FAI President: Improved reputation means Irish football can stick its chest out again

Gerry McAnaney, the President of the Football Association of Ireland, has said that it is time for Irish football to ‘stick our chests back out’.

McAnaney addressed a function in Donegal on Friday night to mark the 50th anniversary of the Donegal Junior League.

First elected to the role in 2020, when an embattled FAI was restructuring following the debacle that ended the term of Chief Executive John Delaney, McAnaney believes that recent funding announcements and allocations from government bodies show a changed landscape.

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“I want to put on record that the reputation of our association has been enhanced to a level that we nearly can’t understand,” McAnaney said.

“That has been down to the behaviours of everybody in Irish football during Covid. The adherence to the return to play, train and watch protocols was absolutely outstanding from everyone involved in football. That took an awful lot of discipline from people involved in our sport. There is tremendous credit due to everyone involved in football.

“It is time for us as a sport to stick our chests back out and be proud of what we have.

“We have a bloody great game and we have bloody good people who play, run and administer it.”

Members of the Donegal League executive with Gerry McAnaney, FAI President

McAnaney acknowledged that Irish football’s reputation had been ‘somewhat tarnished’, but told how the game’s standing is ‘beginning to rise again’.

He said: “A government that didn’t want to talk to your association two years ago is now continuously engaging with us at every level. Two years ago we got Covid relief funding of €13m. The GAA got €30m and rugby got €18m. This year, we got €19m, rugby got €18m and the GAA got €20m. It is beginning to level out.

“The bottom line is we are getting on a level playing field. In the recent allocations of Sports Capital funding, we had 508 applications and over 440 were approved. Those are huge numbers for us as a sport.

“There are loads of good things happening in our association. We are in the middle of a good thing here. We take lots of knocks, but we don’t deserve an awful lot of them.  At times, we were a bit shy and we didn’t put our hands up, but we need to do that.”

FAI President Gerry McAnaney with Charlie Mitchell of Kildrum Tigers

Although Dublin born, McAnaney’s father hailed from Killea and he has never forgotten his Donegal roots. McAnaney visited family in the county after performing official duties at The Diamond Park, Ballyare, where he unveiled a plaque to commemorate the Donegal League’s golden jubilee.

“It’s never a chore for me to come to God’s own county,” he said.

McAnaney recalled ‘running around Dessie Creagh’s field in Killea’ as a youngster.

He said: “I have a deep love for all that is Donegal and for the football in Donegal. My father was great friends with Bobby Toland and I have always been very close to Donegal. I spent my childhood being pulled in and out of dressing rooms in Dalymount Park, Inchicore or wherever with Bobby.”

Donegal League secretary Nigel Ferry with FAI President Gerry McAnaney

Of the Donegal League, he added:  “This League has gone from 20 teams to 39 teams. It’s a strong, healthy, vibrant League run by strong, healthy, vibrant people. It has strong and vibrant facilities.”

Long-time Donegal League administrator Terry Leyden, who has been involved in the league for 45 years - 36 of them looking after disciplinary matters - reflected on his tenure.

“It’s a credit to the clubs and the people involved that we have got this distance,” he said.

“We’re strong. We have football for everybody. There isn’t a part of Donegal where you won’t get a soccer match. The standard of pitches and dressing rooms have improved immensely and we’re wanting the best for everybody.

“It has been an honour and a privilege for me to serve the Donegal League.”

Mick Lagan, representing the Donegal branch of the Irish Soccer Referees Society, paid tribute to the Donegal League officials. He said: “It has been an extremely successful partnership. We have to make sure that we have about 30 matches covered every week. That equates to about 1000 matches in a season in the Donegal League.”

Donegal League secretary Nigel Ferry paid tribute to all strands of the game in Donegal, many of whom were represented at the function.

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Fifty years to the day since the first Donegal League game was played (Killybegs beating Army 7-2), he paid tribute to the group of men who launched the Donegal League in the late months of 1971.

“Those boys had the foresight to sit down, grab the bull by the horns and put a structure on football here,” he said. “We are indebted to them because, without their efforts, we would not be as strong now.

“The Donegal League is your League. Keep up the hard work. In 50 years, we have produced Packie Bonner, Shay Given and we have the current Ireland captain, Seamus Coleman. We can produce more Irish players and more Irish captains.”

In the region of €400,000 was spent on upgrade works to The Diamond Park recently and the secretary vowed that further plans are in the pipeline.

He said: “We will not stand still and we hope to push on again.”