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 versus Armenia match was brought forward by three days.
He brought a civil action before Dublin District Court today 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.
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 7, 2022, in Armenia.
He booked a Lufthansa flight on April 12.
Mr Flynn claimed the match date had been listed on the FAI website for about five months at that stage.
However, 48 hours after he organised their trip, he learned the match had been rescheduled for June 4.
His original flight would have landed three hours after the final whistle, 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.
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.
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 added that he felt he was misled.