FAI apologises to female former players who have spoken out: ‘We are sorry for what you had to endure’

“We are sorry for what you had to endure, we're sorry that anyone could have ever felt unsafe,” FAI interim CEO David Courell told reporters at a press conference at FAI headquarters this morning.

“We are sorry that the modern practises and reporting structures that we now have in place were not there for you when you needed them. And we're sorry that anyone could have ever felt unsafe in Irish football.”

He said he was speaking to directly address issues and individuals featured in a major joint investigation from the Sunday Independent and RTÉ Investigates.

“I'm truly sorry that anyone involved in Irish football would ever feel unsafe,” said Aoife Rafferty, FAI people & culture director.

The FAI met with a group of the women who have come forward in February after being alerted to the upcoming story by the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFAI), which was providing support to the women.

In response to questions about the stories covered in the reporting, Mr Courell said: “The reality is learnings like this, experiences like this bring greater emphasis on the need for safeguarding structures to be as strong as possible.

“We need to redouble our efforts and make sure that an awareness of existing safeguarding protocols are fully understood, fully respected, and that people feel and know that they have somewhere to go to if they have an issue."

Mr Courell said the FAI had rules in place prohibiting coach and player relationships with national teams and said a breach of such rules by a FAI employee could result in their dismissal.

However, he said such FAI rules did not directly apply to coaches working at women’s League of Ireland clubs.

Mr Courell said the FAI was working with clubs to ensure they enforce “best practice” rules with their employees. He said the FAI would look at introducing a rule to prohibit coach/player relationships for clubs.

He declined to comment directly on the coaches named in the reports, citing ongoing investigations by the authorities. He said the FAI has the power to issue lifetime bans if serious allegations are proven.

The joint investigation revealed allegations from trainees against the former head coach of the FAS training coach, Eamonn Collins.

Lynn Winters, a former FÁS trainee, said Mr Collins made her captain of the trainees team and took her on dates.

"He would put his hands down my shorts or touch my breasts or in passing, making a joke out of it," Ms Winters said.

"I touched his penis and kissed him and I... Yeah, that was it."

Another former trainee, named in the reporting as ‘Adele’, said Mr Collins asked her to clean up training equipment in a changing room. When others had left, he returned to the changing room.

"He walked towards me and he started to kiss me and before I knew it, I was pinned up against the shower wall and he was kissing me.

"He took my hand and he put it down his trousers and he was wanting me to please him, and obviously I wasn't doing the correct job or whatever."

Adele says she “froze stiff” and Mr Collins “ended up doing it himself”.

This investigation put these allegations to Collins. A statement released through his solicitor said: "Eamonn Collins emphatically and unreservedly denies any improper relationship or conduct."

Former international players who played in the 1990s raised separate allegations against then-manager Mick Cooke.

Among them was Jackie McCarthy-O'Brien, who said Mr Cooke asked her to come to his hotel room in the team hotel. There, she said Mr Cooke asked her to sit on his bed and they began talking about football.

"And then the next thing,” she said, “it's like he's leaning over and grabbing you by the shoulders to kiss you and kisses you on the lips. And I'm like, gobsmacked. Gobsmacked."

"Do I give him a kick? Do I give him a slap? Oh, there's the end of your career – it's kind of a life flashing before you in a few seconds and you just go numb."

A legal letter issued by Mr Cooke’s solicitors said "all of the allegations in your letter of the 24th of June are denied."

The letter from Mr Cooke’s solicitors said people familiar with his time in charge “were of the view that the atmosphere around the international team during Mr Cooke’s tenure as manager was excellent, he fostered a great team spirit and many of the players often expressed the view it was the time of their lives”.

Mr Courell said: “The board and the executive of the FAI are deeply shocked and appalled by these revelations. I can assure you that providing a safe environment for all involved in Irish football is our paramount consideration.”

Mr Courell said the FAI had set up an anonymous reporting mechanism with Raiseaconcern for any player or person connected with football to report issues.

The FAI said six contacts had been made to the service in recent days but “no serious issues” had been identified.