Women’s team is a rare source of good news
Pauw staying on shows faith in future
AS THE abbreviation FAI has, over the past two years, become synonymous with scandal and disaster, the effects on the broader Irish soccer community have been profound.
There was the immediate threat to the association’s future that followed the end of the John Delaney era, with State intervention vital in keeping the organisation going.
Then there was the pervasive damage to morale, the anger and the frustration felt by employees and volunteers alike as the sport to which they committed part of their lives was exposed publicly over the course of weeks of revelations.
And as the months have passed and staff have changed and a new leadership has been elected and appointed, the job of rehabilitating the reputation of the FAI becomes apparent.
In the weeks after the stories that did for Delaney’s time in charge emerged, the FAI’s circumstances were often compared to those of the Irish Olympic movement.
The scandal involving ticketing at the 2018 Rio Olympics, and the arrest of Pat Hickey, made Ireland one of the main stories at the biggest sporting jamboree on the planet.
Yet within months, the restoration job was under way. New leadership, new governance, a new name: the Olympic Federation of Ireland has attracted new sponsors, it has modernised and taken on new staff, and it was held up as an example of what can be done by a sporting organisation that has hit rock bottom.
But it’s now clear the FAI recovery plan will take longer. Maybe this was inevitable given its vast size relative to the Olympic organisation in this country, and the greater number of affiliates and interests invested in the game.
But the sheer number of people that the FAI represents is also an indication of how complicated its recuperation will be.
The FAI is more than a board, or a handful of executive faces. It’s more than the national team and their embattled manager, and the cultural collision around the future of that team. But nuance gets lost when a big brand is tainted. And the ripples are felt by teams and leagues throughout the island.
The FAI are struggling to find a new main sponsor, for instance, after the departure of telecommunications company Three.
Such agreements are vital to the funding models of national associations around the world, and the wait to find a new one for the FAI has an impact beyond the men’s national team.
Incidentally, the thoughts of Jonathan Hill, the chief executive of the FAI, on this topic in the Irish Mail on Sunday at the end of February, have taken on a different complexion in light of last week’s difficulties for Stephen Kenny’s team.
‘Football is still the number one sport in the world and the number one brand for sponsors to align themselves to,’ Hill said then.
‘It delivers the biggest and most engaged audiences of any sport and it throws up a huge amount of stories.
‘And we have a great story to tell in 2021 because it is World Cup qualification year. I don’t think there is any sporting team who can galvanise the Irish public as much in this sort of year. So, do I think we will find a national team sponsor? Of course, I do, and we will do.’
If the plan remains contingent on promoting the attractions of a World Cup qualification campaign, then that job is not going to get any easier.
But there will be a second World Cup qualification campaign started by an Irish senior team before the year is out.
The draw for the 2023 Women’s World Cup is to be made in just under a month’s time, on April 30. Qualifying starts in September, and concludes 13 months later in October 2022.
Ireland will be in the draw, attempting to build on the improvements shown in the qualifying campaign for next year’s European Championships.
They begin their year with two friendlies next week, the first against Denmark at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday next at 6.30pm, before they go to Brussels to play Belgium on Sunday, April 11, again with a 6.30pm start-time.
‘There were a lot of positives to take from our Euro qualifying campaign, but this is a new tournament and that means we have to focus on that,’ said manager, Vera Pauw. ‘The goal is to qualify for the finals in Australia and New Zealand, but we know that it won’t be easy, and we must wait to discover our opponents in the qualifying draw.
‘Hopefully by the time that we play our first qualifying game at home in Tallaght Stadium, we will have our wonderful supporters there to cheer the team on. But we must continue to follow the advice from the Government and HSE until it is safe for supporters to return.
‘We are really looking forward to getting this campaign started and being on the pitch together again. This is a very special group of players and staff who work incredibly hard to represent their country with pride. It is a privilege to work with them in every camp that we have.’
Ireland have yet to qualify for a major tournament, but it was considered vital that Pauw committed to the World Cup qualifying effort following the obvious progress under her watch in the last campaign.
Her decision to sign a new contract earlier this year was, then, very significant, and especially so at a time when the profile of the team is growing – the problems posed by the pandemic notwithstanding.
Various special interest groups make cases for why the pandemic has been especially difficult for them, with varying degrees of
Nuance gets lost as soon as a big brand is tainted
conviction, but the impact on lowerprofile sports, and those trying to build their support, has been severe.
Gauging the full effects will take years, but even fleeting engagement with the debate around the return to sport shows that it has been dominated by the traditional big three field sports, but the GAA overwhelmingly so.
For a growing sport like women’s soccer, there is barely room to get noticed.
That is why Pauw’s retention mattered, and why the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign in September counts, too.
The women’s team has been a rare source of good news for the FAI, too, and come the autumn, the prospects for the men’s team could turn gloomier still.
In contrast, the women’s side can start a qualifying effort in which they will be grouped with at least one superior opponent, buoyed by the memories of their tilt last year.
There are good stories in Irish soccer, at grassroots level, in unheralded corners of the country – but on the international stage, too.
Ireland’s women side resume theirs next week.
‘This is a very special group of players and staff’