The PFAI have lashed out at the FAI, who they claim have announced a new fund to assist players and clubs in financial trouble without consulting them and for which the PFAI are expected to contribute 50 per cent.
The FAI announced the fund on Wednesday afternoon, which they claimed would be worth €300,000 and would help clubs who are experiencing difficulty in meeting contractual obligations to professional players.
The announcement comes after Bray Wanderers and Limerick FC both struggled to pay their players in recent weeks.
According to the FAI, the cost of the proposed fund would be split equally between both them and the PFAI.
However, while the PFAI broadly welcomed the creation of such a fund, they launched a scathing attack on the FAI and they claim that the organisation not only failed to consult them before the announcement, but that senior management within the FAI has refused to meet them.
The statement claims that the PFAI have been seeking a meeting with FAI chief John Delaney for over a year, which they have been unable to secure and that the FAI cancelled a meeting that was due to take place on Wednesday to discuss recent issues relating to player wages going unpaid.
The PFAI also lashed out at the prospect of the cost of this new fund being split equally between the FAI and PFAI, insisting that the prospect of players being forced into paying into such a fund is ‘deeply insulting’.
The statement read: "The PFAI welcomes the concept of this fund and believes it will assist greatly in alleviating the sort of issues that have bedevilled the league in the last few weeks.
"However, we are astounded that the FAI have seen fit to announce a proposal which involves the players association funding half of it without having any discussion on the issue beforehand. The PFAI have been seeking a meeting with John Delaney for over a year now to discuss matters of importance to the domestic game but he has refused to meet with us. We have had no meeting of any substance with any senior member of FAI management since the women's international team dispute in April 2017.
"Furthermore, SIPTU have had no discussions with the FAI about this proposal. At the FAI’s request a meeting was scheduled for today with Fran Gavin and Rea Walshe to discuss improving the relationship between both associations and to discuss the recent issues related to players salaries and potential solutions to ensure these issues do not arise again. This meeting was cancelled by the FAI for reasons unknown and rescheduled for this Friday.
"The idea that we would match the contribution of the FAI, an organisation with a multi million euro turnover, when our organisation has a tiny fraction of its size and turnover, is mind boggling. The total fund proposed is less than the annual salary of the chief executive of the FAI thus making it deeply insulting that players, all of whom earn a tiny percentage of his income, should be expected to contribute to a fund to pay their own wages. Equally we wonder why the clubs themselves would not contribute to it.
"In summary, we welcome the proposal of the fund but object greatly to the manner of the announcement and the idea that the players should contribute to a fund to pay their own wages. We will meet with the FAI on Friday and making our position on funding very clear to them."
