Hill pays visit to Royal County as clubs get paid

FAI chief Jonathan Hill has praised the facilities at the MDL outside Navan as "brilliant" and "first class."

"I'd like to see these kind of facilities being replicated across the whole of Ireland," he said.

Hill called at the venue yesterday as part of a drive to promote the FAI's Summer Soccer Schools which are been held at various locations all over Meath over the coming weeks until Friday 20th August.

Earlier in the day the FAI issued a statement saying that soccer clubs in Meath that had been promised money have got paid, except one club.

In 2019 the FAI's annual Festival of Football was held in Meath and clubs were offered sums of money to develop facilities. However, it later transpired the Association was in dire financial straits.

Local clubs - which had been promised financial support, usually in the region of €2,000 or €3,000 - were left wondering if they would get paid. Now those clubs have, according to the FAI, received their money. All except one.

"All grants from the 2019 Festival have been paid with one exception where the club have yet to supply the right bank details. It is entirely their issue and they are in the process of sorting that. Once they do, they will be paid," read the statement.

Hill took over as the FAI's CEO last November and has since set about the task of trying to grapple with the huge number of problems that beset the organisation including a mountain of debt.

"I looked at the role and given my experience at the wider football industry and particularly the 10 years, on and off, I spent with the English FA I knew it was a job I had the right experience for and I understood all of the working parts of a football association," he said.

And he had a message for the local soccer community. "We're here to serve you that's the whole point. Players, whether they are five or 50-years-old are, you might describe as as customers, they are our lifeblood, that's the core purpose of what any football association should be.

"We're here to support the players, we're here to support all the volunteers, coaches, administrators, referees. We're here to support them as much as possible, to make sure that when you do turn up for a training session in midweek or a match on Saturday or Sunday you have the best possible facilities."

For more on Jonathan Hill's visit to the MDL - including photographs - see the next issue of the Meath Chronicle