Fahy ousted as secretary

FAI row: Kevin Fahy yesterday lost his battle to retain his position within the FAI after a specially convened meeting of the organisation's national council voted by 42 votes to 12 to remove him from the honorary secretary's post as well as his positions on the organisation's board and council.

The result is a significant victory for the association's leading officials, Fran Rooney and John Delaney, who allowed FAI president Milo Corcoran to take a lead role in the events leading to Fahy's departure but who will both be quietly pleased to see the departure of their main opponent at the highest level of the organisation's structures.

Afterwards Fahy said he was "disappointed that my service to the association at national and senior council level, something that stretched back to 1988, has ended this way. My sole aim throughout my involvement in football was to promote the game amongst young people. I fear now for the future of the game."

Fahy added that he would continue to pursue the issues he has raised in recent months in relation to the finances of the association. Since departing eight months ago, former Eircom League chairman Brendan Dillon has pressed for access to records and documentation relating to the period during which he was a director of the association and it is clear his ally, Fahy, now intends to do the same.

"I will continue to pursue my rights as a former director of the company," he said. "And I believe that the only reason they removed me today was because I was asking awkward questions."

Though Fahy declined to rule out legal action over his removal it is considered unlikely that he will take that option. He said, however, that he will consult with "legal advisers and friends before deciding on my next move".

The meeting, which took place at Citywest, took over five hours to complete as delegates from around the country first became embroiled in a debate over whether they had been gathered together in accordance with the relevant rules and then whether an amendment to the motion before them could be considered.

A letter from the association's legal advisers was produced to indicate that the meeting had indeed been properly called and the amendment, put forward by Gerry McEneaney of the Armed Forces association, was then ruled out of order.

A lengthy debate on Fahy's position followed and the former FAIS official is said to have spoken well in his own defence, strongly challenging the allegations against him and contesting the version of recent events within Merrion Square put forward by his critics.

During his address to the meeting Milo Corcoran reportedly conceded that Fahy's minute taking had little to do with the need to dispense with his services but as one prominent club or association official after another weighed in behind the motion it became clear that the leadership had the required numbers to win.

Afterwards, Corcoran expressed regret that he felt he had been left with no choice but to propose yesterday's motion but accused Fahy of having been "unco-operative" in his dealings with other officers and officials in recent times. "We needed to move on," he said, "and I think we can that do that now that this matter has been resolved."

Rooney echoed that sentiment last night when he said that after "a difficult day," the association now needed to press on with the programme of reform before it.

"I think it was a big decision for Milo to bring this issue to council," he said. "But what he highlighted was that the effectiveness of the board was being affected by the increasingly difficult relations between some of its members. What we've seen today is that issues of personal trust and personal relationships shouldn't stand in the way of the association's progress."

The FAI's vice-president, David Blood will take over the role of secretary until the vacancy on the officer board is filled, probably in early autumn.