Jim McDaid, the Minister for Sport, will meet UEFA officials at Paderborn in Germany today amid growing indications that nothing short of direct Government intervention will prevent the Republic of Ireland's game against Yugoslavia from going ahead as scheduled.
A meeting of the Cabinet yesterday decided to defer the ultimate sanction of withholding visas from the Yugoslav party in the hope that UEFA will abort that decision by ordering a postponement. The preferred solution, of course, is that the European football authorities will agree to defer the game when McDaid speaks with Lennart Johannsen, UEFA's president, and Gerhard Aigner, its general secretary, this morning. But, as of now, that seems unlikely. Questioned yesterday, a spokesman said UEFA officials would go into the talks to defend the decision of their executive committee in Barcelona last week to proceed with arrangements for the game. He saw no circumstances in which that ruling would be reversed and said that precipitative action by the Government would "not serve anybody well". FAI spokesman Brendan McKenna admitted they were concerned about possible sanctions: "The consequences could be serious indeed," he said, "and the FAI are very aware of those possibilities and as such they are very reluctant to suggest they should call off the match."
McKenna said the FAI were "charged with promoting and fostering football" and felt it was "an unsuitable time to play against people who are involved in hostilities."
He added: "UEFA have outlined all along that the match should go ahead. It is scheduled in their fixtures.
"They have had various meetings at various times in the last month in relation to it and each time they have decided that Yugoslavia are still part of the tournament.
"As such we are committed to playing them on Saturday when the match was scheduled many months ago."
The UEFA spokesman confirmed that letters asking for a postponement had been received from the Department for Foreign Affairs and the Department of Trade, Sport and Recreation, and that EU officials had also been in contact about the fixture. "Three weeks ago the EU issued a weak recommendation about sporting contact with Yugoslavia and when we wrote requesting clarification we got no reply," he said. "That remains the kernel of the problem; politicians don't want to make the hard decisions."
Asked to reconcile their current stance over the European championship game in Dublin and their recent decision to remove Yugoslav teams from club competitions, he said:
"When we started the European championship last August, we were not to know for certain that a war situation would develop in the Balkans region. The programme is now in progress, and while the situation in the area has deteriorated since then, it is incumbent on us to finish it.
"The difference with the club competitions is that they haven't yet started," he added. "There is a war going on and, as such, it would be foolhardy to start something which we fear we will have difficulty in completing.
"Of course, we are not unsympathetic to the situation in which the Football Association of Ireland now find themselves. But what will happen if the game on Saturday does not take place? Would they wish to have Yugoslavia awarded the points by default or, at best, have to play it in a neutral country?"
Then, somewhat naively, he painted the comparison of people all over Europe turning up to watch Yugoslavians play individually in club games while refusing to attend games in which they play together. None of which augers well for the prospects of a climbdown by the European football authorities.
When Mick McCarthy supervised the first of two training sessions for the Irish team at Clonshaugh yesterday, he said that he was preparing on the assumption that the game will take place. "None of us want it, but until such time as somebody tells us that it's off, we have to assume that it's on," he said. "I asked each of the players this morning if they wished to boycott the match, and to a man they said no. "Whatever their inner thoughts, they know that as professionals they have a job of work to do and they'll go and do it to the best of their ability. "That said, there is no question that the controversy effects their preparations," McCarthy added. "On the other hand, I don't know what else can happen to the lads in the Yugoslav team to affect their preparations. "If the situation was reversed and we were going to Yugoslavia and my granny's chippie in Waterford was bombed, I think I'd be going there with a point to prove."
In a separate development, Fr Joe Young, chairman of Limerick FC for the last nine years, said he would resign his post if the game takes place. Fr Young believes that Ireland should forfeit the points if UEFA insists on the game going ahead and has called on other National League clubs to take a firm stand.
"How can anyone stand under a flag and play football when ethnic cleansing is taking place," he said. "No three points are worth endorsing Milosevic."
The Sanctions
If the FAI refuse to fulfil the fixture on Saturday, they face a range of sanctions.
1 - Expulsion from the European championship and possibly exclusion from the next World Cup.
2 - Debarred from playing any competitive games at home for a specified period.
3 - Allowed to stay in the championship but fined heavily and the points awarded to Yugoslavia.
4 - In the event of the Government refusing permission for the Yugoslavs to enter the country, the points awarded to Yugoslavia.
5 - The lesser penalty of a substantial fine and the game being rescheduled for a neutral venue.
