this boils down to the basic principle of sports governance that the referee’s decision is final. The referee failed to see Henry’s handball and so gave the goal that won them the game in extra time.
It didn’t in itself deprive Ireland of a place at the World Cup Finals. We would still have had to hold on to the end and then win a penalty shoot out. Not an impossible task but neither was it the foregone conclusion that fans felt in the aftermath and some commentators still believe to this day.
France went to the finals and were atrocious being eliminated in the group stage by South Africa and Mexico. Maybe we would have done better, probably not much.
In the heat after the game though there was talk of legal action. It would never have succeeded because the courts have never got involved in overruling the actions of an officially appointed referee in a sporting contest. That’s the way it is.
FIFA though made the injudicious offer of either a loan to assist with the Aviva Stadium or ‘hush money’ worth €5 million (or $5 million, depending on FIFA’s statement).
The FAI accepted the money as a loan at a time when finances were tight ahead of the opening of the Aviva Stadium. There were no strings attached other than an undertaking to cease a legal action that had no chance of success.
To claim this as a ‘betrayal’ as some English commentators have suggested indicates a moral compass that is so firmly fixed that no impure thoughts would even enter the horizon of the writers mind.
In reality it was no different to an out of court settlement similar to that which will take place in commercial and civil courts all around the world today.
It was good business for the FAI. Whether it was good practice by FIFA is another matter but that’s an area that has rather larger problems that are being dealt with elsewhere.
Image Credit: Sky Sports / Inpho.ie
