Irish football's rulers are coming for racing - but have scored an own goal

An intelligent response from Horse Racing Ireland will be necessary if the contents of a report presented to the Irish government by a rival sporting body are confirmed as accurate.

According to the Irish Independent, the Football Association of Ireland has submitted a document based on research conducted on its behalf by KHSK Economic Consultants, a Dublin-based firm. The report is said to examine what it calls the "unusual funding mechanism" provided by the Horse and Greyhound Fund set up in 2001, as part of legislation creating HRI. 

First impressions suggest that the FAI, in seeking to take an opportunistic long-range shot at goal, may have accidentally put the ball in the back of its own net. Some of the key elements of the report appear to be based on a misunderstanding of how the 2001 legislation works in practice, and there is a definite suspicion of an own goal in its claim for the needs of the FAI and other sporting bodies to be satisfied on a pro-rata basis in line with betting tax yield.