THIRTY-SIX CLUBS from both sides of the border will meet today as proposals for an all-island domestic football league look to take a step forward.
20 League of Ireland clubs and 16 from the Northern Ireland Football League have been invited to the meeting, at which the group behind the proposals will further present their plans.
A group of eight people have been driving the idea of an all-island league since 2017. It includes tech entrepreneur Kieran Lucid, ex-Irish manager Brian Kerr, former FA general secretary Alex Horne, and former League of Ireland chairman Brendan Dillon.
Although the group have met with many clubs both sides of the border to date, this is the first time all of the clubs will gather with the group to discuss what would be a profound change to football on the island of Ireland.
The proposal envisages a 14-team top division, running from April right to the end of the year, perhaps culminating as late as New Year’s Day. It is envisaged that there be two regional leagues beneath the top flight, linked by promotion and relegation.
There will be no final vote on the league today: it is instead being viewed as a chance for the group to update the clubs on the progress made along with suggested next steps.
Although Lucid said in June that he hoped that clubs would have their final vote by Autumn of this year, the time-frame for that decision has been pushed back to the New Year.
It is accepted that 2021 is an ambitious start date for the league should it come to pass, but the group still see it as achievable.
The group behind the proposal have had conversations with a potential broadcaster along with sponsors, although specific figures of forecast revenue kicking around the media are misleading as official discussions with potential commercial partners have not yet been opened.
Clubs will, however, be given estimates both conservative and optimistic on what the league may generate based on the group’s research to date, which has been assisted by a third-party consultancy group called Hypercube. This group will also present to clubs later today.
Along with getting clubs on board with the proposal, Lucid and his group accept that the league will only happen with the co-operation of both the FAI and the IFA, along with Uefa.
The group have yet to meet formally with Uefa on the issue.
“I think it’s fair to say that the associations remain unconvinced”, Kieran Lucid told The42.
“They’ve been fair to us in keeping the lines of communication open, and in the FAI’s case in inviting us to speak to the clubs, but no organisation is going to appreciate outsiders waltzing in and saying ‘this and this is wrong, here’s the solution’.
“They have to think about football as a whole, and our knowledge of some of the details have been corrected and tweaked as we’ve spoken to the associations, so the fact is that we don’t have all the answers either, merely a genuine desire to give the club game here a major boost, and to encourage the public to show our domestic game some love
“I don’t think this league will get off the ground with the reluctant and tacit approval of the associations – it needs them to become involved and to actively back it. Things like disciplinary, licensing, referring are just some areas that need to be discussed in detail with the associations. The fact is that they are in a much better position to drive this than we are.”
Lucid is encouraged by his group’s meetings with political parties on both sides of the border on the matter.
“There is a recognition among policy makers that football is important to people, that club football facilities need some attention from central government after a long period of decline and, most importantly, there is a chance through this project to create a healthy and vibrant football industry on the island.”
