THE IFA of Northern Ireland have held positive discussions with the group proposing a potential cross-border football competition in Ireland.
Plans for an all-island domestic league – consisting of a top division of 14 clubs with the second tier made up of two, regional 10-team conferences – were revealed last year by a group led by tech entrepreneur Kieran Lucid.
Brian Kerr, Alex Horne, former chief of the English FA and ex-League of Ireland Chair Brendan Dillon are among those backing Lucid’s vision.
The IFA dealt the plans a serious blow last October, however, when they released a statement saying they will not sanction its clubs to take part in the competition.
Work on the proposed league has nonetheless continued, with Lucid’s group employing Dutch consultancy firm Hypercube to gather data and feedback from a series of stakeholders with a view to returning to clubs to suggest a final potential format.
Lucid’s group and Hypercube met the IFA on Tuesday, a meeting that was slated for 90 minutes but eventually ran to more than three hours.
Another meeting between the parties has been fixed for 13 February, at which Hypercube will return with further analysis undertaken.
A meeting yesterday with Niall Quinn and Gary Owens of the FAI was described by Lucid as “very positive.”
Lucid told a meeting of League of Ireland fans last night that the IFA remain opposed to the initial all-island league format, but that the “temperature is changing” in relation to a cross-border competition of some kind.
One potential compromise is a split season, in which domestic leagues are run separately and then merge for a cross-border competition. It has been suggested that the cross-border element of this split season could be further incentivised with the guarantee of a European place for the winners.
Lucid’s group remain firm in their belief that the best format to improve the standard of football in Ireland and increase revenue is their initial all-island proposal, but there was a suggestion they may be open to compromise with a split season if it leads to a larger all-island competition down the line.
Hypercube, meanwhile, have been engaged with clubs on both sides of the border in recent weeks, collecting data on clubs’ results, attendances and TV revenue.
The42 understands Hypercube have had buy-in from all 20 League of Ireland clubs and all but two clubs in Northern Ireland.
Using this data while drawing on their European Club Index – a model that ranks football clubs’ quality based on their results when weighted against the quality of opposition and home advantage – Hypercube have designed a model which shows how far Irish clubs have to travel to achieve regular qualification for the Europa League group stages, the ambition of Lucid’s group.
This model also allows Hypercube to show the extent to which this gap can be closed under various suggested formats for a cross-border competition.
The group’s ambition is to agree a final format with clubs by March, with a view to then getting both the IFA and FAI on board before bringing the proposals to Uefa.
