Boyce to be FIFA Vice President?

[T Fearon]

In the year of our Lord 2007, is it not ridiculous that the so called four "British" Football Associations have an automatic Vice Presidency of FIFA role?  This means that the failed administrator Jim Boyce, President of the IFA, will unbelievably be FIFA Vice President in 2011, and will have a major role in managing soccer globally when he has palpably failed to modernise a small association that has a shambolic administrative system which fails to even register players correctly and still retains archaic laws on its statute book such as the ban on Sunday soccer. Surely the elevation to such lofty heights should be on ability not patronage.

Lest anyone think that this is a politically motivated rant, trawl through the OWC website and discover what OWC Supporters think of Boyce

[Billys Boots]

C'mon Tony, it's not as if competence is a major criterion for getting to this level in FIFA!

[the colonel]

thats only vice president of the 4 nations. if your man mcbeth from the sfa hadn't got the line he wouldnt't have got it from 2011 and he would prob too old in 2015. fair play to him though.

[T Fearon]

The issue here is about much more than an incompetent fcukwit landing himself a top job in World soccer, it is also about the "right" of the so called 4 "British" Associations to have a permanent Vice President and indeed about the right to have four separate "British Associations" in the first place.

[Evil Genius]

In the Year...  ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...             ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            
Lest anyone think that this is a politically motivated rant...      ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...            ...Blah, Blah, Blah...             ...Blah, Blah, Blah...   Boyce.  

You know you shouldn't.

You know you said you wouldn't.

But like Dawn French in front of a well-stocked fridge, you just couldn't resist!  

(As for your closing "excuse", that's like Big Dawn claiming her Chocolate Orange is allowed, because it's really a type of fruit and fruit's allowed  )



P.S. Are you still winning the battle with anorexia?

[Evil Genius]

The issue here is about much more than an incompetent fcukwit landing himself a top job in World soccer, it is also about the "right" of the so called 4 "British" Associations to have a permanent Vice President and indeed about the right to have four separate "British Associations" in the first place.

It's like one little slice of cake, isn't it Tone?

"Well, my hips don't look any bigger than yesterday, so that's OK. In fact, I can probably have another slice - how much harm can that do? Indeed, I deserve another slice. After all, I've been so good, for so long. Still, that makes the cake look very lopsided. If I have another slice, that will still leave exactly half. Of course, having been out of the tin for this long, it is probably going stale. Perhaps one more little slice. A really little one and I can skip tea to make up for it"

Twenty Minutes Later:

"Whatever happened to my cake?" 

[BallyhaiseMan]

so what we have learned from this thread is some guy called Jim Boyce is a boll*x

and Evil Genius is sad about losing his cake.

[stew]

so what we have learned from this thread is some guy called Jim Boyce is a boll*x

and Evil Genius is sad about losing his cake.

I would say you learned more than that, i would say that evil )to give him his proper title ) nearly wets himself every time the fearonator mentions anything to do with owc, we can now add him to the list.

BTW Tone, what did you ever do to mac to make him leave this forum? I used to love the way you too went at it back in the day, i do mind he left with his tail between his legs but cant remember the details.

[Evil Genius]

so what we have learned from this thread is some guy called Jim Boyce is a boll*x

and Evil Genius is sad about losing his cake.

I would say you learned more than that, i would say that evil )to give him his proper title ) nearly wets himself every time the fearonator mentions anything to do with owc, we can now add him to the list.

Oh, I nearly wet myself upon Fearon's re-emergence all right, but from laughter, not excitement.

You see, I was beginning to think that the Fat Fella might just have summoned up the willpower to stick to his self-denying ordinance but, no, it wasn't to be.

Like another native-born Irish Genius, his motto seems to be:
"I can resist everything except temptation" 

[saffron sam2]

The contribution of Evil Genius to this thread is disappointing but not in any way surprising.  I feel that Fearon makes a valid point.  Admittedly the vice-president's role is purely ceremonial, but why should the four associations in question be automatically entitled to a representative in such a role.  In particular, one need only look at the capabilities (or lack thereof) of the IFA to see why this association should not be rewarded with a vice-presidency.  Not capable of providing a ground to meet minium FIFA requirements; locking themselves into a 99 year deal at the ground they rent, but don't own; tying themselves into a stadium that few of their fanbase want or believe can be filled. No politics there EG, just plain incompetence.

Still I look forward to seeing this media whore at the world cup final standing on the pitch for the anthems.  What was that about?

[SammyG]

The contribution of Evil Genius to this thread is disappointing but not in any way surprising.  I feel that Fearon makes a valid point.  Admittedly the vice-president's role is purely ceremonial, but why should the four associations in question be automatically entitled to a representative in such a role.  In particular, one need only look at the capabilities (or lack thereof) of the IFA to see why this association should not be rewarded with a vice-presidency.  Not capable of providing a ground to meet minium FIFA requirements; locking themselves into a 99 year deal at the ground they rent, but don't own; tying themselves into a stadium that few of their fanbase want or believe can be filled. No politics there EG, just plain incompetence.

Still I look forward to seeing this media whore at the world cup final standing on the pitch for the anthems.  What was that about?

I think EG was commenting on Fearon rather than Boycie. The levels of incompetence in the IFA are well documented and there are a lot more issues than the ones you've listed (although the 99 year lease was the governments fault not the IFA). Boycie is clearly incompetent and seems to be getting worse but that applies to a lot of football administrators, compared to some he's actually not that bad.

[Evil Genius]

The contribution of Evil Genius to this thread is disappointing but not in any way surprising.  I feel that Fearon makes a valid point.  Admittedly the vice-president's role is purely ceremonial, but why should the four associations in question be automatically entitled to a representative in such a role.  In particular, one need only look at the capabilities (or lack thereof) of the IFA to see why this association should not be rewarded with a vice-presidency.  Not capable of providing a ground to meet minium FIFA requirements; locking themselves into a 99 year deal at the ground they rent, but don't own; tying themselves into a stadium that few of their fanbase want or believe can be filled. No politics there EG, just plain incompetence.

Still I look forward to seeing this media whore at the world cup final standing on the pitch for the anthems.  What was that about?

Re. my reply to TF, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt in not being aware of the context of this thread. Basically, after years of sounding off about all things related to NI soccer, to varying  degrees of lunacy, inaccuracy, libel, idiocy, irrelevance etc TF had a meeting (very aimiable, I'm told) with a leading poster on OWC.
As a consequence, TF voluntarily agreed to cease the slagging. At the time, I didn't think it would last a minute, but fair play to him, he was good to his word and the postings and letters etc ceased.
Until yesterday.
What was beginning to look like a genuine truce - armistice even - turned out to be a mere "cessation". ("He hadn't gone away, you know!"  )
Now perhaps the intervening period had had a calming effect on me, but I declined to address (and thereby prolong) the substance of his rant, as I might normally have done.

Instead, the image which had grown up in my mind, of Fearon sitting there in front of his computer every morning, newspaper in hand, becoming ever more wound up by reading about the latest good news from Norn Iron without being able to respond, was just too funny.
Eventually, he just had to "scratch that itch" - hence this thread!
And that made me laugh. Not only that, but his justification for returning to "Active Service" was a peach ("Everyone on OWC slags off Boyce, so I'm allowed to, as well"). Priceless.

Anyhow, if you really do want to hear my views on Boyce and the FIFA Vice-Presidency etc, here goes.
First of all, I happen to think he's a clown, whose general incompetence has cost NI football dear enough down the years. Not only that, but he looks to have a huge ego - hence his appearing on the pitch (but only when we're doing well, funnily enough).
But having said that, I suppose we should give him credit for also being a genuine fan, who is doing his best, regardless of how poor that can be. And tbf, the IFA Presidency is entirely unpaid and he does devote a lot of time to it. Plus he's personally very affable, which is decidedly useful behind the scenes in FIFA/UEFA etc, since who you know is invariably more important than what you know when it comes to those organisations.
Above all, Boyce is honest - in stark contrast (I would guess) to a great many soccer administrators around the world where, free from official scrutiny and accountability, the graft and corruption is enormous. (In that respect, it's almost as bad as the IOC, imo)

As for the four British Associations having an automatic Vice Presidency at FIFA, the rationale is quite clear. They had established the rules of soccer and were playing internationals long before FIFA was even heard of. Not only that, but the home countries had originally fostered the game, both Officially and unofficially, in countries all around the world.
Consequently, when other countries formed their own Associations, then banded together to form FIFA, the home countries were suspicious, seeing this as a threat to their own hitherto domination of the game. I've no doubt there was no shortage of snobbery towards, and suspicion of, the efforts of "Johnny Foreigner", as well. AFAIK, relations between the home countries and FIFA were cool enough in the beginning, with the British Associations declining to enter the early World Cups etc and even withdrawing from FIFA for a period in a dispute over amateurism.
However, the Second World War changed things drastically. Soccer in Europe was decimated, many countries were refusing to have anything to do with their former enemies, plus Cold War enmities added to the problems. And FIFA was flat broke.
Therefore, in 1947, we staged a match between "Great Britain" (including NI) and "The Rest of the World" at Hampden Park, with the entire proceeds of the 135,000 crowd going to FIFA. In return for being baled out, a number of arrangements were reached, including the provision that the four Home Countries could maintain their separate identities, and also nominate a Vice President to FIFA in perpetuity.
The fact that the arrangements put in place then remain broadly unchanged today suggests to me that they were successful and valuable (but feel free to disagree).

As for your other specific points, FIFA has, indeed raised the requirements re. stadium suitability, to the extent that Windsor is barely able to meet the minimum standards. However, in all but a handful of countries (if that), the National Team plays in a National Stadium, built, paid for and maintained by the respective Government. In my opinion, it is a disgrace that we don't receive the same level of assistance in the UK (though again, you may disagree).
As for the 99 (100?) year Lease, as Sammy indicated, that was not the work of the IFA. Rather, when the Government agreed to fund a new North Stand at Windsor, they were concerned that once the Stand was built, Linfield could say "Thank You Very Much", then evict the IFA. So the NIO insisted on a long lease to provide security of tenure. Unfortunately, not only did this fail to recognise that Linfield were never going to kill the Golden Goose (IFA rent) which gives them an enormous financial advantage over every other local club, but the NIO failed to insert a one-way getout clause, should they wish to terminate the Lease. (Ironically, the inability of the IFA to buy themselves out of the remaining 70-odd years is one of the barriers to their taking up residency at the NIO's Maze Stadium, should it ever be built!)
As for being committed to the Maze Stadium, I am pretty certain that that would not be the IFA's first, or even second, choice of stadium. However, as an organisation, they are flat broke, so cannot afford to alienate a Government which is hell-bent on proceeding with this project from purely political motives.

But having said all that, you're right, the IFA (and Jim Boyce) are pretty incompetent. Which probably partly explains why the other Home Associations have declined to nominate an IFA Representative for the FIFA Vice-Presidency for some years now, even though it should be our "turn", on a strictly rotational basis.

I bet you're glad you asked...

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

EG is that bit about TF true! If so it would explain why his recent posts have been decidedly dull.

[T Fearon]

On a point of clarification, I did have a meeting with an OWC Contributor which was highly amiable and cordial. I agreed to end permanently my spurious and admiitedly at times over the top attacks. However, just as many things within the GAA continue to concern the OWC Contributor, many things about the IFA continue to concern me and therefore I feel I have a right to air these in a logical and respectful manner (as the OWC member continues to do about the GAA on the OWC site).

I feel this appoinment is a joke and disagree with

a) the existence of four so called British Associations (that are after all under one political constitutional entity)

b) the perpetutal right of those four so called Britsh Associations to nominate a Vice President.

This is neither confrontational nor sectarian and in no way does it contravene the agreement I reached with the OWC Contributor

[Solomon Kane]

On a point of clarification, I did have a meeting with an OWC Contributor which was highly amiable and cordial. I agreed to end permanently my spurious and admiitedly at times over the top attacks. However, just as many things within the GAA continue to concern the OWC Contributor, many things about the IFA continue to concern me and therefore I feel I have a right to air these in a logical and respectful manner (as the OWC member continues to do about the GAA on the OWC site).

I feel this appoinment is a joke and disagree with

a) the existence of four so called British Associations (that are after all under one political constitutional entity)

b) the perpetutal right of those four so called Britsh Associations to nominate a Vice President.

This is neither confrontational nor sectarian and in no way does it contravene the agreement I reached with the OWC Contributor

The four UK associations are among the oldest in the world, each one older than the GAA.