Outgoing FAI chairperson Roy Barrett has questioned the entire funding model for sport by successive Irish governments.
“The reality is there has been chronic underinvestment in Irish football for the last 20 years or so,” said Barrett. “People can look at all the reasons as to why that has happened, but the only thing we all agree on is that it is a fact.
“If I put it in context, since 2000, and we can argue whether it is right or wrong, but the fact is that the GAA have got about €430 million in Government grants, football has got €118 million, rugby has got €57 million. If you look at that per club, GAA has got €208,000 per club, rugby €280,000 per club, and football less than €100,000 per club.
“We have 1,200 different [soccer] clubs, the facilities are grossly inadequate for where we are and where we are going.”
Barrett, who intends to remain as FAI chairman until a suitable replacement for the honorary position is appointed, sees the chronic lack of facilities in Irish soccer only worsening in the coming years unless there is a revamped investment strategy.
“There’s 220,000-odd registered players, 43,000-odd registered volunteers, and it’s a huge community sport. Football needs a huge amount of significant investment from a governmental and other perspective. Where the focus should be is clearly on bridging that gap. That’s just where the state of facilities are.
“We have five million or so people in the country now, 500,000 more than we thought from the last Census, and by 2040 it is due to grow by a million more. That will be the natural birth rate and also people who are immigrants to the country, and by definition there will be a more significant bias among that cohort for the game of football as it’s the only significant international sport we play and is supported.
“Whatever chronic need there is now, there will be a greater need in the future and that is where, if there is one area that the organisation as a whole needs to focus on is, over time, bridging that gap.
“It’s not just a game of football thing. Football provides so many different benefits. You have models from Uefa and others which basically say that the net contribution of football to this country is 1.8 billion-plus per annum.”
Barrett, 59, explained his decision to step aside after guiding the association through a Government bailout, that leaves an outstanding debt of €63.5 million, was partially influenced by the need to meet a gender balance quota of 40 per cent by December 31st.
“I don’t believe the people in my type of role should stay for a long time. I do believe in either boards or organisations regenerating themselves. And maybe when you look at something like the FAI and the relatively tumultuous time it has come through and all that has happened I am happy now where things have got to.
“New blood, new thoughts, new faces with new ideas is a good thing, in my view. It just so happens that it coincides with the requirement in terms of gender balance. Why I am doing it now is it affords the association time to find a suitable replacement and to do so in an orderly way. From my own perspective, I am happy to stay as long as that process takes. That’s to the end of the year.”
Niamh O’Mahony is due to replace Dick Shakespeare on the FAI board this month, increasing the number of women to three (25 per cent), with Barrett and independent director Gary Twohig also making way in 2023.
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“How bad was it? Listen, it was a complete mess from a financial perspective,” said Barrett of the FAI he joined in January 2020. “That was probably the most obvious part of it. What wasn’t as apparent was the damage done to the organisation itself, its reputation.
“Staff confidence levels were really just shot to pieces. That’s within the FAI. Outside the FAI all the reputational issues made life for the people in the organisation extremely difficult.
“Going into it I knew that is what it was going to be. I was probably, at a level, surprised that in many ways it was kind of worse but that is what it was. But I had confidence that with time and with effort that [the reputation] could be restored because behind the organisation and all that went on there was a fantastic game. It is the largest participation sport in the country where there is a massive passion for it, for the intentional teams and all aspects of it.
“Societally it’s really important. I may have come not from ‘in’ football but I have always loved football, I have always played it and always had a passion for it, so when I was asked to [become chairman] I didn’t really think twice about it because I do think football is important in this country.”
