Sport

Hickey’s dominance gives Olympic ticket report a familiar ring

What we found, through no fault of Judge Moran, were things we knew in the 1990s

For the umpteenth time, OCI president Sarah Keane has stepped forward to answer questions about her predecessor. Photograph: Tom Honan

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Johnny Watterson
Tue Aug 15 2017 - 05:00

When it comes to the final reckoning, you could forgive Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Sarah Keane for asking, "why did I bother"?

For the umpteenth time since the ticketing scandal in Rio, she has stepped forward to answer questions about her predecessor Pat Hickey, and each time has brought something problematic, something the OCI board did not know about.

The legacy of Hickey has been a legal quagmire and so far with no resolution. The Judge Moran report into the 2016 Olympic Games, published on Monday, set out as a fact-finding exercise with no powers to compel people to speak and found shutters coming down from Rio to Lausanne, and from Dublin to London.

The Rio Organising Committee, who started the ball rolling by rejecting Hickey's first choice of Authorised Ticket Reseller (ATR) THG, did not even reply to Judge Moran's emails.

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The International Olympic Committee didn't engage. THG turned their back. Hickey said he couldn't speak until he cleared his name in Rio. Legal advice, he said.

Judge Moran was left with virtually none of the actors to talk to.

Frustrating peek

The report was a frustrating peek into the workings of the OCI and IOC as a 12-week timetable became one-year long with a bill of €312,000.

What we found, through no fault of Judge Moran, were things that we knew in the 1990s.

Pat Hickey ran the OCI as an autocrat. We knew that in 1992.

Hickey loved a solo run. We knew that in 1993.

Hickey dealt with sponsorship matters himself. We knew that in 1994.

Hickey was surrounded by a board that said yes. We knew that in 1995.

The governance within the OCI was appalling. We knew that in the 1980s, when a meeting in the Shelbourne Hotel secured a voting system that unshakably favoured those in situ and no term limits.

The cost and the words of Minister for Sport Shane Ross echoing in our ears seemed shrill. The "very robust" inquiry Mr Ross promised turned out superficial.

“Its work was hampered by the absence of co-operation,” said the measured Judge Moran. “The effectiveness of the inquiry depended on a willingness to co-operate.”

From an OCI perspective, it has laid bare some of the details of the problems they face. Ms Keane produced a letter from the PyeongChang Organising Committee for the Winter Olympics 2018 retroactively withdrawing approval of THG’s role as Irish ATR (Authorised Ticket Reseller).

“We are signed up to this agreement,” said Keane. “I would also say we are signed up to two other agreements signed in January 2016, which we have only become aware of in the last couple of weeks.”

Toxic

The agreements are with the now-toxic THG for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, and for the 2024 and the 2026 Games. THG was rejected for Rio by the Organising Committee and so Pro10 was brought in.

Keane says this too did not come before the board. “There was no discussion about the approval of Pro10. That was not brought to the board, not during my time and my understanding is not at anytime,” she said.

Judge Moran also questioned the honorarium of €60,000 per annum for Hickey that was introduced by second vice-president John Delaney in 2010. The full amount was drawn in 2015, totalling €360,000.

Hickey had always called himself a volunteer. He clearly saw an honorarium as non-payment. But revenue did not and treated the sum as income.

The OCI now has no sponsors and claims Pro10 owes it €50,000. The report is 250 pages in all.

A penny dreadful for €312,000.

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