Good times: the memories of 1994 when Ray Houghton scored against Italy are what the current team can aspire to on the pitch

On Wednesday night at the Stade de France, that cavernous bowl on the outskirts of Paris, it's all on the line. When the sides stand to hear Amhrán na Bhfiann and then La Marseillaise, there will be resonance in the words of both anthems if either sets of players have the focus, or indeed the language, to concentrate on anything other than securing World Cup qualification. Both are essentially battle cries – delivered in contrasting tones, sure, but battle cries none the less – designed to set the blood towards boiling. Perhaps it's just as well that for Ireland's players the words are in a strange tongue, the sentiment muddled. Clear heads will be needed on the night because for the boys in green, the FAI, the future of the game in the country and even the economy, there's an awful lot at stake.


The Players


It's amusing now to think back to the 1990 World Cup and remember Mick McCarthy posing for Pennys, to highlight just one player's commercial activities, and the rest of the squad attempting to persuade us that a Mars could help you do all kinds of wonderful things with your day. It's interesting to recall, too, the trouble about the player pool and what financial recompense Ireland's World Cup players were entitled to, particularly when, now, World Cup qualification means something other than money. That's not to paint Ireland's participants of World Cups past as greedy mercenaries; they played in an era where each wage packet constituted a wage, not a lottery win. They deserved every penny they gleaned from endorsements and besides, you know that playing in the biggest sporting competition in the world gave meant an awful lot to them too.


For Ireland's potential World Cup participants of 2010, though, the finals will mostly be about personal pride, a chance to achieve something truly memorable, not simply the opportunity to add a few more noughts to the bank balance. Playing at a World Cup finals is a unique experience, something that many of the planet's greatest footballers never got to enjoy. From these environs alone, you think of George Best and Ryan Giggs, Liam Brady and Johnny Giles. But this group of players have a chance at making themselves immortal among the Irish public, legends in their own lifetime before the age of 30. Who doesn't look back now and think fondly of limited players like Kevin Sheedy, Terry Phelan or Alan McLoughlin? The reputations of Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne, Damien Duff, Kevin Kilbane, Shay Given and a handful of others in the extended squad have already benefited from Japan/South Korea tournament in 2002, but now the likes of Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews and Seán St Ledger have a once in a lifetime opportunity to be remembered as World Cup participants – not just professional footballers who were good enough to etch out a career for themselves across the water.


The FAI's Finances


The FAI's accounts don't make for pretty reading. Before the start of this qualifying campaign, the organisation had €21million in the bank; their accounts published this summer showed a bank balance of €1.6million. The recession has hit hard and the immediate future doesn't look too clever either. The 10-year ticket scheme has been a farce from the moment it took its first breath. Whether charging €32,000 for a ticket the IRFU were selling for €15,000 was stupidity or greed, we'll probably never know but the shortfall in bankable ticket money means that, as things stand, the FAI are going to have to borrow heavily to come up with the €75million they owe for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road. Unless things work out on Wednesday, that is.


World Cups, on their own, do not represent ATMs for national governing bodies. At the 2006 tournament in Germany, participants were guaranteed €4million by Fifa, with that fee increasing incrementally depending on how far a country progressed in the tournament. That base fee is expected to increase to about €6million for the 2010 tournament but the real money to be made will come from sponsors. Each one of the organisation's 12 official sponsors – from Boylesports, official bookmaker, to National Irish Bank, official banker – will have to shell out a bonus payment to the FAI on World Cup qualification, a tally expected to be higher than the minimum guaranteed payment from Fifa. After that, there will be new sponsors lining up to be involved in the action in the run up to next June, while in the coming years, the FAI will be able to demand a premium from existing sponsors when contracts run out and negotiations begin. That's the rosy financial future that a positive result on Wednesday could bring. Otherwise, the FAI will be heavily indebted for a while to come.


The Grassroots Game


There is a local soccer club somewhere in Munster who get more people up in their clubhouse to watch provincial and international rugby matches than they do for the sport they actually play. It is symptomatic of the challenge soccer faces from the oval-balled game, not just in terms of spectators or television watchers, but in getting teams out on the pitch, too. In 2003, the IRFU had less than 100,000 registered on their books; today, that number stands at 152,000. There are still 100,000 more registered soccer players throughout the land but the gap is closing on account of the success of Ireland's rugby teams over the past five years. Participation in a World Cup, however, would turn the tide back soccer's way.


Kevin Doyle spoke recently about how as a youngster he was inspired by the exploits of his club manager, Mick McCarthy, at the 1990 World Cup. Sound bites like that may sound a little clichéd but if they are, it's because they're actually true. Ireland's presence in South Africa next summer would give the country's children a team of players to look up to in the same sphere as Paul O'Connell and Brian O'Driscoll. As for the GAA, Ireland's presence at World Cups has always frightened the bejaysus out of the organisation – although they'd never admit it out loud – and qualification on Wednesday might even help soccer poach a few more people on the volunteer front.


Back in 2005, an ESRI report showed that gaelic football and hurling attracted 43 per cent of all sporting volunteers in the country. Soccer, on the other hand, had to get by with 22 per cent of all volunteers, even though participation levels are not that far off that of the native games. Not only could the outcome of Wednesday's game increase the number of people, particularly those between the ages of six and ten, playing the game, it could also lead to a significant leap in those offering their time free of charge to coach the teams, hang the nets and wash the jerseys.


The Economy


So the 1990 World Cup helped start the Celtic Tiger, eh? That has been the theory of the graduates of Pop-Economics 101 for quite a while now, but while the economic boom of the late 90s and early noughties had its most significant influences elsewhere, you don't doubt that Ireland's presence in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups did the entire process no harm. A win on Wednesday would not only make people go into work on Thursday with a smile on their faces, it would also dangle an enticing event in front of them for the next seven months. The greatest value of the World Cup qualification will, essentially, come through a raising of national spirits, a process psychological theorists out there like to call BIRG-ing (Basking in Reflective Glory). This will provide a platform from which an economic recovery can be launched, rather than heal Ireland's woes all on its own, but there will also be a genuine monetary boost to the economy if qualification is achieved. Sales of widescreen TVs are likely to increase, advertising revenues will sky-rocket, while supermarkets will also do increased business. As for the drinks industry, in England during the last World Cup pubs took in an extra £124million per week across the tournament's four weeks. Even when that is cut down on account of populations size, it would represent a significant Irish spend. Here's hoping.


ccronin@tribune.ie