FAI launches investigation into ‘political’ video message shown to Irish players ahead of England clash



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The FAI has launched an internal investigation into the political nature of a video message that the coaching staff showed to the Republic of Ireland team before last week’s friendly against England at Wembley.

And that will put even more pressure on the team’s senior manager, Stephen Kenny, who is on hand for the FAI until the end of the 2022 World Cup campaign.

Ireland lost 3-0 to Gareth Southgate’s team, but preparation for the game is now the focus of the FAI board, which met this morning to discuss the incident as they were concerned about the pre-match video.

Some members of the FAI party, including players and at least one member of the coaching staff and one non-football staff member, were believed to have been upset by what was described as overtly political content in a video shown to players. as a motivational tool before the clash with England.

The video was shown to the team on the day of England’s game, while manager Stephen Kenny followed up with a speech believed to have touched on political issues.

A senior FAI official who was present for the video screening is understood to have expressed concern to the board, which is meeting Thursday evening, and the board asked the team’s senior manager, Stephen Kenny, to give his account of the incident.

“The Irish Football Association is aware of issues related to content shared with our senior men’s team prior to the recent friendly against England at Wembley Stadium. The FAI is already investigating this matter internally with urgency to establish the facts. FAI has no further comment to make at this time, “an FAI spokesperson told Independent.ie.

Goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly was part of the coaching staff for the England match and the tie post of the League of Nations in Cardiff, but did not travel to Dublin for the party of Bulgaria, saying he had made a “personal decision” not travel to Dublin due to health concerns.

Online editors

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