A "loyal" football supporter has successfully sued the FAI, claiming he was "treated like muck" after a rescheduled international away game left him out of pocket.
Gerry Flynn, 76, a lifelong football fan, was awarded €1,091, the total loss he incurred when the date for a 2022 Republic of Ireland – Armenia match was brought forward by three days.
He brought a civil action before Dublin District Court on Thursday, when Judge Marie Quirke ruled in his favour and said the FAI was negligent in running a wrong statement on its website.
She noted the association had alerted the media, but she was "shocked" that it had not amended the date for the game on its own website, which Mr Flynn, a former player and club manager, treated "as gospel" for updates.
Mr Flynn, from Ennafort Park, Raheny, Dublin, told the court he had followed football all his life and had travelled to 90 per cent of the Irish team's away matches for 50 years.
In evidence, he vividly recalled his first trip was to an away game, a draw against England in Wembley stadium, before telling Judge Quirke about his stints as a young player with Dundalk FC and later as a coach and administrator with Cherry Orchard in Dublin.
However, he alleged the FAI "betrayed" him and accused it of ignoring his complaints about the 2022 match date change, which forced him to pay for extra expenses to get to the stadium in time for kick-off.
Mr Flynn told the court that he and a group of four, including his teenage son, decided to travel to the UEFA Nations League game in Yerevan, Armenia.
According to the FAI website, he said, it was initially supposed to be on June 7th, 2022, in Armenia.
He booked a Lufthansa flight on April 12th. Mr Flynn claimed the match date had been listed on the FAI website for about five months at that stage.
He paid for his and his son's flights to depart three days before the game. However, 48 hours after he organised their trip, he learned the match had been rescheduled for June 4th.
His original flight would have landed three hours after the final whistle, so he booked new tickets.
Mr Flynn said on April 15th, he emailed the FAI's CEO, Jonathan Hill, demanding to know why fans were not kept informed. Mr Flynn said the response was that it had been caused by the invasion of Ukraine, which impacted some match dates in June.
He testified that nine days later, he emailed FAI president Gerry McAnaney, who, he said, replied that it would be brought to the attention of the association's executive board.
Emails
The pensioner recalled how he sent follow-up emails in May and June, as well as a registered letter in July, but they were all ignored.
He told Judge Quirke, "I was being treated like muck," and he felt he was misled.
He claimed he contacted a board member who told him he had not heard about his complaint.
The court heard he later mentioned it to Ireland goalkeeping legend Packie Bonner, also a board member, and "he hadn't a clue what I was talking about".
Mr Flynn, who represented himself, maintained the FAI later offered him three season tickets as a goodwill gesture because he was a loyal supporter, but it was on a "confidential basis".
FAI misinformation
He rejected them because the issue was about the FAI website's misinformation.
Cross-examined by the association's solicitor, it was put to him that in March and April 2022, press releases had been sent to national newspapers and media websites which mentioned the date change. Clippings were handed into court.
However, Mr Flynn was adamant that he relied on the FAI website for match dates and had not read about it in any of the papers, which he mainly bought at weekends.
The judge noted that the FAI notified the media "but no one thought to update the website", which Mr Flynn, a loyal dedicated follower, "treated as gospel".
She said the random person nowadays checked websites and told the association's representative, "I'm quite shocked you didn't update".
Mr Flynn said that 500 fans travelled for the game and claimed that most of the supporters he met told him they were also affected.
The damages also included his extra expenses for refreshments because his new flight went via a longer route, a solicitor's letter, and having to pay someone to mind his pets because of the unexpected fixture change.
