[ad_1]
Wales’ visit this weekend will give Stephen Kenny and his players an early opportunity to put the disappointment of Thursday night’s penalty shootout behind him, but another game played in an empty stadium will round out a bad week for his employers. with the elimination of Euro2020 that cost the FAI an estimated minimum of 5 million euros.
The association raised almost double for just participating in an event that will include four games in Dublin, after which there was the potential for bonuses linked to points earned in the group stage and progression to the knockout rounds, as well as additional income. by sponsorship. . But after deductions for expenses and the reserve of players, the figure of 5 million euros was expected to be the minimum that the association would have retained.
Acting CEO Gary Owens insists the figure was never budgeted, but agrees the association would have been very happy to have it. As it stands, government funding is the most immediate issue for FAI finances, as the organization has requested € 19.3 million in coronavirus-related aid, of which € 4.9 million they would go to clubs of all levels across the country.
“That would take us back to where we thought we would be when we signed the business plan with the Bank of Ireland in March,” he says. “We have not heard from the application so far, we may listen for the next two weeks, but I hope we get the money in October or November. We certainly need it. “
More will be required, he suggests, if the crowds are not allowed to return to the games next year. “Like the IRFU, the revenue generated around our senior games is very important to us and we have many World Cup matches scheduled for 2021. Again, I hope progress will be made, we are part of a joint Committee. chaired by Martin Murphy from Aviva Stadium who is doing a very good job and UEFA is also working hard on this as they need to find solutions before the European Championship.
“There will be technological advances that will help us,” he continues, “but if we don’t make quite substantial progress, it will become a challenge for us. The test in the Super Cup, where they had 20,000 spectators, went very well and I think the biggest problem was how to prevent people from mixing socially off the field after the game, but that was about a third of the normal capacity of the stadium. And we think something similar should be achieved at Aviva, so it would be around 18,000.
“I don’t think it makes much sense to push it for this year, but for the start of the World Cup campaign, yes, we certainly hope.”
The association is more aware than ever of the challenges Covid-19 poses after a week in which two of its employees tested positive. One of whom only stepped in to replace the other on the trip to Slovakia on Tuesday, having tested negative the day before. When he himself tested positive on Wednesday, the players who had been sitting immediately behind him on the plane, Aaron Connolly and Adam Idah, and two other members of the association’s staff who were sitting directly across from him, were considered close contacts and excluded from any participation in the game.
Unable to travel with the team immediately afterwards, the two players returned to their clubs early Friday afternoon and the association arranged a private plane to take its three employees home for the evening.
Stephen Kenny called up Daryl Horgan and Sean Maguire to replace the players who will miss the two Nations League matches over the next five days against Wales and then against Finland.
“It has been difficult,” says Owens, who refuses to go into the mistakes that may have been made over the course of the few days, “but we are happy that the staff are coming home, we were concerned that they might get stuck there during two weeks and when you added up what it took to keep them there, there wasn’t much difference in getting them out. “
“What happened, however, has highlighted the scale of the challenge involved in all of this; the fact that a negative test is actually a test from three or four days before, apparently. We all tested negative on Monday, but any of us could have tested positive, and while keeping people away in hotels is easy, on planes and buses it’s much more difficult. . . and the seats on the plane we used were much more widely spaced than on a commercial flight.
“What I would say, however, is that we obeyed all the protocols that we had agreed with the HSE, we adhered to the letter; we had to do it because there is a bigger problem here and because we need to be allowed to travel without the normal restrictions. We felt that because the distance between people on the plane was 1.7 meters and they were all wearing masks and there was air sanitation, they could have made an exception when we went to explain what happened, but they didn’t and we accepted it. ; We didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the deal. “
The continued impact of the virus on international play was felt again on Friday when the Irish Under-21s flew to Pisa for a qualifier for the critically important European Championship on Tuesday, even as it emerged that the Italians were in quarantine in Iceland, where his game was postponed. after two players and a staff member tested positive.
“We have seen that Scotland and Slovakia also have problems,” says Owens. “I was just asking our team doctor Alan Byrne if this is all sustainable. I’m not sure what the answer is, but we have to keep working to try to make sure that is the case. “
[ad_2]