Gentlemen and chancers at the top of our sport bodies

IT is a matter of complete indifference to me whether or not Joe Schmidt announces his retirement as head of the Ireland rugby team.

From the very little I know about these matters, he has clearly done a good job during his time in charge. He also comes across as a thoroughly decent and

civilised individual, and it goes without saying that I wish him well in the future.

I grew up in an era when rugby was almost exclusively the preserve of the moneyed classes. Credit where it is due, though, the top brass at the Irish Rugby Football Union have made a very good fist indeed of broadening the sport’s appeal and opening it up to all-comers.

Meanwhile, the Football Association of Ireland has only succeeded in reducing domestic soccer into something approaching a minority interest.

My best wishes go to Mick McCarthy – clearly another decent man – as he takes charge of the national side again, but the question is this: do enough people really care anymore?

Quite apart from the situation at League of Ireland grounds all across the country, fewer and fewer fans are turning out for international games. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that the one constant during all this has been John Delaney’s presence as boss man of the governing body. Quite how he is still in a job is the puzzling thing here.