ANOTHER WORLD CUP without Ireland, meaning it’s now 20 years and counting since we last shared the world’s feast. But that’s not to say the legacy of Ireland’s last World Cup appearance isn’t influencing this one.
“We are leaving nothing to chance: we are going to make sure Qatar doesn’t become our Saipan” the Chief Executive of the Welsh FA Noel Mooney tells The42, in an interview conducted in Dublin days before Wales named their tournament squad.
Mooney is a former League of Ireland goalkeeper, playing with Limerick and then Cork City, with whom he won the FAI Cup in 1998. A knee injury cut short his career and a Masters in Marketing and Management launched another, taking a job with the FAI as a Club Promotion Officer. (His public unveiling in the role was overshadowed a tad – it came a day after a Dundalk fan doused himself in petrol and threatened to set himself on fire outside the FAI offices in protest over a decision to exclude his club from the Premier Division.)
He moved on to Uefa in 2011 but returned to the FAI in 2019, when he was parachuted in to run the FAI for six months, then in the full mire of its turmoil after the exit of John Delaney. He stuck to his timeline, returning to Uefa before his appointment as the CEO of the Welsh FA in 2021.
So while Ireland are not in Qatar, Mooney is here with Wales, who begin their tournament against the USA later today. The scars of the FAI’s bungling in 2002 remain fresh on Mooney’s mind.
“I said it to [manager] Rob Page: I was asking him how he feeling about the preparation and logistics, and I explained to him that, as an Irish person, growing up I was haunted by losing our best player and our captain before a ball was kicked.
“We are making sure we have all the balls and all the bibs, that the pitches are good and the dressing rooms are good and everyone is happy and healthy going out there, and everyone comes back healthy and happy.
“It is something that always stuck with me. Imagine going to the World Cup and not having everything right? We have a very good [administrative and backroom] team that has been to two tournaments before. This is our first World Cup in 64 years: we have to make sure we are absolutely bang on in terms of organisation.”
Qatar brings with it unique challenges. The bulk of Wales’ 80-strong travelling party are staying in a brand-new hotel on the Corniche waterfront in Doha, a brand new hotel in which they are among the first guests. Those not staying by the water are literally staying on it: the Welsh FA are bringing many of their administrative staff and some are staying on cruise ships moored in Doha. The premium on facilities means Wales are sharing their training ground with Japan, and through the respective pitches are kept separate, access to warm-up areas and media facilities involved some liaising.
Covid lingers as a background issue, too. The virus rules in Qatar were relaxed ahead of kick off, with fans no longer required to present negative tests to get into the country, while players are no longer subject to the PCR testing regime of last year. Catching the virus might ruin a player’s World Cup, though, so the Welsh players are somewhat limited with whom they mix indoors.
On the pitch, Wales have been drawn in an intriguing, somewhat egalitarian group and open against the USA later today, before facing Iran on Friday and then England on Tuesday week.
It is a politically-charged group, with Iran manager Carlos Querioz reportedly facing political pressure from home to exclude players who have criticised the country’s ruling regime.
As regards the wider issues of a fraught and tangled World Cup, Wales are part of the Uefa working group whose captains plan to wear a rainbow-coloured, ‘One Love’ armband during matches in protest at Qatar’s criminalisation of homosexuality. Gareth Bale planned to wear it and that remains Wales’ intention, despite a last-minute change of plans from Fifa. In a press release published on Saturday night, Fifa said all captains would wear armbands bearing different slogans across the tournament, with the three for the group games set to be #FootballUnitesTheWorld, #SaveThePlanet, and #ProtectChildren, #ShareTheMeal. The only slogan somewhat close in meaning to the One Love armband will be worn during the quarter-finals, reading #NoDiscrimination. In spite of this late-notice Fifa diktat, Wales intend to stick to their guns and wear the ‘One Love’ armband today.
The definitive scandal of this World Cup is the plight of the migrant workers who have built the stadiums and infrastructure while working long hours in stultifying heat. The precise number of workers who have died in the construction of this competition is unknown, with gaps in the collection of data making the accurate number impossible to calculate. Fifa have accentuated the improvements in worker conditions since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar, with the sponsorship system underpinning worker exploitation now theoretically abolished and an oversight and grievance body instituted on behalf of the workers. While Amnesty International and other human rights groups have welcomed these developments, they say their enforcement on the ground must improve.
“We see legislative development over there but it is the enforcement of those”, says Mooney of those on-paper improvements. “We want to use the competition as a platform for improvement, to make the world better than worse. After the tournament it’s important we all don’t just pack up our bags and come back to Europe. That dialogue has to continue, and I am sure Uefa will have the framework in place to continue the dialogue in the region, to help alleviate the plight of migrant workers.”
Conversation turns to the FAI, and Mooney’s six-month secondment from Uefa in the grip of the post-Delaney chaos. At the time it appeared the Association was at genuine risk of insolvency, and was kept afloat by a loan from Uefa. Shortly after his arrival, Mooney was heavily criticised by then-sports minister Shane Ross, who called him “one of the last people on God’s earth suitable for this job” owing to his previous FAI links and perceived loyalty to Delaney.
Upon leaving the FAI for Uefa, Mooney said Delaney “has always been an inspiration to work with”, and then returned in his role with Uefa to the FAI’s AGM in 2017, where he described Delaney as “a young CEO who managed to make the Association fit for purpose.”
Does he cringe at those words now?
“I don’t think about them”, replies Mooney. “My job at Uefa was to build relationships with all 55 federations, so you could have gone and said I had a great relationship with the Maltese FA or the Finnish FA. It made no sense to me. I’m Irish, the FAI run football in Ireland: obviously I am going to know who runs the FAI. As a younger person I worked there for a period of time. That wasn’t my fault. As desperate as the situation was, I enjoyed the opportunity to help the FAI be brought forward. I didn’t let any distractions get to me, so it didn’t matter what anyone said. They weren’t going to save it, they weren’t going to solve the situation. I know from talking to various stakeholders that I had to step up to the plate.”
He says he has no intention of ever going back to the FAI, though keeps an eye on developments, particularly with the women’s national team which has just qualified for a first World Cup under Vera Pauw, whom Mooney appointed.
“I have zero regrets. I really enjoyed my time at the FAI. The FAI was in real dire straits at that time, it was a really dangerous moment for Irish football. When the call came to come to Ireland, to support the salvation of the Association and Irish football, there is no question for me that it was the right thing to do. I can tell you it was an intense time: fall asleep and go again. I feel we made good progress, and along with the financial and governance salvation, we had other really bright things happen: the appointment of Vera Pauw, for example. My son was born on a Wednesday in Estonia, on the Thursday I was in Frankfurt getting Vera Pauw getting signed up on a contract, which proved to be a catalyst for qualification for the World Cup finals, which was nice.
“I’ll have an eye on the Women’s World Cup because of Vera, and I also got to know the players, who have been through a lot and they have done a marvellous job on and off the pitch. I am so proud of what that group have achieved, and I am so proud of the dialogue we had to bring it on to the next level. I look back at my time at the FAI with great fondness.”
Mooney’s priority is now Wales, whom he says he hopes to help become the “best association in the World.” The World Cup, he says, offers another long-term ambition.
“We are hoping with all of this to unearth the next Jess Fishlock or Gareth Bale, who fall in love with football and want to play in the World Cup finals. And hopefully, long after I’m gone, there are people playing football as a result of seeing us on the world stage.”
Plans are afoot to change Wales’ official name in football circles to Cymru, though Mooney says there is nothing political about it.
“Cymru is the Welsh for Wales: there’s nothing political about it. It is a cultural movement which represents a much more confident, outgoing country and a more engaging nation.”
And for how long will Wales remain engaged at this World Cup?
“We have a very good squad, we feel very good about it. The group is such an interesting selection of countries. We have our neighbours England, who we played in 2016, we have Iran and the US. It’s a very varied group, and one we really hope to get out of. That’s our first aim: to get out of the group. If we get out of the group, then we take it step-by-step.”