Aontú calls for the creation of a new All-Ireland Soccer Association from the disarray of the FAI - Tóibín
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD has stated:
“Many hard working people in the FAI will be appalled at the shocking mismanagement at the heart of that association.
“The FAI has current net liabilities of more than €55m. Its auditors are unable to guarantee that the Association can continue. Yet the severance package of John Delaney amounted to €462,000. Martin O'Neill, Roy Keane and rest of management team received severance of nearly €2m.
“Ordinary members of the association who toil week-in and week-out for the FAI many as volunteers are aghast at the staggering disconnect by those at the top who were creaming it while the state of the organisation was in such crisis.
“That fact that we have two soccer associations in Ireland is in itself an inherent weakness. Look at the success of Irish Rugby, Irish Hockey and, of course, the GAA. All Ireland sporting institutions make sense and bring the strength of sport people from across the island under one banner.
“In fact, an All-Ireland Ireland soccer team existed from 1882 until 1950. There is no obstacle too large to stop an All-Ireland team becoming a reality again.
"We can seek to pick up the pieces of the FAI that is in disarray or we can seek to remove the hard border from this sport and build a new stronger all Ireland soccer association. There is no doubt that there would be many challenges but an All-Ireland association and team would be greater than the sum of its parts."
