The FAI does not now expect there to be supporters at any Nations League games played at the Aviva stadium this autumn and its Interim CEO, Gary Owens, believes that the fixture list might yet be revisited so as to reorder the games or even push some of them back into next year in an effort to mitigate the financial impact on the association.
In its roadmap for a return to more normal conditions from the current lockdown, the Government said last week that from August 10th it anticipates that sports events involving "mass gatherings" will be allowed but "only in accordance with both indoor and outdoor numbers restrictions and where social distancing can be complied with".
Clearly that leaves a lot of scope for uncertainty but very few are optimistic enough to believe that stadiums will be filled to anything like capacity and the association, it seems, does not now expect even significant numbers of spectators to be permitted into its games.
“We have had about six Covid-19 projections at this stage,” Owens told The Irish Times, “but we are now working on the assumption that there will be the games this year but not the fans.
“That will challenge us.”
Euro 2020 playoff
As things stand, Ireland are supposed to kick off their second Nations League campaign in Bulgaria on September 3rd then take on Finland in Dublin three days later. Home games against Wales and Bulgaria had been scheduled for October 10th and November 16th respectively although the fixture list was already due to be redrawn so as to facilitate Ireland’s previously postponed Euro 2020 playoff semi-final away to Slovakia and a potential final as well a friendly match intended to help with the preparations for those playoffs.
On the face of it then, the association stands to lose the ticket and other match day revenues from up to four home games, three of them competitive; although Owens suggests that the order of the matches could be altered if that was going to help the situation.
“A lot depends on how the five phases (of the roadmap) go and the situation might change again. Also, if other teams’ nations were up and running before us then we could possibly look with Uefa and the other associations at playing more away games first. There is also an argument that we would be better off pushing the games back into next year but that would have other knock-on effects and as things stand I am assuming that the matches will go ahead.”
Owens did not put any figure on the cost to the association of having to play the games behind closed doors but it would be expected to be several millions of euro.
The association expects to get its next update on the situation at a meeting of Uefa on May 27th when a decision is also due to be made on how to proceed with the qualifying rounds of Champions and Europa Leagues.
The revenue from these early rounds is of critical importance to the Irish clubs due to participate and Uefa insisted on Monday that it is determined to proceed with them.
It said, however, that it was monitoring the situation and that “to date, no specific options have been developed for the format of qualification for European club competitions.” Owens believes regionalisation of the initial games or the settling of rounds on the basis of just one game are likely to be among the options considered but he is hopeful that they will go ahead and that, assuming Uefa’s own revenues are not badly hit by a failure to complete this season’s competitions, full prize money will be paid.
The four Irish clubs involved – Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Derry City and Bohemians – would have been expecting to play European games in July but the dates are bound to be pushed back now given the need to decide the outcome of domestic leagues in many other countries across the continent.
Ongoing opposition
Owens, in any case, says that there is unlikely to be any firm or detailed decisions regarding a restart of the Airtricity League before the May 27th meeting but he says that, in his opinion, the prospects for getting the league going again have been growing in recent weeks despite the ongoing opposition of some clubs.
He said that many of those commenting on the situation “have not had all of the facts”. He suggested that a restart can be made to make economic sense for the clubs although he admitted that he is “pessimistic,” that streaming can generate substantial revenues in the short term. He sees exploring its potential now, however, as critically important for the league’s future, he says.
Owens, meanwhile, denied a suggestion that Robbie Keane has communicated his intention to take legal action against the association over the outstanding portion of his contract as a coach with the Irish senior team.
“That’s not true,” he said. “We are still in a process. We respect Robbie’s historic contribution the discussions have been honest and honourable...and they are ongoing.”
