Irish soccer fan gets €1k compo from FAI over 'betrayal' with rescheduled match

An Ireland soccer fan has successfully sued the FAI after a resheduled away game left him out of pocket. Gerry Flynn, 76,was awarded €1,091, the total loss he incurred when a 2022 Republic of Ireland – Armenia match was brought forward by three days.

At Dublin District Court yesterday, Judge Marie Quirke said the FAI was negligent in running inaccurate information on its website. She noted it alerted the media but was “shocked” it had not amended its own website, which Mr Flynn treated “as gospel” for updates.

Plaintiff Mr Flynn, from Ennafort Park, Raheny, Dublin, told the court he had travelled to 90% of the Irish team’s away matches for 50 years. But he alleged the FAI “betrayed” him and accused it of ignoring his complaints about the date change, which forced him to pay extra to get to the stadium in time for kick-off.

Mr Flynn told the court the game was originally scheduled for June 7, 2022 and he booked the flights on April 12. But 48 hours later, he learned the match had been rescheduled for June 4 so he booked new tickets. Mr Flynn said on April 15, he emailed the FAI’s CEO Jonathan Hill, demanding to know why fans were not kept informed. He was told it had been caused by the invasion of Ukraine.

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Nine days later, he emailed FAI president Gerry McAnaney, who replied it would be brought to the attention of the association’s executive board. Mr Flynn sent emails in May and June and a registered letter in July, but 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 also heard he later mentioned it to Ireland goalkeeping legend Packie Bonner, who sits on the FAI board but “he hadn’t a clue what I was talking about”.

Mr Flynn said the FAI later offered him three season tickets as a goodwill gesture but he rejected them as 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 newspapers and media websites which mentioned the date change. However, Mr Flynn was adamant he relied on the FAI website for match dates and had not read about it in any of the papers, which he bought at weekends.

In finding in the plaintiff’s favour Judge Quirke told the association’s representative: “I’m quite shocked you didn’t update.”

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