Football community mourns former FAI CEO Rooney

The Irish football community is in mourning following the death of former FAI CEO and international women’s team manager Fran Rooney.

The Dubliner, who died on Monday at the age of 67, started out as a player with Home Farm and lined out for a number of other League of Ireland clubs.

He stepped up to management when he was appointed as boss of the senior women’s international team in 1986, a position he held until 1991 when he was succeeded by Linda Gorman.

He then made his name in the business world, working with Baltimore Technologies from 1996. Rooney’s work in that field led him back to the FAI when he was hired as CEO in May 2003.

He was the first CEO in the association’s history. The role replaced the general secretary position that had previously been held by Brendan Menton.

The appointment of a CEO was one of the key recommendations of the Genesis report, which was commissioned following the fallout from the 2002 World Cup.

He agreed a three-year contract with the FAI and on his appointment said he would be “providing the leadership for the FAI and the football community across the country”.

Rooney made a number of changes to the association, adapting a new logo and a tweak of the name, from FAI to FA Ireland.

At a difficult time for the national team, he was seen as a backer of manager Brian Kerr. But Rooney was gone within 18 months following a series of internal rows.

At a meeting just before his exit, only three members of the 60-strong FAI Senior Council backed Rooney. He left in November 2004 and was replaced by John Delaney, who came in as interim CEO before that appointment was made permanent.

Rooney followed a legal career, qualifying as a barrister in 2008 at the age of 52. He kept his link with sport and football, establishing a practice, Sports Law International.

In 2011, he represented thenMonaghan United manager Roddy Collins in a battle with the FAI. An FAI disciplinary committee hit Collins with a six-game ban and €1,000 fine for “disparaging comments” made on RTÉ radio.

Rooney emerged again in 2019 after the exit of his controversial successor from the FAI.

He was highly critical of an arrangement that would have seen Delaney leave his post as CEO but take up another FAI role as well as keeping his position on the Uefa Executive Committee.