THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION of Ireland (FAI) says it is “unapologetically” pressing ahead with its aim of having a fully aligned calendar season throughout Irish football by 2028.

FAI Grassroots Director Ger McDermott has also responded to claims from the Schoolboy/Girls’ Football Association of Ireland (SFAI) that the governing body was withholding grant money for the staging of the Kennedy and Gaynor Cups because of their refusal to get on board with the Football Pathway Plan that would help reshape the game in this country.

As reported by The 42 in recent weeks, SFAI chairman Padraic Clarke wrote a letter to clubs detailing how progress on securing funding from the FAI centred around agreeing to the switch to calendar-year football and, as a result of their refusal, funds were being withheld.

McDermott, however, insists “alignment with FAI strategy” has always been a core component of receiving the grant money – entry fees for each competition are now set to increase from €2,000 to €5,400 per competition – and that after the General Assembly voted in favour of the proposal in December affiliates like the SFAI were aware of the requirements.

McDermott was speaking yesterday morning, before reports emerged in the Irish Times that a group – the Grassroots Amateur Football Clubs of Ireland – had been formed to represent 20 leagues from 15 counties.

“Our strategy has changed but why and how we pay out money hasn’t changed. That’s always been the case, alignment with FAI strategy,” McDermott said.

“The important point is that as part of the conversation leading into the grant process, I would have met the SFAI to discuss FPP (Football Pathway Plan) implementation because when any affiliate grant is made to us, part of the scoring criteria is around alignment with FAI strategy.

“That was a conversation in advance of the grant being submitted which is perfectly normal and part of the process.

“An important thing again just for context, any grant that we pay out, there is an element that’s scored based on alignment with strategy. Naturally, as the governing body, we want our affiliate members, i.e the leagues and the clubs, to embrace policies.

“On this particular topic, the calendar year, the most important point is that it was democratically brought in by the game so it is important that as a member organisation, it is implemented.
“It’s not about future funding, funding has always been contingent on alignment with FAI strategy, so nothing has changed there.

“There is nothing surprising in that the General Assembly voted on this in early December. There is no surprise in this.”

McDermott detailed how roughly one third of the 72 leagues in the country were already implementing the aligned calendar year with one third actively engaging with the FAI on working out how they could make it work.

McDermott stressed that the FAI’s plan would require a major culture shift for grassroots football and that schedules for the 12 months would need to be flexible to ensure “more football at most appropriate” times.

A further third of leagues had not yet engaged and McDermott acknowledged the challenges faced as it was laid out how kids from under-five to under-12 will move to the new calendar from January 2026, with 13 to 16-year-olds following in 2027 and a fully aligned pathway up to professional League of Ireland level by 2028.

“Asking people to think differently, that’s all change. It’s also change for people who volunteer. There are tens of thousands of fixtures most weekends in Ireland organised by volunteers who established leagues, or leagues were established years ago because there was a demand to play our game.

“We expected challenge, difficulty. That challenge and difficulty comes from an understandable apprehension because people might be worried about ‘would I keep my team? Am I going to have enough players? Will this negatively impact our participation?’ But I think what we have this time is a longer-term 12-year vision and a set of core principles.

“I distilled it down and I know there are local challenges and there are challenges in how we organise it, but if we consistently ask ourselves ‘in what we’re doing are we striving to provide more football, more often, with more variety?’ And if the answer is yes? Do it, and accept some consequences in doing it because we make decisions, make changes, it’s not all positive it’s not all 100% easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing if it was.

“And, on the other side, if we’re creating clearer pathways and clearer progression opportunities for players, for refs, for coaches, for teams, for clubs, if the answer is ‘yes, we are trying to do that’, then it’s worth doing because those two things we absolutely haven’t maximised our potential.

“They are fundamental, it’s not innovative, it’s not something that we are trying to do that nobody else does. It’s common to have a pyramid, it’s common to have pathways and progression, you actually need it to be successful at the top level or to have players playing in the top European leagues.

“From a child’s perspective, providing people with more opportunities to exercise in a sport that is super accessible and super easy to play, and you don’t have to speak the same language as somebody else to understand the game of football and get it going. Yeah, we’re going after that unapologetically.”

While the SFAI wrote to its members in that letter regarding funding stating the FAI had “uncorked overwhelming anger and created an atmosphere that’s impossible to work in”, McDermott countered and insisted the current landscape for grassroots football was not delivering on the full potential for the game in this country.

“To bring people back to what we are trying to do, aligning a game that has, historically, been very fragmented. Creating pathway and progression opportunities via a pyramid for Irish football that don’t currently exist, and in the children’s game giving kids more opportunities to play in a fun and positive environment at more times of the year.

“It’s not politics, it’s not Brexit, it’s providing more football opportunities so that, in the short term, people are healthier, families have options in terms of what their kids do and what sports they play. Ours is a really attractive option in that offering.

“In the longer term, kids kicking ball more often, from a younger age, we’ll probably have a better team out there [in Aviva Stadium], and even better team. That’s what the plan is about.

“It’s a blank calendar with an aligned registration period and let’s start filling it in together. Another one would be other sports, GAA in particular. Now particularly when you look at the map of the country and where there are clear pathways and where there aren’t clear pathways, or more importantly for the children’s game where we’re not providing anywhere near enough football. We have an obligation to provide opportunities for kids to play.

“Having months of the year where there is little to no football provision, that’s not good for participation or for the overall development of Irish football… To only have an opportunity to play for a small portion of the year by luck of birth or where you were born, that’s not great for us.

“Just because you happen to grow up somewhere else in the country, you have a lot more opportunity to play, if you take those two seven year old kids and put your own child in that situation, that doesn’t feel right.

“The get-it-done piece is important for us. We have agreed to phase it, because there was strong feedback from the game on that, but there are certain things that we have to act on now. And when there is enough evidence there on the amount of football we are providing or lack of clear pathways, yeah, it is time to get it done.”