FAI treasurer met £110,000 shortfall

THE treasurer of the Football Association of Ireland, Mr Joe Delaney, yesterday confirmed he, had personally met a shortfall of £110,000 arising from the sale of tickets at the 1994 World Cup finals in the United States.

Mr Delaney's statement contradicted comments made by officers of the FAI last Wednesday night.

Mr Delaney did not say when he had met the shortfall and last night he was unavailable for further comment.

His admission will cause further problems for the five man officer board of the FAI, which has lurched from one crisis to another in recent weeks. It will also intensity opposition to the officer board when motions of confidence are put to the FAI's governing body, the 51 member Full Council, on, March 8th.

It seems highly unlikely that the officer board will survive en bloc.

In a statement last night, Mr Delaney said that in the spring of, 1994, the FAI ordered tickets for matches in groups other than the one in which the Republic of Ireland had been placed. These tickets were to be used to barter for extra tickets for the FAI and, in turn, for Irish fans. He said this was common practice at major championships.

"In 1994, one of the agents with whom I dealt on behalf of the FAI, proved less than trustworthy. The" FAI was facing a shortfall of £110,000.

"As the error of judgment in dealing with this agent had been mine, I felt honour bound to personally meet this shortfall, to ensure that the FAI were not at a loss.

"I now realise that I should have informed the FAI Senior Council of these facts in November 1994."

A spokesman for the FAI said Mr Delaney would not be making any further pronouncements on the issue. Joe is going to present the facts to the council on the 8th of March.

"From the association's point of view, at least some of the facts are now out in the open and it is certainly a step in the right direction".

Mr Finbarr Flood, the Shelbourne chairman who resigned from the executive council of the FAI on Thursday, said he was "shocked, given all that was said to the executive the other night and, presumably although I wasn't privy to it the press conference".