Welsh FA president hits out at the Football Association
Tuesday 24 March 2015 08:12, UK
Welsh FA president Trefor Lloyd Hughes has launched an extraordinary attack on the Football Association, hours before UEFA members vote on whether he will become the next British vice-president of FIFA.
Hughes is furious that the FA put forward its vice-chairman David Gill - who is widely accepted to have secured enough votes to win - as a rival candidate, and over FA proposals to enter a Team GB football side in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
"I think they want to take over everything," Hughes told Sky Sports News HQ, speaking close to Gill in a hotel lobby before a formal UEFA dinner. "I think the English FA cannot accept, (or) believe in principles any more."
The FAW president claims the FA acted against a written agreement over a rotation for the next FIFA vice-presidency, signed by every British association in 2011.
"I think it is very, very embarrassing for the English FA." said Hughes. "The four associations agreed that the next one (FIFA vice-president) for 2015 was Wales, simple as that. And I've got it (the agreement) in my room. The point I am making is that if you can't keep to an agreement, the principle of the agreement...it's what I'm after. David (Gill) and me are good friends, he comes over to Anglesey to walk the great land of Wales. I don't think he knew about the agreement."
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The FA say the agreement ended when UEFA introduced new rules on voting, but Hughes has questioned their integrity and 'principle' of the initial agreement.
"I'm sorry to say the English FA have really upset me, and the Welsh FA as well," said Hughes. "The people of Wales are up in arms (over this). I am going with the agreement, simple as that."
But Gill has rejected opposition from the Welsh FA.
"We need to understand and explain that the rotation system ended." Gill told Sky Sports News HQ on Monday. "It is more democratic. If those changes in UEFA's statutes had not taken place then, yes, Trefor would be on there. But it has happened and we need to move forward."
Hughes has strongly criticised the FA over its plans to enter a men's and women's football side in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Britain competed at London 2012, but on the understanding it was "a one-off".
Last week, FIFA's executive committee clarified that a Team GB will only be allowed if every British association supports the FA's proposal.
"They are the bosses in the UK, or they think they are, but not any more." said Hughes. "I think I have highlighted what they are doing in the game of football in the UK. They want me to sign it? I'd have to think twice.
"We only got a letter at the end of January. We knew nothing about it, nobody told us. Who stopped Wales getting the 2020 European Championships? We were one of the best three, we didn't get a smell in it. There are a lot of politics involved in this game, I tell you, and I have learnt that. It's been a big eye-opener over the last three or four months."