AT THE TOP FAI CHANGES

Following the announcement on Monday week last that Jonathan Hill had stepped down as FAI CEO and departed the Association, the board appointed David Courell as interim CEO. He has been Chief Operating Officer of the FAI since February 2022 and has experience of the workings of the FAI. Originally from Castlebar, the board are delighted to have him as the CEO as his previous work and his current experience will be an asset to the Association.

Another announcement made by the FAI is that Hannah Dingley has been appointed FAI Head of Women and Girls Football. She is a very experienced coach working with various clubs in England and at present is the Academy Manager at Forest Green Rovers since 2019. She will take up her position on May 20th next. The growth of the game in the women’s and girl’s game has to be seen to believe. A number of years back attending a women’s national league game there were usually parents, grandparents and relations of the players in attendance. We have seen all of this change in the past two years or so. We have been to women’s games at the Markets Field, Ferrycarrig Park and Turner’s Cross and have witnessed the transformation with the attendances getting so much bigger. The standard of play has improved and this we believe is why many of the players are called into the squads for internationals.

We have attended girl’s games in the WW/EC underage leagues and we have seen how excited the young girls are in league and cup games. We have to credit the WW/EC Schoolboys/Girls League for the growth of the game in the area. We have seen some very exciting games and on a number of occasions have seen tears at the final whistle. One player told us very recently after losing a game that she was disappointed at losing the game, but was happy to be amongst her friends. Is this not sport as it should be?