Group eight of the Euro 2000 qualifiers was sliding into chaos last evening following the postponement of three fixtures scheduled for the coming week.

Five hours after calling off Yugoslavia's home games against Croatia on Saturday and Macedonia on Wednesday, UEFA reluctantly postponed the Republic of Ireland's game in Macedonia on Saturday.

October 9th is now the likely date for Ireland's journey to Skopje while Yugoslavia's meetings with Croatia and Macedonia have been rescheduled for August 18th and September 4th respectively.

In the sense that October 10th was the original date for Macedonia's visit to Dublin, an arrangement which was hastily amended after the embarrassing discovery that Lansdowne Road was required for a World Cup rugby game the previous day, the new fixture will pose no problems for the FAI.

Less certain is whether the trouble in the Balkans region will have been sufficiently resolved by the autumn to enable international games to be played. If it isn't, it is difficult to see how the group can be concluded.

"Realistically, we are now in the endgame game situation in this group," said Bernard O'Byrne, the FAI's chief executive. "If either of the three rearranged fixtures have to be cancelled there is nowhere else to play them in terms of international venues.

"So we are in a situation in which any further cancellations will throw the group into total chaos and UEFA will just have to do something."

From an Irish, and indeed Croatian viewpoint, that "something" means Yugoslavia's expulsion from the championship. Because of the Kosovo conflict the Yugoslavs have been unable to fulfil their three opening home games in the competition on schedule.

And that, it has to be stressed, is before they get to the potentially explosive meeting with Croatia. The fear is football will be a convenient excuse for the smouldering resentment of the last 10 years to find expression.

A decision to remove the Yugoslavs would do nothing to enhance the image of the European Championship as second only in stature to the World Cup. For many, however, it is the predictable sequel of UEFA's folly in their stubborn refusal to keep the Balkan nations apart when the draw was made at Ghent in January of last year.

People rightly rail when politicians choose to use the soft underbelly of sport to make capital. The devalued Olympic Games of Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles four years later made the point perfectly.

There are occasions, however, when the two are inextricably linked - when sports legislators ignore the political realities of life at their peril. UEFA's track record is this area, is, indeed, deeply flawed.

In the wake of the infamous scenes during the World Cup game at Windsor Park in November 1993, UEFA refused to segregate the two Ireland teams in the draw for the 1996 European Championship and ended up with another potential nightmare when the countries were drawn in the same group.

Fortunately, they were rescued on that occasion by the improved security situation in Northern Ireland by the time of the return game at Windsor Park. Unfortunately, reprieve on that scale was never an option once Group Eight of the current competition had condensed into a mini Balkans championship.

Even without the added ingredient of highly charged football games to inflame patriotic passion, the reality of life in the region is that violence is likely to erupt at short notice.

What UEFA, in the snugness of life in Zurich, have succeeded in doing is to exacerbate that threat. And the foot-dragging of the last week will have done little to eliminate the image of a limp organisation which is out of touch with the real world.

In the meantime, the probability of having to drop the axe on Yugoslavia, later rather than sooner, will be interpreted as yet another blot on their doubtful record in decision making.