FAI given financial respite by UEFA

The FAI has been allocated a grant of 83,000 Swiss francs (£41,500) by UEFA towards costs incurred in the course of the Euro 2000 Group Eight qualifying matches.

The grant has come as a direct result of FAI chief executive Bernard O'Byrne's visit to UEFA headquarters in Switzerland last week, and the request for compensation based on the association's loss of some £250,000 after the fixture chaos caused by the Balkan crisis.

Three senior and three under-21 European Championship fixtures had to be postponed, most significantly the game against Yugoslavia scheduled for Lansdowne Road last June. Over £100,000 had been spent on installing temporary seating for that fixture and the FAI was also ordered by UEFA to pay £50,000 towards the expenditure incurred by the Yugoslavs.

The FAI was also fined in the region of £5,000 in December following the post-match melee with Turkey in the second leg of the qualifying play-off in Bursa. That punishment was not appealed by the association.

O'Byrne has previously been critical of the Government's lack of support for their financial shortcomings, including the fact that the Irish Sports Council grant this year was only £114,000. "This, indeed, is a very reasonable amount," said O'Byrne of yesterday's grant. "We greatly appreciate the gesture and show of goodwill towards us by UEFA and in particular that of general secretary Gerhard Aigner."

Meanwhile, the FAI yesterday appointed two new regional development officers - Darren Murray from Tipperary and Colin O'Brien from Cork. Murray will be responsible for the south-east area and O'Brien for the greater Cork area.