The John Delaney Show and the missing UTV news team

Since the infamous video clip of FAI CEO John Delaney was finally made public, it has been interesting times listening to and reading the various media clips around the scandal that has football fans on both side of the border and further afield looking in intently.

Well that is unless you either tune into UTV (didn’t it previously use to be called Ulster TV?) or subscribe to their website. It’s almost as if the story doesn’t exist or there has been some kind of black out in the Havelock House newsroom.

Now it’s not as if they don’t like a good bit of plain old sectarianism to entertain their viewers. Just think back to the time when a handful of idiots (and that’s a mild name for them) decided to have a sectarian sing-along on the concourse of the Aviva Stadium when Northern Ireland played Scotland in the Carling Cup. One clip caught on a mobile phone lasting a few minutes and placed on Youtube was all it took for those featuring in it to become the headline story on the UTV news programme. Outrage followed, more articles were published on their website and those big, bad old Northern Ireland supporters were castigated from all around.

Only last week Frank Mitchell devoted most of his show on U105, which is owned by UTV, to the England fans who apparently brought shame to their Nation by singing a song that contained the lyrics ‘F*ck the IRA’ on continuous loop. Condemnation flowed, heads were held in shame, apologies flowed from the English blazers, bands were faced with disbandment and the England fans joined the ranks of the Northern Irish in the top of the sectarian tables.

And yet, when probably one of the highest profile figures in Republic of Ireland football was caught on camera singing a song that romances about IRA terrorists, an organisation who have brought pain and suffering to both Catholics & Protestants across the whole of the island of Ireland, the UTV airwaves and press go into silence mode. No airing of the clip, no stories online and in fact not a single reference to it.

Moving on a few days, self-professed publicity shy John Delaney, who permitted a camera team to film him for 6 months for a documentary about himself,  has been busy on every radio station that he could fit in. During these heart felt interviews he went on to tell us that it is not just him who sings songs about republican terrorists, but it is common place on the Republic of Ireland team bus. Yes, you picked that up right. The non-sectarian Republic of Ireland team routinely sing pro-IRA songs on their team bus. A team bus that contains none other than former Northern Ireland captain, Martin O’Neill.

Now we can all speculate as to why UTV have not reported on these stories. Perhaps their news team were all travelling with Delaney on his recent trip abroad that rendered him un-contactable when his (or was it the FAI’s) lawyers were issuing out threats to newspapers and stating categorically that it wasn’t him in the video? Perhaps in the UTV newsroom singing about the IRA doesn’t constitute sectarianism; it’s just a wee ditty about peaceful men who were victimised in their quest for a better life? Perhaps sectarianism can only be attributed to Northern Ireland or England fans? Who knows, but it will be interesting to hear their explanation, although like their reporting on the matter it would probably be best to expect, yes you guessed it, silence.

So for those viewers and readers of UTV who have missed out on the last few episodes of the Delaney sitcom (we can’t yet decide whether he is casting himself as a Father Ted like character or else Gordon Brittas), here’s a quick synopsis of what has had us all glued in over the last week.

Episode 1 saw a video appearing across various social media sites of gentle John, he has made it clear on radio this week that he is against violence, allegedly singing a pro IRA song in a public bar around the corner from the Aviva stadium after the USA fixture. This of course was not John, as pointed out by his (or was it the FAI’s) lawyers who issued threats by stating ‘My client’s position is simply that it is not him singing in the video. If you take the decision to publish legal proceedings will follow as it will undoubtedly cause various issues for my client’.

So that cleared that up then.

Well that was until episode 2, when John decided to go on the airwaves, confirm it was indeed him singing the song about Joe McDonnell and inform us all that it has been sung in his presence many a time. Joe of course was one of life’s good guys whose only crime was firebombing a furniture store and then having a shootout with the RUC after. But as John put it, singing about terrorists in a public bar is ‘a typically Irish thing we do’. Sure it’s all a bit of craic.

Episode 2 continued with John going on to romance about him ‘working closely on cross-border initiatives in football to break down barriers’, as singing about IRA men and pillaging the Northern Ireland youth squads for their best players who attend mass on a Sunday does. John continued by letting us know that ‘Sean South from Garryowen (another IRA man) has been sung on the Irish team bus for years, from the Jack Charlton era, right up to the current era’. With all these barriers John is breaking down there is no doubt that his dream”, which he talked about on the Late Late Show in November 2013, that he would “love to see an All-Ireland team is only round the corner.

With the previous episode barely finished episode 3 was soon upon us, with John and his girlfriend doing the rounds of various radio stations. Now this was a very emotional episode, a real tear jerker that saw John breaking down due to a dramatic twist in the storyline, as it was announced that his partner was the victim of cyber-bullying. And who was the instigator of these vicious posts that appeared? Surprisingly it was not the usual teenage culprits on facebook, twitter or OurWeeCountry, but a couple of posters on the ybig.ie (You Boys in Green) forum.

Now we can all speculate if that was perhaps a ploy to deflect attention away from John D the pacifist and his singing of pro-IRA songs. Absolutely not. Definitely not. 100% not. Seriously, there is no way in the world it could be. Their interviews were to highlight cyber-bullying, which we all of course condemn, as did the moderators of ybig.ie who rapidly removed the couple of offending posts and banned the 1 or 2 culprits.

It should be noted that cyber-bullying is no laughing matter and as John’s partner noted she was extremely distressed about the couple of posts, especially as her children might get to see them. Therefore she took the brave step of taking a screenshot of them and placing them on one of her social media pages in order to highlight the issue of cyber-bullying.

Episode 4 of this dramatic sitcom, which is sure to rival EastEnders in the ratings war this week, then saw the main character John ‘I am open to all criticism’ Delaney start open warfare with the ybig.ie moderators and posters, due to the alleged cyber-bullies on their site.

Again it must be made clear that this was purely to do with the cyber-bullies within the ybig.ie site and not to deflect from John’s traditional Irish singsong in the Bath Pub.

Any talk that his radio rants about ybig.ie are to do with the site members calling for him to be sacked over the Scotland ticket scandal are way of the mark. What would the hundreds of their members who have travelled the length and breadth of Europe following their country, who were unable to obtain any of the hundreds of FAI tickets that went unaccounted for under Delaney’s watch, know?

Indeed, if only they opened their ears and listened to John, who has made it clear that it was all the Scottish FA’s fault for not given the Republic of Ireland fans more tickets than they were entitled to. Not only did John stand up for the Irish fans rights by lambasting the SFA by accusing them of being unprofessional, unlike his good self, but the FAI delegation even boycotted the official SFA hosted pre match functions in Glasgow to show their disgust. Surely that should have made it clear to those ybig’ers?

Obviously it didn’t as they also arranged protests against Delaney, including banners and a singsong (of a non-sectarian nature), at the USA game. As to why the ybig section of the ground was surrounded by Guards and stewards who confiscated any anti-Delaney banners when they attempted to display them, is of course a mystery. Certainly it will be to John, as he has stated time and time again that supporters have the right to protest and if he or the FAI are doing something wrong, he will address the issues. So just to confirm, the events in the Aviva had nothing to do with John. Seriously. Not a chance they had anything to do with him.

But to get back on point and just to make it abundantly clear once again, John’s stance on cyber-bullying is in no way an attempt to deflect from his current situation involving him singing sectarian songs or in relation to the ybig campaign to have him removed due to the Scotland ticketing scandal, amongst other things.

With the season finale of the Delaney show more anticipated that that of Love/Hate, fans of the sitcom were brought back down to earth again when Tony Fitzgerald issued the following statement on behalf of FAI Board.

‘The Board is more than pleased with the way John Delaney is running the Association. He has done an enormous amount for Irish football. In the past year alone the winning of EURO 2020 bid for Dublin adds to a number of very important developments he has helped oversee during his tenure. We recently awarded him a contract extension to 2020 and he is fully deserving of that’.

So there you have it folks, nothing to see here, John’s doing a great job, what sectarian sing song are you talking about, sure we have agreed to pay him a few hundred thousand euro per annum for another 6 years, move along. No seriously, move along or else we will get our lawyers onto you. Or perhaps John will get his lawyers onto you. To hell with it, we don’t know whose lawyers they are and we don’t want to talk about it, so we’ll go back into our bunker with the UTV news team.

Looking forward to the next series, it will of course be interesting to see when the FAI’s communication portal comes back online whether they stumble upon their own rule book.

Without wanting to second guess the plot, a quick flick to Rule 70, which is detailed below, should make for an interesting starting episode, 

1. As the Governing Body of Association Football in Ireland, The Association is responsible for setting standards and values to apply throughout the game at every level. Football belongs to, and should be enjoyed by everyone equally. Our commitment is to confront and eliminate discrimination whether by reason of gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnic origin, colour, religion or disability.

2. The Association is an equal opportunities employer. They are committed to equality of opportunity within the organisation and to encouraging similar commitment for every organisation or individual acting within the game.

4. The FAI shall not tolerate sexual or racially-based harassment or other discriminatory behaviour, whether physical or verbal, and shall work to ensure that such behaviour is met with appropriate disciplinary action in whatever context it occurs.

5. The FAI is committed to the development of a programme of ongoing training and awareness –raising events and activities to promote the eradication of discrimination within its own organisation and, in the wider context within football as a whole.

Fans are already speculating whether Rule 103, which states ‘Any complaint made in writing may be investigated by the Disciplinary Regulations Officer (DRO) and may result in disciplinary sanction if not otherwise provided for’, will feature in any future scenes.

Until then, we all wish the UTV Newsroom the very best in joining us again from their self-imposed exile in the near future. And when they do, let us hope they put the same coverage on the FAI as they did those so called Northern Ireland fans (and I use the term 'fans' loosely for them) who engaged in similar sectarian behaviour as John Delaney practised when singing a pro-IRA song in a public bar.

A statement from Jim Shaw, who according to himself hadn’t heard anything of the controversy, will also be welcomed to provide clarity on the alleged ‘cross-border initiatives in football to break down barriers’ that Delaney claims he was involved in.

Sectarianism – A one way street on the island of Ireland?

The issue of sectarianism within Northern Irish football has long been the talking point on the Island of Ireland, whether it be the avid football supporter, the casual follower or those outside the footballing family, including certain elements of the media.

Despite the Irish FA and its supporters winning numerous awards and commendations from near and far alike in recent years, stories continually are regaled of a fixture that took place over two decades ago when the Republic of Ireland visited Windsor Park in 1993, which is in no thanks to the likes of Marie Jones who exaggerated details of the events that night in order to suit the tale she wanted to tell in her play ‘A Night in November’.

In 2002, over a decade ago, Northern Ireland fans further faced shame as a result of the despicable events that unfolded around Neil Lennon, while in more recent times they have been castigated following the stupidity of a small minority who decided to have a sectarian singsong in the Aviva stadium during the Carling Cup fixture against Scotland.

It is worth noting that in recent times Lennon himself has noted that Northern Ireland fans ’have made the atmosphere at Northern Ireland football games in recent years the envy of Fans across not only Europe but World Football’.

While instances such as those bad times in the history of Northern Irish football listed above are played out time and time again in our local media, the lack of similar stories in regards to the FAI and their supporters would appear to indicate that the problem of sectarianism only exists in Northern Ireland.

A quick search of the internet would appear to show this is not the case however, with various videos showing supporters in Republic of Ireland shirts walking through the streets of Poland during the last European Championships shouting chants in support of the IRA, accompanied by the line ‘F*ck the Queen’.

Inside of the ground the issue of sectarianism has also been evident, not least in the old Lansdowne Road in the year 2000 during a fixture against Scotland, with several Rangers players booed relentlessly each time they touched the ball. Other players to suffer such treatment were Tore Andre Flo, Shota Arveladze and Peter Lovenkrands. Peter Madsen of Denmark also came in for the same persecution, when almost comically he was mistaken by the Republic of Ireland fans for Lovenkrands, due to an error by the stadium announcer when a substitution was made.

Over the last week a story exposing what some would deem as sectarianism at the highest ranks of the FAI itself has been bubbling away quite publicly on various social media outlets, with a video clip appearing allegedly showing the FAI Chief Executive, John Delaney, singing a song glorifying a number of IRA terrorists. This included among them a member of the IRA who has been linked to the Kingmills massacre of 1976, in which 10 Protestant workmen were lined up and murdered.

To the surprise of many the media in the North and South of the border have largely stayed clear of the matter, with the story only breaking today (25^th November), thanks to the Irish Times. Why this has been the case is largely unclear, although it has also been reported that in an attempt to cover up this undoubted embarrassment to them, the FAI through their lawyers had denied it was in fact Delaney and they would begin legal proceedings if the details were published.

As an even further embarrassment to the FAI, Delaney has now acknowledged it was indeed him in the video that took centre stage when belting out the song that is sure to disgust many across the whole island, while rumours are also circulating that former Republic of Ireland internationals Denis Irwin, Kevin Kilbane & Ronnie Whelan were also in attendance at the event in the The Bath public house. There is no suggestion that these players were involved in the singing themselves.

What happens next in terms of the steps the FAI take will be interesting to observe, as many cannot see how the Association can escape with their integrity intact unless Delaney is removed from his position with immediate effect. Indeed, anything less than that will leave the FAI in a difficult position to deal with any hints of further sectarianism by their supporters, if they cannot deal with the issue within their own ranks.

The question will also be left open as to whether the Association is truly open to all sides of the community and whether they are a proponent of the inclusivity that sport on both sides of this island should be seeking to achieve.

From a Northern Ireland supporters’ perspective, it will also be interesting to view the reaction of the Northern Irish media to the events, especially given the coverage the likes of UTV gave to a small subset of the Northern Irish supporters who disgraced their fellow fans when engaging in their sectarian garbage at the Aviva Stadium in the recent past.

Will the pages of the Belfast Telegraph make difficult reading from those within the FAI over the next few days, especially given the approach journalist Amanda Poole took to linking Northern Ireland fans to the so-called ‘death threats’ made on Twitter to James McClean?

What is clear to many however is that if the wider public had just witnessed Patrick Nelson, Delaney’s opposite number in the IFA, performing a rendition glorifying those who caused carnage on the streets of Dublin in 1974, his feet would not touch the ground when being ushered out the back door at Windsor Avenue, with the media ensuring that was the case.