Leading Hockey Ireland

A CEO who has worked across football, tennis, cricket, and now hockey sees Irish sport differently, and you can hear it in every answer. We’re joined by Richard Fahey, CEO of Hockey Ireland, to talk about how careers are built in sports administration, what actually drives participation growth, and why the unglamorous work of facilities, governance, and funding is where championships and communities are really made.

Richard walks us from his early coaching days into a defining moment at the FAI: spotting a missing layer of management, proposing a solution, and then helping scale a technical department from a small budget into a nationwide engine. We also get a clear view of how club licensing can lift standards across a league by using regulation as a developmental tool, improving coaching, financial stability, and infrastructure rather than just ticking boxes.

The timing is big for Hockey Ireland too. With both men’s and women’s teams heading to the 2026 Hockey World Cup in Belgium, we talk sponsorship strategy, broadcast reach, and how to turn a major tournament into club membership, volunteers, and new hockey communities in parts of Ireland where the sport barely exists. Richard also makes a strong athlete welfare case for dual-career athletes, including a proposed tax measure that recognises the personal cost of representing Ireland while holding down a day job.

If you care about Irish sport leadership, high performance planning, grassroots development, and the future of hockey in Ireland, this one is full of practical detail. Subscribe, share it with someone working in sport, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Find out more about what we do day in day out at Sportforbusiness.com

We publish a daily news bulletin and host regular live events on a wide range of sporting subjects.

Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts from, and look forward to more upcoming chats on leadership and the business of sport.

Our upcoming live events, including our League of Ireland Breakfast at Grant Thornton on February 4th, as well as plenty more, are live on the Sport for Business website, and we'd love to have you join us.

Transcript

Welcome And Series Kickoff

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Just being here and putting our little nation on the map, it's just you know this is the stuff of of dreams on the turkey online it's good, it's good, showing sexy handle the church dying, and every help of the church present we had sent and hello and welcome to the Sport for Business Podcast.

From Baldoyle To Sports Management

SPEAKER_04 0:41

I'm your host, Rob Hartnett. Today we start the 2026 series of interviews with CEOs of Ireland's sporting bodies. It promises to be an educational, an entertaining, and an enlightening series of conversations. We're kicking it off today with the CEO of Hockey Ireland, Richard Fahy, who has earned his stripes and spent time working within the FAI, within Cricket Ireland, and it's a really good, interesting story. I think you'll enjoy it. So let's go over to the Sport HQ on the Sport Ireland campus and kick off the conversation. So we're out here at the Sport Ireland campus in the headquarters of Hockey Ireland, and I'm delighted to be joined by an old friend of Sport for Business wearing a number of different hats. But now, as the CEO of Hockey Ireland, Richard Fatty, you're very welcome to the Sport for Business Podcast. Thank you. Thank you, Rob. It's uh a pleasure to be here. Tell me a little bit about you, your career, and what it is that has brought you to this point at this desk in this office in 2026.

Coaching Work And Inner-City Futsal

Pitching A New Role At FAI

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Okay, well, I suppose if I go back to when I was a kid uh growing up in Bald Oil, uh I was always a sports nut and uh played a number of different sports, uh football, GEA, athletics, table tennis, tennis, played a lot into a high level. Uh played international tame tennis. Uh uh that was the main sport, I suppose, through my through my teens, but uh was All Ireland high jump champion, high jump uh record holder, under 11 and under 12. And uh still has somebody coming still on the phone. I'm sure they have, I'm sure they have, but I haven't looked in a long, long time. So um uh yeah, so did that and then you know played played Gaelican and soccer and uh and then you know played a lot of tennis in as well and played tennis. Tennis was my summer sport, okay, and um would have played that right up to the time I I joined with uh Tennis Ireland back in 2016. But always had a huge interest in sport. I'm a Liverpool supporter, uh always fancy playing for Liverpool, but when I figured I wasn't going to play for Liverpool or I wasn't going at the Olympics and in uh uh at the table tennis, uh I started to see if I could work in sport as opposed to have a having a a playing career within sport. And uh so you know ended up at the time, I suppose at the time when I left school in 1990, and you know, 1990 was a sort of a an interesting time in Ireland. I remember a principal of the school coming out in a final assembly, uh basically saying, um, okay, today is our final assembly. Uh a third of you will head off to college, uh, a third of you will emigrate, a third of you will probably be unemployed. Best of luck. And off he went. Great. So that was the time, it was Ireland in the 90s. And um, you know, at the time, if you want to do P teaching, uh you had to get atonement, and the points were ridiculous. And uh so I went a sort of circuitous route, I suppose, to to work with to you know, to to study in sport and uh um went out to Inchicor, Inch Corps VC, they had a sports management course that was out there. They had a link in the University of Leicester, ended up uh going there and did a um postgraduate, you know, ultimately postgraduate diploma in sports, uh social sports management. And very much ahead of its time back in the year. Now we've got the like a lot of like whether it's DCU or some of the some of the the uh technical colleges and stuff like that, and UCT obviously have a well-established sports management course, but that was it at the time. If you weren't teaching PE, that you know, that was it. So um, you know, and there's a few people, so I know Miriam Mary Delone would have done that as well. Okay, and there was a number of other people who were involved in the sports sector now at high levels who who would have come through that sort of that route. And um I ended up uh I suppose one of the things that I did, and I was really glad that I did it, uh, when I was young, when I was about 18, 19, I started on the FAI's coaching courses and um, you know, did the level one um or introductory introductory course, did a level one. I also did when I was on the course in Inchikor, we did um uh level one basketball, um, we did what was it, we did uh volleyball as well. It was a bit three or four of the other sports that we did sort of introductory and level one awards for, and ended up going on into the UA to B uh with the FAI. And I probably would have been one of the younger uh people to go and do that. I would have been about 21, 22 at the time, and I did that. And I enjoyed it. And so I ended up getting it getting a job. Uh it's really fun, I suppose. So I did a bit of tennis coaching, so I did a level one uh tennis coaching uh award as well. And I used to uh work for the Parks Tennis Programme with Kay Ladding, and it's funny I just met Roger, Roger Gary there, who would have been uh a star of the parks program back in the day. So I've got he remembers of the Kid Cat programme, yeah. And uh uh, you know, so I came in as a participant of that and then went through and I ended up working working on that for summer. I obviously had some coach qualifications, and then the small club that I was involved in, which was Track Side, which was one of these public parks uh that you know had the the the parks tennis program, but then a club, Mushroom Dale. That my mum went in a uh found a member of that club, and I started coaching some of the adults then there. And there was one of the parents who was on a parents' committee in the local school, the borough school sudden, and uh they needed somebody uh, you know, to come on as it comes to month school athletics uh finals were coming up in Sandry, and they said, Listen, we need somebody to teach the kids to do relays and bits and balls. Would you do it? So I said, Yeah, yeah, no problem. So ended up doing that. And uh, you know, they'd never won a medal before. Gave them a little bit of shape, a little bit of structure, and they ended up winning loads of medals. And then they came to me afterwards and said, Listen, would you be interested in teaching PE here? You know, in the middle of primary school a couple of days a week, I think it was about 10 hours a week, whatever. It was£10 an hour, which was a lot of money back in sort of 92, 93, which was decent. Uh so that sort of helped me pay paid my way through college, and you know, but it got me on the I suppose in the sporting ladder in one respect. Um, and then did that for about four or five years while I was studying and all the rest, and then uh ended up applying for getting a job with Dublin City Council as a sports advantage officer. We won't be the first sports advantage officers, four of her of us, I think, at the time. Did that for a couple of years. Uh, I set up a program in the inner city called uh the Footsal program. So Futsal was like basically five-side football, but but it was very much based on the Park Sense model. You know, you'd put a coach or a person in with a uh a bag of balls, bibs, and cones. And the whole idea was not really coaching. But you get, you know, get coaching anywhere. This was just about getting kids to play. Pick teams, there's bibs, go ahead and play. They all all these flat complexes had either a tarmac area or a uh a mugger, and uh, but mostly it was a tarmac area at the time. And and uh we had about 40 odd venues around uh you know within the Dublin's inner city. So I got to know the guys from the FAI, a couple of development officers, and then I got to know Brian Kerr. And then um, so we did that for a couple of years, got sponsored by the Irish Youth Hen Foundation, Dumbledore Council, but a few crazy of the FAI, couple of few quiet and it was a really great thing. And you know, five five or six weeks during the summer, the kids would get to play a couple of nights a week, and then they would play each other, so Sherry Street would play Pierce Street, so on and so forth. Great, brilliant, and it was great, and some great footballers that came through that. Like you would have you seen some amazing players. And uh then Brian said to me one day, he says, Look, we're taking on a couple of more development officers. Uh, you know, uh, would you be interested in in applying for the job? And you know, I sort of I didn't want to say no then and there, but it it didn't really, it didn't really interest me, I suppose, in one respect. And uh, but I went I went for the job anyway. But I went in with a bit of a strategy, and I'm a bit of a chancer, Ron, as some people might know. And I went in with a view to try and create a role for myself. And I went into Brian and I said, Look, Brian, you know, you're away, you're away six months a year with the under 16s and 18s, and uh look, you've got developments there that you know are good guys, but there's no strategy, there's no plan, you don't have many programs to deliver. And uh look, no offense, you're not in a position of management for six months. You need somebody in between you and them to manage that team. So, you know, he listened, he he bristled probably first and then listened. And uh, but I got a call the next day about saying, Yeah, look, we were thinking about what you said. Would you do that, would you do that role? So I came in basically as assistant technical director.

SPEAKER_04 9:34

Cool. So you got a promotion based on your first interview, very interesting.

Club Licensing And Facility Standards

SPEAKER_03 9:39

Exactly. Exactly. So um, so I ended up going into the FAI and uh I think we had about six or seven staff at that stage in the technical department. I went down to Peter Butche downstairs in Marion Square, down the down the dungeon. So, Peter, talk to me about the budget. And uh he says, uh, yeah, there's 900,000 euros is your budget, um, and don't ask for a penny more. And so I did a deal with myself, well, let's I'll tell you what, if I bring in money, can I keep up in here or does it go into the big pot? He says, If you bring money in, he says, you can keep that in your department, knock yourself out. So we went on a journey then. We developed a technical development plan. Brian obviously transitioned into the senior international manager. Pack he came in as technical director, and uh within five years went from a budget 900,000 euros to 14 million. And we went from whatever six, seven staff to over 100 staff in the technical department. It was it was just a brilliant time to be in the FAI. Nationwide, nationwide wide. So everything, you know, I mean, like you touched on everything, like we were, you know, it was a business, I suppose, in one respect, because the way the model we had was, you know, we would we would uh uh try and get a you know increase the money they were getting from Sport Island and from government. Uh and then so we're trying to get a third of the funding that would be required to do that. Uh from that source, we would try and get a third in terms of generating new revenue sources in terms of, for example, our summer soccer schools. When I went in, we had two and a half thousand kids that were on it. You know, within two years, they were up to really 28,000, 29,000 kids. So, you know, so we generated, we scaled up a lot of our programs and activities, coach education, and so on and so forth. And that brought in sponsorship, it brought in fees for the kids to actually participate. That's it. And then, you know, third from the FAI. But that was generally from the sponsorship and from all the other bits and pieces. So it was just a great time to be working in there, as I said. Um, you know, even though when I when I went in there, it was it was 2002, I went in February 2002, and like four, four or five months later, Roy Roy decided to do a runner at the World Cup. And like, you know, I started think back at that, particularly with the movie that was out there recently. I was thinking about back at the time, and and uh, you know, it was a really tough time to be worked in the FAI at that time, but we we but we overcame it. Like and we we you know, we we persuaded people that we are, you know, when it comes to the development of the game, we are we are very, very good at it. And so but people invested in us then. Like so we had you know big sponsors like Pepsi seven up, you know, uh investing us in the summer soccer schools, we had government giving us additional money, and um it was it was just a great, great time. Um and then obviously when things got tight, obviously the reception, you know, 2011 and the the stadium opened up and obviously the the issues and challenges there with the with the corporate tickets and stuff like that, that became that became a difficult thing. But I moved I moved to a different role within the FAI in 2008. So it was 2002 to 2008 technical department, and then um created a a role uh club license, the director of club licensing and facility development. So club licensing was very much around uh the quality standard for League of Ireland clubs uh to play in Europe, but also to play in in the league. And then the facility development side was just basically to try and support clubs to develop their facilities, but then looking at some bigger projects, a few League of Ireland grounds, and then obviously the Aviva and the National Training Centre, then as well. And um, you know, it was it was it was a really interesting piece of work, and uh certainly in the League of Ireland would have been involved in some you know fairly momentous things, like you know, when when I went in first, like there was uh a few million that was out to revenue, you know. If I looked at coaching qualifications, the coaching qualifications at the end, the the head coaches within the League of Ireland clubs, they were pretty poor. Um there was a lot of areas that we need to do, you know, players were money left, right, and center, all that kind of stuff. So we brought in place things like the salary cost protocol, we brought in overdue payload renewals, uh, that you know, you know, players, clubs, and and uh I suppose football creditors had to be paid before you get a license to that. It was a couple of casualties.

SPEAKER_04 13:50

We have come a long way, but that was the time when you could start the season with 10 or 11 clubs and you could end the season with nine or ten clubs. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

I mean, I I was there when you had to put Derry, Derry lost her license, yeah, which was one of the more interesting meetings I was at. And then uh Cork City, uh Drada almost when they're gonna do examinership. And um, you know, but like every year there was one or two clubs. So it's it's really fantastic now looking at the league now and to see, you know, big crowds, obviously there's more investment down infrastructure, there's youth development programs, the three million they got from government last uh in the last budget. You know, uh I I like to think that I had a played a little part in developing that. Because uh I'd often, you know, people would talk about club lives as being regulatory, and it is in a way, but it's also developmental in a way. Yeah. You're putting in place regulations so that the sport or that the club can develop, whether that's around youth development, whether that's around their infrastructure, etc. Because otherwise they just won't touch it unless there's this a bit of it's a bit of a carrot and stick. Now you can if you spoke to every club and said to them, you know, you know, would you like to develop your facilities? They'd all go, oh yeah, grant, grant. But until there's a regulation around it, they have to do it by a certain date, they may not get branded. So there's nothing like a little bit of a little bit of a stick to do that. And uh so that was kind of exciting. But then obviously, obviously, you know, moving through my career 2015, like it's yeah, wasn't quite enjoying the FAI, it wasn't the same place as it was. Obviously, you know, since I left, there was obviously obviously a little bit of an implosion there. And uh but I do have I do look back fondly on a lot of my time in the FAI. Um, you know, it was a great place to work, great people, and I got some great experiences that have stood with me. Whether that is, you know, being on being down in the tunnel, you know, as the teams are walking out or um or or just being involved in in programmes like the futsal program or in summer soccer schools and seeing thousands about thousands of kids. The other one grabs uh with power power football, they're just kids in wheelchairs. Yeah, you know, the electric wheelchairs, the big ball. You know, to see the face of parents, you know, who you know, who's probably felt that kids would not have anything really fulf fulfilling in their life, but to see them out there, you know, on a parchet playing internationally and seeing the parents just the joy on their faces is just that's the kind of stuff they look for international.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

And as we've seen already this year, when football when football is flying, the whole country is dialed into it to an extent that doesn't exist anywhere else. And the other thing about looking back on those days in the FAI as well, a great academy, if you look across management and the organizational structures across Irish sport in all of its various different forms, there's always there's always somebody who has grown up and who has learnt the trade and got the stripes on the back, perhaps, within the FAI, and then taken that elsewhere. So so that's so so that's so that's what brought you then to a point where you thought, okay, next stage.

Tennis Ireland And Leading Through Pushback

SPEAKER_03 17:01

You need to move on to the next stage. Yeah. So um, you know, I was sort of would have played tennis as a kid and played right through, you know, probably main sport up until I was probably sorry, it was main sport from probably about 28 to 9. When I gave up playing football, yeah. Um, you know, I wanted to keep fit and stuff like that. So tennis was what it was, played all the leagues and et cetera, and um had an interest in this and then and then Des retired and the opportunity came in to to go into tents, Ireland and uh applied for that. Uh made my made my case at the interview and got offered the job, which was which was great. Uh, but was mired in a little bit of controversy.

SPEAKER_04 17:41

A little bit easier that you didn't have to create a job higher than the one you were interviewing for, so you were going in there as well.

Cricket World Cup Stadium Masterplan

SPEAKER_03 17:47

That's a little it's that's yeah, that's it. That's it now. So uh but it was good. But I got in there, you know, uh, you know, on on I suppose on my merits and um you know, as it's well pub well publicized at the time, somebody somebody felt that they should have got it and and they appealed it, and they had a group of uh supporters, I suppose, within the tennis community, uh who I suppose thought they try and make things difficult. And you know, so so I knew going in there that it was going to be a challenge. I also knew this is a five-year gig, it's a one-term thing, because there's nothing like a there's nothing like in a sport when when people have a cause to to get them motivated to get to to get onto a board or to get onto a province, get onto the board and so on and so forth. And it was very, very difficult. But um, but look, the way I approach these things here is you know, um, you know, having your integrity is is really important. Like to, you know, holding on to your integrity is really important. So I just try to push that aside and just get on with the job and focus on the job. And I'd like to think I left tennis in a in a much better place than the more it got it. Uh we had uh significant growths in terms of in terms of participation, particularly around our competitions, really did a lot of work around the competition side of things, obviously from a facilities point of view as well, got a lot of investment into facilities, sports capital, um and and and uh um I suppose also as well the relationship with the clubs was really, really I suppose what I went in first and and look, it's it's it's a similar thing in terms of a lot of governing bodies, here in hockey, you know, clubs go, well what does what does Tennis Ireland do for us, or what does Hockey Ireland do for us? Do you know what I mean? It's always that. So there's a visibility like the old Monty Python sketch, well apart from, and apart from well apart from. So there's a visibility yep, right? And there was that in tennis. And I thought about um you know engaging with the clubs, and um I suppose in in the last year that I um um in tennis, I actually we did a we did a sort of sentiment survey with the clubs, and something about 86% came back and felt that you know that uh that they were very pleased with the support and assistance that Tennessee provides them over the year. So like that was a very much a validation, and I still get calls from tennis clubs looking for advice or support, helped something tennis club recently in terms of some some advice around stuff. So that's pleasing for me. I like to I like to be able to support my I'm a people person, like to be able to engage with people, like to be able to help them if and if I can happy to do so. Okay. Um so I left there then in 2022, yeah, probably around January 2022, and then came into Hockey Ireland as interim CEO. Did that for about four and a half months. Uh, really interesting, got to know about the sport, the challenges, obviously, you know, things that did well, things that didn't do so well. And um uh I suppose the would have probably stayed if the board of the town had acted a little bit quicker in terms of starting a new recruitment process. Yeah. But then Warren Deutram, CEO of Cricket Ireland, came to me and said, Listen, uh, we're co-hosting the World Cup with England in 2030, uh, but with no stadium. And he said, I've asked around who in the sports sector can help, and your name keeps coming up. So I said, well, okay. So anyway, we we had a chat and he came up with a a good deal, and um uh reluctantly I had to had to say goodbye to Alki and went into cricket and uh started with them sort of July 2022, and um uh I suppose you know title was uh director of um operations and facilities. But it was really it was really around the facility side of things that that we needed to do. I mean um Ward was absolutely right, they were nowhere in terms of the stadium. And I remember pivotal moment when I think it was the 2022 World Cup, it was probably around September, October, and Ireland were playing in in Australia, the World Cup, and played England, and they beat England, who were the world champions at the time, and ended up actually winning that world. Cup. Um, but we beat them. Um, anytime an Irish team beats an English team at a World Cup, yeah, it's really, really good. But we had a big board meeting that day up in Derling, and I said to to Warren and to Brian uh McNeil said, I said, lads, today's the day. We've we need to get out, and Brian Bourne's too busy, board meeting, such a big board meeting, and blah blah blah. I said, lads, if you miss today, you you know you might not get another chance at this. So I persuaded them anyway to get on the radio, get on TV, and basically to say, listen, if this was a rugby or a soccer soccer uh sport that were playing at a World Cup, beat the world champions at a World Cup, and particularly it was England, but were playing their home international matches in a field in Malahyde, uh, there'd be uproar. And that's what we sort of put out. And there was a little bit of uproar at the time. I remember Chris Andrews uh asked the question at the doll to, I think Jack Chambers was the minister at the time, you know, which made probably Jack a little bit uncomfortable in terms of why, you know, what are we doing around co-humps in the World Cup, blah blah blah. Our international players, you know, have to play in a field and got a bit attraction.

SPEAKER_04 23:12

Then I remember Warren actually appearing on this podcast and saying that same line. And then within a week, obviously somebody in the department had been listening and had been hearing, so the call came to come in and talk to government and state the case face to face. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

I went into that meeting with him. Um it was actually Thomas Byrne that actually takes. So Jack had left, Thomas came in, and I know Thomas a long time, but shared a taxi home to draw how to work with him a few times. And uh uh um so myself, Brian and Warren went in and we made the case and and and likes to think we made pretty well because we got a we got a letter from Sport Ireland a few weeks later basically saying they were going to start the process of a stage one uh development plan, whatever. And uh so a design team was appointed and we we worked very, very closely with the design team, appointed by Sport Ireland. Great guys, like absolutely great guys. We got great support, sport at Sport Ireland, Tony Lawless and the guys there. And um uh we came up with a stage one master plan probably about a year and a half ago, and uh we got costed, and it was like astronomical, it was 180 million or something. Whatever. But I nearly fell off the chair. Yeah, and um I think we were all flabbergasted about what the price was, and uh um anyway, went sort of quiet for a couple of months, and you know, we were we started to make things started engaging with them, saying, Well, can we do this in phases? How do we get this thing done? And uh anyway, we we came back with a uh, you know, we worked together on a on a phased plan, and um basically we're at a stage we're at a stage now where the planning application was uh submitted, planning application was approved, uh they went out to tender um before Christmas and the tenders are in and they now have a preferred bill, and I believe it's gone to cabinet for final decision tomorrow, Wednesday. So fingers crossed, that gets across the line. So I I'd like I was really glad that I needed to tick that box. And I suppose when Warren left, Warren left, um Warren left to uh to to go on to I suppose other pastures and and I suppose um I sort of started looking then at my career, but have it changed what I set out to do. I've you know the stadium is there now, and I sort of had a bit of a hangprint to get back into the leadership side of things and working with people and that. So I sort of looked around, the hockey thing came up again, so it sort of tweaked my interest. And people say, Why would you pick hockey? Well, you know, hockey it's a long distinguished history of the sports, you know, it's been a long, long time. Uh I suppose it's about a decade of you know, some great achievements, you know, women getting to the World Cup final in 2018, a lot of pride and great performances, Olympic, Olympic participation. Um but also so I from from like a few months in there, I also knew there's some challenges there, you know, a little bit disp a little bit disjointed, obviously some challenges in terms of never have enough money to do all the things they want to do, some sports challenges as well, some governance challenges at the time. And uh I like a challenge and and it sort of tweaks my interest. So um so the way I looked at it, like you know, it was an opportunity, an opportunity uh twice to use the skills that I've got learned over the years, um, but also to see if we can maybe inspire, unify, and elevate the sport to another level. That's really what I'm what I'm trying to do.

Hockey World Cup Plans And Sponsorship

SPEAKER_04 26:40

Um that's brought us right up to date now. Up to date, yeah. So it's very long way of doing it. You would have had so you would have had a plan A and a plan B, because it's a World Cup year. Yeah. And how teams went off to the wilds of South America to see could they qualify for those World Cups, and the men did it comfortably, and then the women did it via the penalty shootout. So you've got comfort and you've got drama. But now all of a sudden you've got August, where you're going to have both the women's team and the men's team both competing at a World Cup, which is in Europe. So they're both playing in Belgium at as as you understand, and then hopefully in the Netherlands as well for the finals. So that's plan B. So all of the structural stuff, the time, the 24 hours, 168 hours in a week that you would have been devoting. Now there's a big element of that has got to go to the to the World Cup, um, which is incredibly exciting. How do you prioritize when you get something like this, which is thrown in to the middle? So this is the you you can't you can't avoid this, you can't ignore it. It's going to have so many benefits for across the sport. But how does that impact on the time that you can give towards the areas where you found your feet in football in terms of the club, the provincial, the regional stuff?

SPEAKER_03 27:59

So I think it would have been much more difficult if we hadn't qualified, because the impact of non-qualification would have been huge, you know, in terms of your funding's at risk, in terms of sport iron athletes are carded. That was at risk. We knew that it was a risk, and it's always a risk. You know what I mean? If you don't perform, you you don't you don't get you don't get the the the the funding. And uh so we would have budgeted to go to the World Cup, and so that's in place, which is good. That's not to say that we we uh we are um resting on our laurels. We know some things are gonna run over budget. Certainly certainly the the event in in uh Chile, the qualifiers went was were over 30 or 40 grand budget. Um team sport is expensive. Team sport is expensive, yeah. But but also as well, like things like you know, things that are outside of your control, like in terms of uh so the FIH were very late in terms of you know announcing what the venue would be, and that means you're booking flights later, which prices are gone up, but hotels have gone up and all that kind of stuff. So so there's always challenges that are there. But we get budgeted to get to the World Cup, and at least that's in place there now. And um I suppose the the big thing for us now is how can we capitalise on it? We're really delighted to be able to land a new front of shirt sponsor, EY, um, before the guys went out. That was great. Um, and I suppose we do have a few of the placements that are left on on the jersey, uh, on the men's in particular, one or two spaces on the women's side. And uh, you know, we're very much focused on trying to trying to get um to get those sold.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

And I remember from Softco days and back in 2018 as well that this is a World Cup where you can win the logo.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Yeah, there's a lot of inventory on the jerseys. Like seeing you got the you know, we've got the front, obviously, you've got the collars, you've got the shoulders, you've got the side panels, you've got the back of the shorts and back of the squirt, and you've also got front of the shorts and want the squirt. So there is, and like we've we've some parts just there from say 17 and a half grand, right? So if if if for one of those if it's a collar, say for example, but uh but obviously we want to try and maximize that. We're we're talking to a number of agencies who've talked to a number of potential partners, and if there are people out there who would be interested, please get in touch. Um you know it we're we're we're speaking to RTE at the moment, and you know, I think there'll be a deal done this week to to um broadcast the finals on uh on linear TV. Okay. We had about 36 matches broadcast last year between TG Car and RTE, but a lot of that was on the digital platforms as opposed to on linear TV. So uh the opportunity to get on linear TV is is is fantastic for us. And you know, as I said to have two teams, so it's double you know, you've got double, double the chances and double the coverage and but also the global reach. The global reach is is significant uh as well, you know. And and like you go to India and Pakistan, like the World Cup is big over there. Like India, people think cricket is the natural sport, it's actually hockey. And you know, I know from the cricket days how many people are interested in cricket. Yeah, look, cricket is bigger, bigger in one respect, but it's still absolutely massive. Hockey's massive in India, and and uh so you know, from a branding point of view and all that kind of stuff, it's it's really significant for us. But also as well, I think the legacy, the opportunity to encourage new new membership, you know, get clubs involved in in terms of you know having open days and all that kind of stuff, come and try it events and you know, for the people who may not have played hockey before but are interested in it. There's also an opportunity, I think, as well, in terms of particular parts of parts of Ireland, because we do have some, as you call them, deserts where there is no hockey there. And it's an opportunity for us to to go into those areas and uh look to you know get people to get interested in hockey and and to to to to grow the sport. So so there is an opportunity there for us. Um, but there's as I said, there's opportunities for for potential partners as well to to uh get their brand out there.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

Let's just take a short break there, tell you a little bit more about Sport for Business. You can find out everything that you need at sportforbusiness.com. We have a collection of membership options. The highest level is with our partners, and we are indebted to them for their continued support. They include Alliance, AIB, AIG, LEDL, PWC, Sky Ireland, KPMG, SSE Electricity, Dublin City Council, and Sport Ireland. And each of those contributes in their own way to the content that we produce on a daily basis and indeed to these podcasts. This interview is all about leadership, and these are the partners with whom we put ourselves forward to assist others in leading in the world of sport and business. Now let's get back to Richard's thoughts.

Dual-Career Athletes And Tax Proposal

SPEAKER_03 32:54

Locke is a good middle class sport, you know. I mean, there's you know what I would say to the the athletes, what a bunch of people they are. Like, I mean, so I'd worked in, you know, I've worked so cricket was profess, you know, they're professional cricketers, uh, football professional footballers and stuff like that. These are dual career athletes. So they work during the day and then they train, uh, they train at other times then as well. And, you know, and they're you know, they're taking a hit in their salaries, they're taking a hit in terms of their holidays or being used to to travel and play and stuff like that. And uh, but they are a great bunch of people, really highly educated. You know, they're some of them are working in the likes of Ean Wire, Pete, you know, KPNG, working as engineers. Um, you know, they're they're really smart people. And, you know, I I'd love to see the media and the business community get to know these fellows.

SPEAKER_04 33:49

Yeah. I've had the pleasure of interviewing Katie Mullen and Roshine Upton and a number of the other um Deodre Duke as well from the from that 2018 cohort. And they were they were such a powerful group internally that they made the most in terms of their own awareness, their own visibility. And that's that's a rarity because in in elite level sport, it can be a very, very tight bubble that you don't burst out of. But they did and have continued to do so.

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Yeah, and they're and listen, they're fantastic people, like just just really nice people, but really smart and really eloquent and and uh really committed, committed to their sport, committed to hockey, uh, committed to the country as well, and great ambassadors for us, and but great ambassadors for Ireland as well. So it's a great opportunity for us uh in August. And uh like I will say one of the things, like in terms of so there is a there is a thing which we're working on uh at the moment. Like so the uh the Olympic Um Athletes Commission, yeah, I suppose, which is which is there at the moment, uh they have a paper which is which has gone to government. So for some of the professional sports, there's a group of designated professional sports that uh when you retire, when you finish your career, you can claim the tax back that you paid. So for example, the League of Ireland footballer, you're getting paid by whatever Shelburne or Bose or Chancrogos, whatever it's like, the tax that you've paid during your career while while earning with those clubs, at the end of your career, they have a there's a special status there that they can claim all that tax back and you know get on with their life. Yeah. Gives them a a platform. Give them a platform, like a bounce to actually sort of miss out for that time. Our players don't have that opportunity because they don't, they're not professional in in we don't pay them. Yes, they get some carding, etc. But they have their other career. So whatever job the day job is, so there's a there is a um uh proposal that's gone to government which basically says that the work that they do and the tax that they pay while they're you know in the bank or whatever they are, yeah, that at the end of their career that they should be able to get the tax back that they paid on that portion of their and that will give them the leg up, whether that's to a deposit for a house or whatever else of that. Yeah. Because they've taken a sacrifice of 10, you know, probably the first 10 years of their career, but 20 to 30, they're taking that time out. And I genuinely think and it doesn't cost you well, I think we cost it about three million. Okay. Three million a year or something. I don't think it was off the top of my head. You know, which is in the grand scheme, things is small. That's not just for hockey now, that's that's across all the you know, the Olympics, the carded high performance sports where you've got dual career things. And I think that's something that uh would love to see supported by Miele. Because, you know, we launched we launched a uh uh uh sports diplomacy strategy obviously, and you know, we brought Power Carrington up onto the stage, and we the you know government extalled about the the the virtues of our athletes and etc. Let's give them something back, and I think that's a really, a really um uh a really good thing to do. We have artists' exemptions, we've got all these things. What about our dual career athletes? Give them something to to to reward them for the sacrifices that they're making, uh, you know, to represent Ireland. Yeah, great idea.

SPEAKER_04 37:04

Um, and yeah, hopefully so the Olympic, the Athletes Commission, I know Africa is uh is leading that at the moment, but there has been a strong hockey influence in there as well. We've got two people who was involved in it for the yeah. It shows the quality as well.

SPEAKER_03 37:17

Yeah, it shows the quality of the players. I think um, you know, Rosheen and and Hannah are the two two you know, or two, I think we're the only sports that has two representatives on the Kings Commission. So that just shows, I suppose, their their passion for sport and their passion for the welfare of athletes and passion for um, you know, not just athletes in their own space, but across the sport game network. I just have so much to offer.

Growing Clubs, Facilities, And Competitions

SPEAKER_04 37:40

So that's the that's the high performance side, the elite side of it. Um your job is split between that and building a sport, maintaining a sport which has got a very strong club base as well. What are the priorities away from the World Cup and away from those international teams that you're focusing on for the rest of 2026?

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Okay, so I think like if I was to look at in terms of what is our role as a sports organization, I suppose, look, it's about providing vision, direction, and and I suppose support, whether that's for clubs or provincial level uh or players. Um, and I suppose, you know, yes, we've spoken about the high performance side and trying to develop outstanding representative teams and underpinning that by world-class systems, all that sort of stuff. Uh, but really it's about activating the growth of the game in our clubs and communities, you know, growing the game. And the World Cup would be a great opportunity to do that. Strengthen that support base in terms of more volunteers, coaches, uh match officials met with uh Tony, uh Tom Tom Good, who's the head of the Irish Hockey Umpartis Association, get to know all these acronyms, uh, the IHULE and um you know the challenges that they're facing and trying to support them around that. Uh obviously, then you're looking to, you know, to do all this stuff, you need to develop a strong and sustainable financial foundation. And uh you know, we're working very closely with our partners to try and achieve that, UI park developments, etc. Uh, but we're also working to try and invest in facilities. So we work closely with the Department of Uh Culture, Media and Sports, obviously the new round of I still call it the Sports Capital Program, but the Community Sports Facilities Fund, I think it is. Uh this this uh it's gonna be out, I think, June, in June sometime, and to try and make sure that our clubs are prepared for that. We spoke to Morgan Buckley down in UCC yesterday, and they have a big master plan for UCC. And um, you know, met Morgan, I've met Morgan on Saturday, spoke to him yesterday again to outline our support for them and how we'd hopefully do a joint application for regional funding, and they want to bring two hockey pitches down in UCC, which would be fantastic, right? And uh, but then obviously, then there's a whole thing. We've we've got a the the engine of any sport is competitions. And we have some really good, really strong competitions. Like our senior cup is the oldest hockey competition in the world. Like, so we've got a really great legacy and great heritage there. And it's truly, really trying to make sure that we deliver successful competitions, events, and experiences that you know, you know, I suppose that inspire lifelong involvement in the game. We had the Pro League there at Christmas, nothing to do with me. Anne, uh previous CEO and and and the team in here were involved in that. But you know, we'll have so late in a couple of days. It shows that there is a market there for international hockey. And uh um I'm working closely now with Sport Ireland to try and get a national hockey center developed. So two and a half pitches, uh stand on the pavilion, etc., with all of the support support services, I suppose, that we can put into that facility as well. It's about a 15 million euro project. Okay. And you know, so it's in the sort of about that sort of goal you lots on, it's not too expensive. It's well, it's not it's not uh uh for nothing either, but but it's it's doable. It's not 180 million anyway. It's not 180 million, exactly. Exactly. So uh but then you know, alongside that, then obviously you know, working with our boards and committees and stuff like that, develop high standards of governance and leadership. And and I suppose, you know, again, I can't do all this in my own. You know, we've we've got a we've got a very good board, we've got you know uh good committees that are there, and we've got a really great uh team of team of staff here that are, you know, certainly have have been very good to me since they've come in and worked very closely with me. And I'm sure at times that you know their mouths drop when I tell them what we're what we're gonna be doing. But uh they've been really, really good. And um, you know, and and I I think it's really important in terms of uh making sure that the culture is right within the sport and within the uh within the staff. And uh so with that, like just at the last board meeting, we approved an updated set of values for the organization. And uh that's now been we did that initially with the staff. The staff came up with that first staff meeting at Halk, we looked at it. Uh they felt that the existing values that we had probably weren't broad enough. And they came back with some more, and and basically uh we we worked through that with them and then presented that at our last board meeting. Now the next step uh is to try and get those values uh disseminated at the provincial level and then at club level. And you know, and if hopefully we can develop with our provinces, I suppose, a charter that of that we can all all live to and live by. And hopefully that will improve relationships with them and um make sure that we're all single off the same entry. We have started to work on the development of a new strategy this year. And it's a little bit different from previous strategies. So in the past, you would have had a Hockey Ireland strategy and then a Leinster hockey strategy and Ulster hockey strategy and most of it so once for. What I have uh proposed, and there's a little bit of a little bit of um uh how do you say, shuffling of feet and looking down, you know, uh I suppose when it was initially mooted, um, you know, basically we're pushing for a hockey in Ireland strategy. So it'll be an all-island strategy, which provinces will have an opportunity to feed into, and um, you know, we will have key pillars that are there. But obviously, when it comes to operation-wise in that strategy, there will be differences in the different in the provinces and they will be responsible for those elements of it. Yeah. But it would be with an overall very clear picture about what our what our key pillars are. Okay. So that's going to be interesting. That's that's different to different to what's been there in the past.

SPEAKER_04 43:42

It might work, it might not work.

SPEAKER_03 43:44

Yeah.

Values, Culture, And Leadership Style

SPEAKER_04 43:44

And looking at that strategy, obviously really important, the values, that's an interesting story. I think we should pick up on that on yeah, on Support for Business and do a particular piece about it. Feeding into that, like you mentioned culture, and the role of a CEO, the role of any leader is to is to drive that culture as well. What would you describe your own leadership style as? Okay. I I'd like to think I'd be collaborative.

SPEAKER_03 44:07

But also like I don't want to get about like I listen, I met Arson Wenger years ago at a UEFA conference, and uh he was talking about the coach and what you know the the the qualities of a coach needs to have, a modern coach needs to have, you know, and he mentioned this thing about like Getty. Uh someone with a PhD knows a huge amount about very little, you know, a small tiny subject, or whatever. Uh whereas a coach has to know a little bit about everything. And and CEO's a little bit like that. You know, I'm certainly uh, you know, I'm certainly wise enough uh to know that it's not I don't know everything. You've got people around you uh uh to to uh uh to help you. So listen to them and and use them. Uh I had a thing, oh bother, there it's not about being right, it's about getting it right. So I take myself, take the ego out of it. I've often I often say to the guys in your lads, if I'm talking absolute rubbish here, just say so. Yeah. You know? And um thankfully they haven't said I have maybe just haven't dared yet. Maybe they haven't said it to you. Maybe not. But but it but I absolutely believe that it's not it's not about me, you know, it's not it's not about me being right. Yeah. Uh it's about doing it right. And that's that's way more important. You know, this no no sport is about one person, whether that's your best player or your or the CEO. Yeah. Uh it is about doing it right. And and uh that's I suppose a motto. And the guys will tell you tell you in here, I throw that out at least once every couple of days, you know. Okay. Particularly when we're discussing a uh a topic and we have different opinions and stuff like that. So it's it's it's about getting it right, and and that's what we have to do.

SPEAKER_04 45:52

That brings us neatly into the uh the wrap-up part of this, where we've spoken about the organization, we've spoken about the business side of it. I've got a few questions I want to throw at you which will help us to understand a little bit more about Richard Fahey, the man, as opposed to Richard Fahey, the CEO. I'm I'm gonna skip the childhood memory because I'm going to give you the idea that being the Irish record holder for under 12 high jump was an early childhood memory.

SPEAKER_03 46:22

Or I'll stop you that one now, because I had I had a thought about this, and I thought along the heart of this. Okay, so what was I? Oh, you're a big GA man, Rob, right? So biggest memory for me as a kid when I was in primary school, uh becoming a Munchville GAA, getting to Crow Park, right? Yeah, that was just that was mecca, this was in one respect for a kid who's interested in sport, particularly here. And uh fourth class, we got to the quarterfinals beaten, fifth class got to the semifinals beaten. Sixth class, our last my last chance to do this, and we got to the final, right? Went in, we played ballerone, I think it was, in the final, and we beat them, right? And uh, which is fantastic and so on and so forth. And then fast forward to whatever, another 30 years or whatever, and somebody puts up on Facebook, you know, the team, and someone puts up the thing, do you know, do you spot uh on the other team the three-time major winner? And I was looking at it, I said, but it was Power Harrington, he was on the opposite, opposite team, right? So obviously I would have known that when it's 12 or whatever. Yeah. But my son plays golf, right? My son's a an international golfer, and uh um you know, first time he beat me, he was about 11, I'd say. Uh no, and I I fancy myself as a decent stuff, probably five. And uh anyway, he beat me and he was all cockadoo, and uh he comes into the house and he says to me, uh, oh dad, you're crap, you're crap, you know. You know what I mean? Just absolutely throwing dogs against money, you know. So I just threw out and said, um, I said, I'm the only person in this house who's beaten a three-time major winner, right? Yeah, and he's looking at me going, What? And I said, Yeah, I'm the only person that's beaten a three-time major winner. And he said, Yeah, I said, Paul Harrington. And I left that like for a few weeks, you know what I mean? And he comes back to me one day, you know, a couple of months later, he says, Do you really beat Pawrik Harrington? I said, Yeah, it was a Gaelic football, but it doesn't really beat him.

SPEAKER_04 48:16

Yeah, and that was probably just before his dad told him that he had to stop with all of this Gaelic football nonsense and focus on the golf. And he went to the same school as Paul McGinley as well.

SPEAKER_03 48:26

He did. And I met Porrick uh last year at a uh so it was a golf Ireland had done this this talk in Manooth, and um Adam was Adam was there, and the parent, you know, a couple of parents were there. So I made it my business to go to Porwick, and you know, obviously it was loads of people who were trying to get a hold of him. So I said, Porridge, do you remember this? They shot in Ford Flamblow. I was playing on the other team in Bad Oil at Beach. Yeah, and for the next hours Powered does he just was chatting, chatting away about uh uh about the whole thing, and everyone's a bit annoyed that I had sort of hung the limelight on him, but he didn't want to go.

SPEAKER_04 48:58

And to be fair, he probably remembers every single tackle that he missed and every single point that he scored. Well, he could have done better.

SPEAKER_03 49:05

He started going through all the people that have been in class or in the team, like I'll see him there. He was you know, he to this and he to that, and that's fellow never the worst player that ever played for golf for Ireland, he said to me one of the lights. No, it was very funny. It wasn't Paul McKinley Islander, yeah. But it's great, it was great though, because um uh you know Adam uh I've I have a pic picture on my phone, which I'm just trying to grab there now, of of Pork and Adam. So Adam played in the the junior open in uh in Scotland two years ago now, and you know, 57 to that, which was decent. So so uh like so powered to a big hero is that so it's just a great little connection for.

SPEAKER_04 49:41

Okay, there you go. That's a that's a glass chargered memory. At which point you were probably still the holder of the Irish High Jump. I would have been at that time, yes. That was. Um if there was a single sporting event to go to in the world, what would that be?

SPEAKER_03 49:57

I think you know, I think we have to be the masters. I I've like I I play a bit of golf. Uh obviously my son Adam is a golf. He's off to got a scholarship to the University of Arizona in August. Uh he's off in France this week, playing in the French boys championship. He's in Scotland next week. Uh uh, he actually said something to me when he's when a he was about 11 or 12 at the time, and I thought it was great. We were so the masters are a big big vent in the house. Do you know what I mean? Like it's like do not disturb sign, done up, you know, you're getting the getting the couch ready, getting ready. I am with you. Yeah, and um uh I said to Adam a few, you know, people I think he's been 11 or 12, I said, Adam, who do you want to win? Who are you up for? Like, you know, and he says, uh, well, Brooks, you know, and I said, uh, why him? Like he said, I like I think he's a good player, blah, blah, blah. I think he's a good chance. I said, What about Rory? And he actually looked at me dead pan in the face. He says, Dad, I want to be the first Irish fellow to win the Masters. Okay. So that's why I'm not up for Rory. Okay. And I I sort of said to treat this like that's you know. So then last year, when Rory did win it, I sort of said to him, Oh, that's it, Madam, you're not the first fellow. Yeah, you're you're not gonna be the first fellow to win from Ireland, you know. Dad, the Republic of Ireland. Okay. Okay. So I'm looking forward to the Masters, and what a what a day, what an event to go to. Uh you know, and and you know, we all have our dreams in sports, stuff like that. I'll never play at the Masters. But Adam might have a chance. We'll see how he goes.

SPEAKER_04 51:22

How exciting would that be? So does that mean is is golf, would golf be your number one sport outside of Adam?

SPEAKER_03 51:29

It would be, it would be now, but not not because of me. It's yes, it's because of the interest I have through Adam. And uh listen up around the around the world, well, when I say around the world, but around the country with him loads of times at different tournaments. But I've I've also you know traveled, we've traveled to France together, we've traveled to, you know, to all around Europe as well, you know, watching him play in tournaments. And uh I'm I'm lucky enough to have seen him play some really good golf and do well, you know.

SPEAKER_04 51:53

Adam Fahy will put some respect on that name, as they say. Um tea or coffee? Tea. Okay. Netflix or a night of the movies?

SPEAKER_03 52:02

Night of the movies. What was the last movie that you saw? Uh well, uh being former Tame Tennis player was Marty Supreme. Of course. And uh I've lots of I've lots of stories. The lat there was uh I have a Tame Tennis WhatsApp group, right? So like I haven't played a tame tennis in 25, 30 years, right? But we still keep in touch, gang of kids from Battle Oil, and uh we meet up meet up every every couple of months, and uh one of the lads said that so there's a guy called Jim Langan and Tommy Caffrey, so they would have been two two big you know world-level players back in the day. And uh uh they actually played against your man Marty Mauser, I think his name is Marty, whatever his name is, uh back in the back in the uh back in the day, and they played doubles against him and they beat him. So that came out that came out in the text group uh that was there. I think uh and and when you look at your man Marty the movie, like he's he's a topic psycho, like he's so n nut job, yeah. And what what the story goes is that uh uh Jim Lang was saying something like, you know, do this serve because your man will never return it, right? And that drove you know, he made sure that Marty had heard it, yeah, and it drove him absolutely bananas. But anyway, they beat them in the in the double. So that was interesting. Whether it's true or not, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 53:17

But I I uh Yeah, I don't think it made the final cut of the movie with Timothy Chalamet, but there you go. Um what is a trait that you think you have?

SPEAKER_03 53:26

Oh, trait. Uh I can talk. You know, that's that's one thing with that. Okay, there's a pair of us in that. Yeah, um I'd like to think integrity, I think. Uh like I'd be very conscious of trying to do the right thing and for the right reasons. And you know, I've I've found myself in situations at times where you know you might be pressured to overlook something or pressured to take a different route. And I, to my own personal credit, I think I haven't taken that like you know, there's any sometimes there's an easy route, and sometimes there's a difficult route, but I'm not afraid to take the difficult route. So I think in that respect it's integrity, but also resilience as well. I think there's two things. And you need to have that. You need to have those as a sport. If you're gonna be an administrator at sport, you absolutely need resilience and you absolutely need to have integrity.

SPEAKER_04 54:19

And are they the traits that you would most admire in others as well, or is there anything else that you'd look for?

SPEAKER_03 54:24

Oh yeah, absolutely, I would, yeah. Like I I think um uh you know, listen, I've been around I've been around people where you might you might uh um well if you take in terms of resilience, I've seen people crumble under pressure. Um you know, whether that's playing sport or whether that's in terms of ministering sport. And it is a tough business. It's a tough business. Uh but integrity is really, really important. I've come across people who are with very high levels of integrity and people that I admire. And I but I've also seen people who where integrity might not have been their number one trait. And and uh it also it was a learning thing for me not to go down the dark side. Okay. And um I hope in five years' time when if we do this again, Rob, that I'm still able to say that. But that's the plan is to keep integrity. It takes a long time to build up your integrity. It takes one bad decision or one decision, one moment to lose it. Okay, let's make a date for that.

SPEAKER_04 55:20

I know you'll be around. I hope I am as well. Um let's lighten it up a little bit. What makes you laugh?

SPEAKER_03 55:25

Oh God, listen, I have a I have a very weird sense of humor. Um things that go on in my head sometimes that that uh that would make me laugh, and I sort of have to hold myself back. Uh but I I do like, you know, if you're if you're scrolling through a Facebook thing or you know, a reel or whatever else like that, yeah, little things that just make me laugh. I've you know, I I do like comedy that, you know, uh um, yeah, look, they're the kind of things that just make me laugh. Silliness. Silliness, absolute silliness. And and you know, it's not always the most appropriate sort of silly something. I'm looking every now and then you'd you'd see a scroll for cars to see something from the 70s or the 80s that might not be totally appropriate, but they are funny. I mean, you do you do have to you do have to have a little giggle every now and then, you know. Okay. Um what's are you a reader? Uh I'm not. Uh I listen to podcasts most of the time, but I I I uh the last book I read was just over Christmas, on the way for a week at Christmas, and uh I read the biography film Michelson that Alan uh written. And uh it was really, really good. And it was it was um you know, there's a lot of things in there, like a lot of things that it sort of recognised, I suppose, in terms of you know, we speak talk about resilience, talk about integrity, um, and uh but also as well things in terms from from Adam, obviously he's on a he's on a journey, and you know, Adam's gone to the University of Arizona, Phil went to Arizona State. Yeah, and there's a you know, there's a few bits of pieces in there where he starts talking about his college days and college playing, and his very last year in college, Phil I think is a has the best college record of of any player. And uh, but there was one particular thing which really rankled with him was when uh Arizona State were playing University of Arizona in the final thing, and the University of Arizona beat them, and that's where Adam's going to. And I was thinking to myself, geez, that's still like the level he could be playing as an exfilm, you know, or whatever. He also spoke about um you know the the Walker Cup, which was in Port Marnock, or uh yeah, it was the Walker Cup that was in Port Marnock and Portland, Port and Ponti might have played it as well. And um Adam's now a member of Port Marnock the last three years. And I said, I just think about it. And like you know, you know, Adam has a chance, would have a chance of getting on the Walker Cup team at some stage. I hope so. Yeah. Obviously needs to needs to perform at the right times and that. But uh it just it sort of sort of makes you think about it. But it also when you see some of the some of the things Phil's got up to and uh um I suppose the challenges in his life as well, you know, you know, there'd be some really good stories there to be able to pass on to Adam. Tell him to read the book, but he won't read kids, don't read anymore. Attention span for 30 seconds, and that's it.

SPEAKER_04 58:12

Maybe delay his uh his his travel out to Arizona because of course the Walker Cup is in Lynch this year. It's only this time that we staged it in there.

SPEAKER_03 58:18

I think the Walker Copy will be I don't think it'll be uh you know, obviously it depends. We've got he's got two big tournaments, you've got the Irish men's amateur, which is on in Seapoint, which he knows very well, and he was ninth in last year. Um and uh and then the East of Ireland is on in Baltrelli. And he's got his leading start to two three or four days later, but he's telling me he's playing in it.

SPEAKER_01 58:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:41

And uh he finished fourth in the East of Ireland last year, which was which was decent. So uh I think if he if he won one of those, which is within his capabilities to do so, um he might be that far off, but his big thing this year, there's a there's a tournament called the Jacques Delay's trophy, which is like a Great Britain and Ireland selection against Europe, which is an under 18 event. So that's what he's he's pushing for for this year. Okay. And that's the NVO. So fingers crossed you for that.

SPEAKER_04 59:10

Okay. You said you're listening to a lot of podcasts. Is that what you would listen to in the car?

SPEAKER_03 59:14

I listen to that in the car, I listen to that at night, and I find uh I suppose I one of the one of the things of speaking speak to people our age, I'm in my mid-50s now. People struggle to sleep, you know. And I've been quite an active an active uh brain. I wake up in the middle of the body and it's ping, you're wide awake. So uh I put on a podcast and it it gets it it just clears my head, yeah, and then it helps me go back to sleep. But but generally, uh yeah, I like politics, uh Rest is politics, uh US politics as well. Um and um yeah, they they'd be the two cookies. And I also listen to the golf podcast as well, the uh uh that'll listen to as well. So the the the chipping forecast, okay, which is a bit of light-hearted golf stuff. So that would be my that would be my uh my thing. I don't as I said I don't watch a huge amount of TV unless it's a bit of sport.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:07

Yeah, that would be good. And if music were to interrupt the podcast routine, listen, who would be talking about? Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:14

Yeah, do you know what? I like a uh I do a lot of YouTube and you know uh I I I've quite a broad uh uh taste in music. Um I do like onto the national concert hall every now and then. Um I'm a bit of a science fiction uh uh fan. And um I think it's May the 9th, not May the 4th, but the the the National Concert Orchestra doing the whole playing on the star was John Wynn. John Wynn's just absolute legend. Um the music of his music and you know the soundtracks that he has produced over the years, just spellbounding.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:51

But it's funny, you mentioned science fiction. I I've always got about four books on the go, and one of them at the moment is him reading Isaac Asimov from the Foundation. Um and I was in the national concert all over the weekend. Very good. But to see Neil Hannon and the Divine Comedy, who are one of my absolute all-time favourite acts, uh brilliant performance, what a great venue as well. We're gonna miss it next year. Super closed, but super venue. But look, they'll come back bigger and they'll come back better, and uh it will.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:18

It'll be fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:19

Let's wrap it up. I've got a table booked in it could be chapter one, it could be in Seoul, it could be in some of one of Dublin's finest restaurants. Outside of family, three people that you would love to have around the table for the wittiest and smartest of conversation. Very good, very good.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:43

Interesting now. That is one I haven't thought of. I think I would put Pork Mans in. Okay. I think Pork is absolute legend of Irish sport and and and just just what an amazing, amazing uh uh you know, ambassador for for Ireland and and for the sport of golf. And I said I've met him a couple of times, but only twitch the surface with him, yeah. Um I think um Barack Obama, I just I just again what a you know when you start talking about integrity and resilience and all those things, like there, like I think he would be he would be phenomenal. And uh I'd have to pick my partner shouldn't. So so uh she she would be uh uh probably the third person that I'd like except that you get permission to eventually and I'll tell you where to go. Uh but chapter one, I've been to chapter one, it's lovely and all that. Okay. It's a bit beyond my pay grade now, you know. I mean maybe your pay grade. But I went to the place called Chubby's in Tlontarf a couple of weeks back. Okay. Amazing. Now there's you'd be waiting months to get on the to get on the reservation on there, but it's fantastic. I went there from when the when we Ireland plays Scotland that evening. I managed to get a booking myself, my brother went along, and uh food was spectacular. But it's it's it's finger like it's like uh tacos and bits and things, but it was so tasty.

Final Thoughts And What’s Next

SPEAKER_04 1:03:00

Yeah, great name for a restaurant as well. Shubi's absolutely um listen, Richard, it has been an absolute pleasure. The very best of luck with the uh with the rest of this year ahead of you. Thanks, Rob. Big time out for the World Cup uh with two great teams, two great groups of people. Um thanks a million for for taking the time to chat with us today. Thanks, Rob. So there you go, and thanks again to Richard Fahi and to Nick McAlwee and the entire team at Hockey Ireland for taking the time to tell us and tell you the story of the sport. It does promise to be a very special summer with both the men's and the women's teams heading to the World Cup, and it's close as well. The games that they're involved in in the group stages are all taking place in Belgium. So maybe if you fancied a little trip across in August, I'm sure there will be groups travelling over in support of Team Ireland. It was great to chat to Richard to find out a little bit about his own private leadership journey and to find out a little bit more about him as well as the sport. We will be continuing this series in the coming weeks and reaching out and bringing the voice, the thoughts, and the leadership, thoughts and ideas of Ireland's sporting CEOs to you on the Sport for Business podcasts. There'll be plenty more as well. We've got big events coming up on sport and creativity and AI in sport, which I'm pretty sure are going to be full houses and with a full complement of really great speakers to bring both of those subjects to life. Thanks very much to you for taking the time out to listen to the Sport for Business Podcast. Sportforbusiness.com is where we produce our daily content. And if you've enjoyed this, you can subscribe to our podcasts wherever you get your podcast from, including on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify. Thanks very much and have a great rest of your day.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:09

It's spinning, it's spinning, channel sexy hand for the 13th time, and I'll be hidden up the children.