NO Sky Money for EL CLubs, Says FAI

**Michael Nugent** · 20/07/2002, 6:27 PM

Here's what Brendan Menton wrote in his article in last week's Irish Times:

"More investment in grounds, more development funds, extra youth initiatives, more support for the domestic league in Ireland and extra resources at senior coaching level. That's the result of the television rights package which the FAI has secured with Sky and TV3."

I commented here at the time that there was no commitment from the FAI that this was what it would be used for.

Here's what the FAI distributed to the media at today's AGM. NONE of the broadcast rights money is going to Eircom League clubs. Read the last sentence to see how much you think might end up going to anything related to the Eircom League.

Michael Nugent

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THE FAI/Sky TV Rights Deal - The Facts Explained

Where The Revenue Will Be Invested:

1. NON-SENIOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME

- Udnerage football development is vital - all teams need more competition
- Benchmarked against Scotland for example we play more than twice the number of non-senior internationals.
- Other countries are curtailing these matches for financial reasons.
- We want and need to sustain them - to foster the the development of the next generation of Robbie Keanes and Damien Duffs.
- They are becoming more expensive to resource.

2. COACHING & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

- Brian Kerr has been covering both managerial and technical director positions.
- We are in need of separate and dedicated resources in this area.
- The technical department has grown from 2 to 25 in 5 years.
- These regional development officers are located in and benefit communities alla round the country.
- We need to continue to invest in these regional locations at grass roots level into the future.
- They cater for special needs audiences and are facilitating the growth in the ladies programme - they need further investment.

4. PREPARATION OF SENIOR TEAM

(note from MN: the jump from 2 to 4 is directly from the FAI press sheet. I don't know if they took something out at the last minute or if they just can't count)

Without pre-empting the results of the review into the organisational issues in the Far East, we would anticipate a need for further resources to strengthen the preparation of the senior international team.

5. DOMESTIC GAME / SCHOOLBOYS

Will be examined for increased opportunity for extra marketing resources while development proposals for the schoolboys will be examined.

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**pete** · 21/07/2002, 1:32 PM

What difference does this make? Are not all these worthy efforts?

Apparently the FAI (for good or bad they have delegates representing all sectors of irish football) got a unanimous endorsement of the Sky tv deal.

(7.5m + reported 2.5m from tv3 ) v 1.6m = simple decision.

Poor effort to split the eL support.

**Michael Nugent** · 21/07/2002, 2:37 PM

Hi Pete,

Of course they are worthy efforts. And they deserve funding. And they can and should be funded with or without the Sky deal.

The point I was making is that what the FAI is saying now is not the same as what they were saying a week ago.

And that last week's claim that the money would be used to invest in EL grounds and domestic league development had resulted in some EL fans supporting the Sky deal on that basis.

It's a matter of accountability.

If you're happy to have Irish football run by an organisation that on major issues says one thing one week and another the next, with no changed circumstances in between, then fair enough but I'm not.

Michael Nugent