YOU’VE GOT TO love how many times we contradict ourselves as a sporting nation.
In a week that our domestic league launched a pretty exciting streaming package to lure in potential new fans, there was a raging debate over the possible creation of an All-Ireland League. That’s like paying for a conservatory whilst also browsing at new housing options. Stick or twist? You can’t do both.
We have to laugh at ourselves in all of this. As political parties, interested stakeholders and club officials all weighed in on why the League of Ireland should become entwined with the Danske Bank Premiership, one of the teams entering into our Women’s National League has just been rebranded as Treaty United. Nothing wrong with that name at all…at least on this side of the border.
And, yet, those types of sensitives should be considered with this proposed merger. How much of its identity and history are both leagues willing to concede for the promise of a supposed brighter future? Having played in both leagues, I know that this is not a very straightforward question to answer.
From a League of Ireland perspective, are we really ready to give up the FAI Cup? Wouldn’t we be foolish to abandon the terrific progress being made at underage level, from Under-13 up to Under-19? What about the success in European competition that has clearly been aided by our season adopting a different calendar? And are we not finally forging a working relationship with the Football Association of Ireland that could bring about a sustainable structure?
The fact that we have more questions than answers would suggest that people like Kieran Lucid, who has been campaigning for this All-Ireland League project, do not truly know what needs to be done. We need to fix our league before even attempting to take on more responsibility in the form of other clubs.
In the Greatest League in the World, we have a checklist of chores that continues to mount up. For starters, there is the embarrassing state of the majority of our stadia, the lack of training grounds owned by clubs, the absence of personnel in club offices with business or marketing acumen, the lack of connection with local communities, the disconnect with the thousands of football fans who flock abroad every year to spend their money on foreign leagues, and the fact that when serious club officials get together for serious football talks the information is leaked out within minutes – that sort of carry on simply cannot happen if trying to run things on a professional basis.
It feels like many of our clubs want to bury these issues under the carpet, just like the FAI did for many years. But they don’t go away. When you host talks to discuss the future of the League and you only invite representatives from the top division you need to seriously question the elitist attitude of the people in that room. Perhaps they feel that the new League slogan should be ‘All clubs are equal, but some clubs are more equal than others’.
We need to break those types of power structures as well as the political gesturing that lands as many significant blows as a Punch & Judy kids show. Our league needs a lot of attention before we should even entertain talk of an expansion. Besides, the grass isn’t greener on the other side. The grass is greener where you water it. That’s something that my father used to tell me anytime that a club tried to sign me as a player. And it feels appropriate to this situation.
It’s no secret that the Irish Football Association, who govern the domestic game in Northern Ireland, and some Irish League clubs are not completely sold on the idea. They may lose European places which, in turn, may hurt their country’s coefficient, thus making it even harder to compete. That’s a pretty good reason, don’t you think, for them to feel apprehensive about this mooted merger. Do we even know what supporters, players & stakeholders feel about all of this? Most of the talk about this project has so far come from the Republic, so perhaps those eager to usher in change should take more time to listen.
Here’s an alternative… let’s work with the FAI to formalise a five-year plan (which is currently happening) that will modernise the League of Ireland and get it to a solid footing, whilst also including an All-Ireland Cup competition as part of our season. The old Setanta Sports Cup was hugely enjoyable and if that can be revived it can act as the ultimate litmus test on whether or not there is an appetite for clubs to travel all over the island to play each other on a regular basis.
For now, it would be wise to give this live streaming service a go and focus on our own situation for a few years. There’s work to be done to fix our foundations, so stop talking about moving around the furniture.
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Conan Byrne played for four League of Ireland clubs across 15 seasons, before signing for Danske Bank Premiership side Glenavon in 2020.
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