Delaney’s big vision for the FAI seems to focus on the local

The honour of giving the final speech at the FAI agm in Sligo last Saturday fell to the high performance director Ruud Dokter. A tall, slim Dutchman fluent in corporate educationspeak, Dokter told us it was "an exciting time for football development in Ireland" and presented Powerpoint slides that broke down that excitement into its constituent parts: player-focused model, age-specific formats, communication, development, learning, etc.

Among Dokter’s primary goals is to “develop a common uniform philosophy for underage football in Ireland”.

“Now we can see a small video which symbolises our philosophy of player development,” he announced.

The room suddenly and surprisingly resounded to the sun-soaked guitar stylings of Santana. The screens showed little kids playing good football to the shuffle of Chicano pianos and a lilting Latin beat. “Let the children have their way!” Santana sang, “Let the children play! Let the children play!”

It was probably the closest the conference room at the Sligo Clarion has ever come to feeling like a barrio corner in 1970s East LA. Was this funky groove Dokter’s own selection?

Playing philosophy

Just as the Hammond organ solo was kicking off, the video faded out. Dokter gazed at the crowd significantly. “As you just heard, the philosophy is: ‘let the children play’.”

Dokter’s video had been the third of the afternoon, but it was the first in which the creator had marshalled visual and musical media towards a common didactic goal.

The first video had begun with a beaming John Delaney standing in a green field in front of a mountain that might have been Ben Bulben. For the week leading up to the agm, Sligo had been hosting the Festival of Football, and the video condensed those celebrations into four minutes.

The action was set to the strident tones of Florence and the Machine.

Ship to Wreck is a song which is all about about waking up with the fear and teetering on the edge of a breakdown. "Did I drink too much? Am I losing touch? Did I build this ship to wreck?" shouts Florence.

Delaney and Ray Houghton could be seen pottering about Sligo, making calls and kicking balls. You pondered the possible significance of the music. After a year of controversy at the FAI, was the agm about to strike in an unexpectedly confessional tone?

But it turned out not everyone at Abbottstown shares Dokter’s Wagnerian vision of music and drama fusing into a single integrated whole. Sometimes a backing track is just a backing track.

The first speaker was Rosaleen O’Grady, cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, who told the 129 delegates: “Clubs are understandably focused on the local and have little time to reflect on the wider issues surrounding the game. That’s the value of this forum.”

That sounded promising, but in reality the agm mostly consisted of a series of speeches by FAI committee chairman listing off the activities of their committees – a sort of interminable press release you had to sit through in real-time.

Towards the end, Declan Conroy gave a progress update on a large-scale survey he has conducted into the League of Ireland, due in the third week of August and which might make interesting reading.

The piece de resistance was, of course, John Delaney’s speech, which culminated in a standing ovation after the FAI chief executive seemed to become emotional as he recalled how he fell in love with football as a young boy in Tipperary.

Addressing this sympathetic audience, Delaney had a couple of ripostes for his critics. To those who criticised him for accepting Fifa’s infamous €5 million, he said that his only regret was that he hadn’t got more. He also rebuked those who claim that the FAI agm, lacking as it does the elements of discussion, debate or analysis, is a futile piece of political theatre faintly redolent of North Korea.

“Some observers would suggest that all decisions and debate should happen here at this event – on one day out of 365!” Delaney said. “The reality is, as we all know, in every town, in every county, in every province, the affiliates who run the game with our support of the executive, the committees, the board and council members are making decisions on a weekly basis in the best interests of Irish football. If this wasn’t working, I’m sure that you, as delegates, would let us know.”

Local issues

You thought back to O’Grady’s idea that the AGM would be a good opportunity for Irish football to step back from day-to-day local business and reflect on wider issues.

Here, instead, was Delaney’s vision: an FAI built on the principle of subsidiarity, where decisions are taken at the most local possible level.

That is good for Delaney, who does his best work at the local level, touring clubs around the country, meeting the people who run them, shoring up his political base. And maybe it’s good for local football officials too.

But if you’re Ruud Dokter, seeking to “develop a common uniform philosophy for underage football in Ireland” and impose it from an office above in Abbottstown – well, good luck with that.