FAI board split but stadium proceeds

The FAI Council yesterday unanimously endorsed a recommendation from the association's board of management to proceed with plans to build Eircom Park at a stated cost of £65 million. After meetings of the board, and later the full council, the association's president Pat Quigley said that in each instance there had been a clear mandate for the FAI to act on the demands of members to acquire their own stadium.

Masked by that impressive show of unanimity, however, was the fact that serious differences had earlier emerged at the board meeting when, for the first time, a vote was demanded - and conceded by the top table - on a proposal pertaining to the proposed National Stadium at Abbotstown.

Members who believe that not enough debate has taken place on the relevant merits of the two projects requested that a full, in-house study be made on all the facts and figures, and that these should then be brought to the board.

An amendment that a study of the Government's proposals for the National Stadium be undertaken by the board was then tabled, and, despite pleas from Quigley that both should be withdrawn, the first went to a vote.

In the event, it was lost 11-6, with two abstentions. But its movers would later claim it as something of a moral victory. "This was the first time we succeeded in forcing a vote on the stadium and it shows that the association is split on the issue," said one.

"If one includes the proposer and seconder of the amendment, and an absent member, it means that the real voting margin is probably just 11-9. And we believe that the momentum is now with us.

"There is genuine concern that we're not going to get permission to build Eircom Park. If that happens, we need to know what the knock-on effects will be financially and if we should be listening more carefully to Bertie Ahern.

"All we demand is that the information people require for an informed debate be made available. Let us hear all the pluses and minuses for the two stadiums, and if then it is decided to proceed with Eircom Park so be it. But we need to know the full picture."

Quigley placed a different emphasis on the day's talks, stressing that there was total support for the Eircom Park project from members. "We made a full presentation and then invited questions from the floor. Everybody had a chance to say his piece and in the end we got overwhelming backing. We made it clear that we're always prepared to meet with the Taoiseach or anybody else to talk about facilities, but the bottom line is that our members want a modern stadium of our own."