After a third sitting, the FAI’s annual general meeting for 2022 produced a fresh surprise as Tom Browne was voted off the 12-person board.
Representing the schoolboy and girl section of Irish football, Browne failed to secure enough votes from the FAI general assembly, 44 for and 46 against, leaving the board with 11 members until the SFAI can nominate a new candidate.
Before the vote, held in Liffey Valley Dublin, two delegates questioned the democratic process around Browne’s nomination.
“This is not an issue with Tom Browne but the process,” said John Earley, a former board member and SFAI member. “It is like Lanigan’s ball, one steps out, the other steps in. The women and school girls of this country deserve a vote as much as anyone else.”
Earley implied that female representation within the SFAI was not being utilised, but the failure of Browne to secure a second term opens the possibility of six women and six men making up the FAI board come 2024.
As it stands, the election of Niamh O’Mahony, via the professional football chamber, brings female representation to 25 per cent, two members shy of the 40 per cent required by year’s end under terms agreed with the Irish Government when a financial bailout was secured in 2020.
O’Mahony swept through the vote, receiving 85 for and eight against, while the Department of Health’s general secretary Robert Watt (86-8) and legendary goalkeeper Packie Bonner (92-4) were returned as directors for a second two year term.
“It is great to see Niamh on our board, we know she represents the supporters,” said FAI president Gerry McAnaney. “She’s football through and through, having been a director of Cork City.”
The threat of Government funding being slashed, for failing to reach the gender quota, was lessened by FAI chairman Roy Barrett and independent director Gary Twohig agreeing to step aside in the coming months.
“This is a sad day for Tom Browne but democracy is democracy,” McAnaney continued. “Tom remains a great servant to Irish football, having served in every part of football from League of Ireland down to grassroots.
“It is a huge loss to our board but Tom will rise again. He is not lost to football. He will continue to do his very best to encourage more volunteers to get involved in his game.”
The SFAI could renominate Browne but the vote and comments from the floor indicate a desire for a new female voice to rise from the underage ranks. This would conciebably allow the FAI to replace Barrett with an independent male chairman.
“Tom is probably the guy who represents the SFAI better than anyone else,” said FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill. “He’s a good, honest, decent man but that is the democratic process.
“It’s an unexpected opportunity for us to continue to address something which, Roy has said very clearly last week, that we want to get to a point where we hit that 40 per cent target. Not just us but every national governing body in relation to the composition of the board.”
The AGM also formally brought Kerry FC into the League of Ireland fold, with an almost unanimous 93-4 vote.
