Government pulls plug on Yugoslavia qualifier

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — The controversial Ireland-Yugoslavia European soccer championship qualifier scheduled for Lansdowne Road on Saturday was called off after the Irish government decided to refuse grant visa to the team.

The move followed a refusal by the governing body of European football, UEFA, to postpone or cancel the match.

A last-minute request to UEFA had been made on behalf of the government at a meeting in Germany with Sports Minister Dr. Jim McDaid.

A government statement said it noted with regret that UEFA had persisted in its refusal to alter its decision.

"In view of this failure on the part of EUFA to accept its responsibilities, the unacceptable situation in Kosovo and the indictments of the International Tribunal against the highest authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the government is convinced that it would not be appropriate for this football match to take place in Ireland," the statement.

A Department of Justice spokesman said that Yugoslavia had applied for 94 visas for players and officials.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had indicated to the Dail earlier that it was unlikely the match would go ahead.

"They [UEFA] know what the players want," he said, "they know what the management want, they know what the Football Association of Ireland [FAI] want, they know what the Irish government want, I think they know what the Irish people want. They have a responsibility. They should make their decision. If they don’t, we of course will have to."

He told TDs: "I want to assure you we are not in the business of making an easy decision for anybody to throw Ireland out of the tournament. That would be entirely unreasonable."

Bernard O’Byrne, president of the FAI, said there is a possibility that Ireland will be thrown out of the competition. He said UEFA were "fairly angry" about the decision to refuse visas.

"We are making the point that we haven’t made the decision," he said of the FAI. "Therefore, punitive actions against us would be very unfair, so I think there will be quite an amount of arguing the case in the coming weeks."

The losses to the FAI are estimated to be about £2 million.