A cold comfort for lonely OAPS

John Foley turned the job down at the last minute, leaving Irish soccer in limbo.

The former Athletics Ireland chief walked away saying he didn’t feel he had the support of key stakeholders.

Foley’s main job would have been to help restore public funding which has been axed by Sports Minister Shane Ross last April.

Now the association is rudderless.

Every big organisation needs a person in charge with whom the buck stops.

And that’s doubly important at a time of crisis – which is now a permanent state of affairs at the FAI.

Last week’s revelation that Sport Ireland has decided to refer a report by international consultants Kosi to the gardai was a huge blow.

The FAI will have to muddle through any gardai inquiries – without a CEO, interim or otherwise.

In many ways the latest mess is deeply ironic. The last guy in charge, John Delaney, fought tooth and nail to hang on to the big job in Irish soccer.

And now nobody wants it.

WE need to be mindful of the isolation elderly people can experience as Christmas approaches, but we should make an effort to visit them all year round.

Alone’s cold weather campaign appeals for us to check in on older people and it is a compassionate and important rallying call.

Many of us know an elderly person in our area and particularly if they are living in rural Ireland they can sometimes go days without seeing a friendly face.

Older people living in urban areas can also be forgotten about and unless they have relatives nearby they can easily go under the radar.

We should all try and visit someone who is vulnerable and may be lonely as we could be in their shoes some day.