The top table at tomorrow evening's FAI International Awards could be a rather uninviting place for a night out after yesterday's meeting of the organisation's Board of Managment, where the ongoing split over the viability of Eircom Park was raised again.

While the wider divisions within the association over whether it should continue with the stadium project were again abundantly obvious afterwards, the most immediate difficulties centred on the continued inability of FAI treasurer Brendan Menton to gain access to information relating to sales of 10year seats and corporate boxes by project partners, IMG.

This had been promised at a meeting back in August and the continuing delay yesterday prompted a threat of legal action from Menton, who told the meeting before leaving early that he was determined to bring the matter to the High Court if required.

After his departure, five other members of the board - John Byrne, John Delaney, Ray Gallagher, Joe Colwell and Kevin Fahy - also left, forcing an early adjournment of the meeting by FAI president Pat Quigley.

Menton believes that, as he is acting in accordance with his duties as treasurer and a director of the association, he will be indemnified against any costs which might be incurred should the action actually go to court. This means the already cash-starved organisation could end up paying both sets of legal bills for what might turn out to be a deeply divisive dispute.

"Obviously this isn't the route that I want to take, but I've thought long and hard about it and I'm determined to follow through on this course of action if that is what is required," he said.

"This is a £100-million, or £120-million or even a £150-million project and we don't know how it's going to be funded. We've already spent more than we said we would on getting this far, the conditions of the planning permission look onerous and the original budget is totally inadequate.

"In the middle of all that it seems incredible to me that, as treasurer, I can't even get a look at figures which, in my view, I have an absolute entitlement to under law."

Asked about the difficulties at the meeting, the association's general secretary Bernard O'Byrne said: "What we have to be clear about here is that the information which is required wasn't available from within the association.

"After Brendan and the other directors left, Pat adjourned the meeting, but before he did it was agreed that a timetable of between 10 and 14 days be put in place for obtaining the figures after which they can be passed on. There will be another meeting of the board on the 27th of November to discuss the matter."

As to the suggestion of wider problems for Eircom Park, O'Byrne insisted that the association has "funding options", any one of which it will take to get it through the forthcoming planning appeals process. The association's own estimate of the cost of getting through that process varies between £350,000 and £500,000, but while Menton feels that there is simply no money left to pursue the project, O'Byrne appears happy to look for outside funding.

The idea of going outside the association for money is not a new one, but while O'Byrne feels that the amounts required would be manageable, Menton has repeatedly warned that the basic benefits of the proceeding would be lost because of the amount of money that may have to be borrowed.

"I have to say that at this stage, I'm convinced that the stadium is not feasible," said Menton yesterday.

"In fact, there's a letter from Ascon (builders) dating from August of last year which raises serious questions about the costing . . . and I think that on the basis of that alone there's the basis for a complete reappraisal of the project which, I suspect, would reveal that it's no longer a viable proposition for an organisation that is supposed to be playing games, coaching kids and organising leagues."

O'Byrne countered that he believes the project can be successfully guided through the planning appeal process and then on to completion. Quite when building might start is another matter. Things were not helped yesterday when a further dispute relating to IMG emerged at the meeting. It was suggested that as part of the deal negotiated with Eircom to take over sponsorship of the national team from Opel, kit manufacturer Umbro had been promised a sizeable contribution towards the cost of redesigning its merchandise.

O'Byrne insisted that he was unaware of any such undertaking but told the meeting that he would seek clarification on the issue from the various parties involved and would report back as soon as possible.