The FAI AGM took place in Stillorgan on Saturday with over 100 delegates coming from across the country and filling up the car park much to the consternation of a wedding party whose guests were scrambling for parking spaces on the surrounding roads.
We can only hope that the speeches at the wedding got a better reception than outgoing Chair of the Association Roy Barrett who may have been feeling like he should have stayed at home after accepting an invitation from President Gerry McAnaney to take questions from the floor covering the time up until his stepping down from the role in November.
Not one to shy from the grilling, he took on full responsibility for the decision to breach FAI guidelines in terms of pay in lieu of holidays for CEO Jonathan Hill. That issue has already been resolved, and holiday days for other staff have also been reinstated this year, but it was bound to act as something of a rallying point for dissatisfaction among elements of the voting body.
Barrett may have himself attracted more heat than might have been the case for admitting the reason he did not take the decision to other board members was that he was aware it would have been leaked to the media.
Hitting a stride on something he was clearly still angered by he revealed that even an email he sent to Board members about the need to maintain board confidentiality in certain areas was reprinted verbatim in one national media outlet.
Even previews of the AGM had included suggestions from ‘insiders’ as to the capacity and the skillset of some board members but all those sitting at the top table remained stoic as the heat rose in the debate between the floor and Barrett.
In the end as “I think we’ve had enough” and “he’s giving us a lecture,” Barrett stepped away from the lectern and out of the spotlight in football politics.
A long and continuing career in business suggests he is nobody’s fool but he must be feeling bruised after his spell in which he led the Association back into being a functioning entity at least from a point that looked like total collapse at one point in the midst of the John Delaney controversies and Covid.
He will still have one last scheduled rodeo in front of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Wednesday, though that will likely be a little more forensic and a little less emotional.
The main business of the day was to pass a resolution expanding the board to 14 members, and copper fastening the minimum of at least six men and six women, thereby becoming compliant with Government requirements for a minimum 40 percent gender balance. The two remaining places will be filled early in the New Year.
Former Tesco Ireland CEO and Munster Rugby Commercial Board member Tony Keohane was approved by an overwhelming majority as the new Chair of the organisation and Paul Cook won another heavy majority in his election as the new President to replace the outgoing Gerry McAnaney.
The Waterford native received 89 votes while Joe O’Brien received 21 votes. A Qualified Accountant he has a world of media experience having led the Irish Daily Star and the Sunday Business Post as Managing Director and currently serving as the principal of 3 Ships Consulting.
John Finnegan from the Munster Football Association was elected unopposed to the role of Vice-President while Dave Moran of the Leinster Football Association was ratified as a Director representing the Amateur Football Chamber with Tom Browne (National Bodies – SFAI) and Nixon Morton (National Bodies – Other) also ratified as Directors following nomination by their respective Chambers.
Independent Directors Catherine Guy and Liz Joyce, nominated by the Nominations Committee of the FAI, will each serve for a further two-year term following their ratification at the AGM.
The principal sponsorship of the Senior Men’s team is also a perennial point of angst and Jonathan Hill said that efforts were still ongoing in this respect, though pointing out that the increased revenue from ticket sales in 2022 of €3 million was around twice what might have been achieved by a sponsor, and that the Castore Deal with an overall €20 million in value was the biggest that the Association had ever signed.
Commercial negotiations like these are more nuanced than fit comfortably in the environment of an AGM but this will remain an issue until a sponsorship deal is signed, hopefully over the next twelve months on a deal the term of which will include a World Cup qualifying campaign for 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and the partial hosting of the 2028 Euro Finals in Dublin.
As the delegates filed away from the hotel and away down their respective motorways home, the wedding guests were just hitting their stride. We can only wish the bride and groom a happy life together and that they overcome whatever occasional challenges that might beset them with calm and an awareness that there will always be a tomorrow.
