FAI are eager to get ball rolling

SOCCER: The Government is set to formally meet representatives of the FAI and IRFU next week to start work on the establishment of the required management structures for what is projected to be the four-year, €300 million redevelopment of Lansdowne Road.

FAI chief executive Fran Rooney informally met representatives from the Department of Sport yesterday at the launch of the European Year of Education through Sport programme at Croke Park, where the two sides agreed they should press ahead with establishing a working group.

The IRFU is also understood to be anxious that progress be made as soon as possible.

"We should be moving on this now that we have the go-ahead from the Government," said Rooney yesterday. "There's a huge amount of work to be done and a lot of decisions to be made, but the next step is for everybody to sit down formally and start the process of establishing the vehicles which will enable the required investment to be made. The first meeting will probably be next week."

Rooney said the working group is likely to be followed by a joint venture company in which the two associations, and possibly the Government, will be stakeholders.

"It's important that we don't get too hung up at this stage on what the percentages involved are," he said however. "What we need to do right now is get the ball rolling and make sure that we start making progress straight away.

"In terms of the Government, we need to establish what the roles of the likes of the OPW and the Department of Sport will be, and we need to look at what will be required of everyone involved, including the associations of course, to ensure that the whole things moves forward smoothly now.

"That might involve looking to outside people to provide particular expertise or to advise us," he added, "but there is a good deal of expertise in Ireland - concert promoters who may have experience of venue management, the people who oversaw the development of Croke Park - and we will consider all of those sorts of issues further on down the line."

While the stadium project is clearly at the top of the agenda for the FAI, Rooney insisted he will also seek to raise the matter of the proposal that the FAI locate a training centre and administrative headquarters at Abbotstown at next week's meeting.

"We're eager to move ahead with that as well," he said. "We need a national coaching centre and Merrion Square is no longer suitable for us, so we will be pressing the issue as a matter of urgency."

He envisaged the total cost of what would almost certainly be a phased scheme coming in at anywhere between €10 million and €20 million.

Part of the capital required for the project would be raised by the sale of the association's current home, as well, perhaps, Rooney suggested on Tuesday, as the disposal of the Leinster Football Association's offices on Parnell Square.

A substantial shortfall would remain, but it is hoped significant new funds might be generated through the establishment of a new Football Trust, a proposal Rooney has floated at a number of meetings in recent weeks and one which, he says, could contribute up to €2.5 million to the association annually.

"We're still working on it," he says, "but the idea is that we would target 100,000 fans and ask them to pay a membership fee of €25 each. That isn't enough for a night out but it has the potential to give us €2.5 million with which to work each year.

"In return, we are looking at ways of offering members of the trust discounts on merchandise, preferential access to tickets for games and a variety of other things that would be of benefit to members, the sort of thing you might expect to benefit from if you were a member of a very large club."

It seems the association intends to develop the sort of schemes pursued by big English clubs, some of which offer discounted financial and other services to members.

Similar schemes may also be introduced for supporters of the Eircom League, the rejuvenation of which, Rooney insists, will be a central aim of the association over the coming few years.