THE FAI WAS the talk of the corporate town – so to speak – in the days and weeks after the Government allocated an initial €3 million as part of a multi-year commitment for League of Ireland academy investment.
Various chief executives in at least half a dozen NGOs around the country got in contact to try and pick the brain of those who were able to make it happen.
Most started with a very simple question: “How did you do it?”
This was not just because they were able to secure funding or that it was also referenced as the first tranche of an ongoing cycle of financial support when Minister for Finance Jack Chambers addressed the Dáil.
“Despite the enthusiasm for the game here, our youth development structures have not kept pace with other countries,” the minister said.
“In addition, rules changes following Brexit mean more young Irish players are staying in our domestic system for longer. This presents us with a responsibility – but also an enormous opportunity – to nurture our brightest young talents here at home and provide them with the best environment to fulfil their potential.
“The investment I am announcing here today is the start of a multi-annual commitment from this Government to focus on grassroots and build a new era for football in our country.
If that wasn’t enough, this commitment came at a time when less than two weeks earlier key figures from the FAI’s executive committee and board spent a gruelling three-hour session under questioning relating to safeguarding procedures at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.
Afterwards, chairperson Alan Kelly described the FAI’s display as “farcical”, “unprecedented”, and “one of the strangest committee meetings I was ever at”.
Deputy Kelly also said the FAI’s behaviour prior to attending the meeting was “disrespectful to the people of Ireland” as they had initially deferred an invitation in July, only to then pull out of this latest appearance the week before citing legal advice as a Garda investigation is ongoing.
They eventually appeared after Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donovan intervened to stress his disappointment.
This was the fractured landscape that had been created on the eve of the Budget announcement.
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Despite this, work that had been carried out in the background for over a year and also front and centre of the public eye, had won enough trust and support to secure funding.
Indeed, one CEO of a rival sporting body even got in touch with the FAI to ask if they could be put in contact with the consultancy firm used during the process.
When they were told that there wasn’t one, and that this was the work of the in-house League of Ireland department, there was a reaction of shock and admiration.
After the Government allotted €1m for the League of Ireland towards an independent audit of each academy and the overall landscape, Belgian experts Double Pass secured the contract in June and over the course of an intensive two-month period highlighted how the system in this country trails behind those countries ranked 51 to 100 by FIFA.
Less than 50% of clubs had a full-time academy director, just 4% (four) had a full-time head of coaching, and no club had a minimum of four full-time academy coaches.
It was sobering reading, and the document provided stark context for those decision makers at Leinster House.
A lot has happened since October, and while funding from the Department of Sport, which is ringfenced by Sport Ireland, has yet to be distributed the recruitment process for each club’s Head of Academy and Head of Coaching is now underway.
It is understood that €43,500 will be forthcoming towards the salary of the Head of Academy and €38,500 will be allocated for the Head of Coaching. It will then be up to individual clubs whether they choose to supplement those salaries further.
Sources have confirmed that League of Ireland clubs received contact from the League of Ireland department on 5 November detailing that there was an emphasis being put on putting in place a fair and transparent framework for how these key positions would not only be advertised but also how each candidate would be selected.
In further correspondence to clubs at the end of last month, the League of Ireland department are understood to have said that no formal agreements had yet been reached with the Department of Sport and Sport Ireland but some key principles were established.
A key example of this is how candidates for each position will be selected for interview.
Once the application process is open, rather than contacting clubs directly with their CVs and awaiting to hear back, it has been put forward at the behest of Sport Ireland, and agreed to by the League of Ireland department, to “establish a panel of approved candidates” in order to provide “fairness, transparency, consistency, and robust oversight.”
Candidates wishing to be interviewed must initially apply to the League of Ireland department so they can be assessed as per the against agreed criteria and qualifications, with those successful then placed in the “eligibility pool.”
Clubs will then have autonomy of selection in the second phase of the process. The League of Ireland will not be required to sign off on any appointment so long as it has gone through that first phase.
Clubs have also been informed that each job must be formally advertised and that the specification for the roles must adhere to what the Department of Sport and Sport Ireland have approved.
Funding will be put in jeopardy if the approved process as all recruitment must be carried out in a compliance with public funding requirements.
So, the prospect of a club perhaps using this additional funding to bump up a first team player’s salary with a cushy number in one of these roles in the academy will not be tolerated as they would be blocked from even getting on the approved selection panel.
Clubs have also been told they will be given mandatory training on how to carry out the selection and interview processes in a compliant manner.
All of this illustrates the importance the League of Ireland is emphasising to clubs about ensuring the trust that has been built up over the last 18 months is not lost, and that those in Government can see that the money is being utilised in a proper manner.
This, sources say, is what will be vital to increased funding year or year to ensure that top end figure of €8 million per year will be reached on time as part of their ideal 12-year cycle of funding.
Essentially, all of this to ensure that the millions of euro in public money being distributed is done so in way that effectively doesn’t allow a “jobs for the boys scenario.”
Getting the right people in these positions to affect change and help sustain the environment needed to continually develop players is the be all and end all.
Indeed, The 42 can confirm that among a handful of conditions for funding eligibility is the “establishment and maintenance of a single, dedicated academy bank account” as well as a Technical Board that must “support alignment across the club from a football perspective.”
Further to this, such is the emphasis on fairness across the board even the equipment that will be required for the athletic development element of each academy will be put out to tender to ensure standardisation of practice.
So, when those in other sports or business ask the FAI how they were able to get this funding over the line for its League of Ireland clubs, they can point to this level of commitment to transparency and professionalism as the cornerstone for what will hopefully become a watershed moment of change for the future of the game in this country.
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How the League of Ireland earned trust from Government, and what happens with €3 million now?
THE FAI WAS the talk of the corporate town – so to speak – in the days and weeks after the Government allocated an initial €3 million as part of a multi-year commitment for League of Ireland academy investment.
Various chief executives in at least half a dozen NGOs around the country got in contact to try and pick the brain of those who were able to make it happen.
Most started with a very simple question: “How did you do it?”
This was not just because they were able to secure funding or that it was also referenced as the first tranche of an ongoing cycle of financial support when Minister for Finance Jack Chambers addressed the Dáil.
“Despite the enthusiasm for the game here, our youth development structures have not kept pace with other countries,” the minister said.
“In addition, rules changes following Brexit mean more young Irish players are staying in our domestic system for longer. This presents us with a responsibility – but also an enormous opportunity – to nurture our brightest young talents here at home and provide them with the best environment to fulfil their potential.
“The investment I am announcing here today is the start of a multi-annual commitment from this Government to focus on grassroots and build a new era for football in our country.
If that wasn’t enough, this commitment came at a time when less than two weeks earlier key figures from the FAI’s executive committee and board spent a gruelling three-hour session under questioning relating to safeguarding procedures at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.
Afterwards, chairperson Alan Kelly described the FAI’s display as “farcical”, “unprecedented”, and “one of the strangest committee meetings I was ever at”.
Deputy Kelly also said the FAI’s behaviour prior to attending the meeting was “disrespectful to the people of Ireland” as they had initially deferred an invitation in July, only to then pull out of this latest appearance the week before citing legal advice as a Garda investigation is ongoing.
They eventually appeared after Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donovan intervened to stress his disappointment.
This was the fractured landscape that had been created on the eve of the Budget announcement.
Despite this, work that had been carried out in the background for over a year and also front and centre of the public eye, had won enough trust and support to secure funding.
Indeed, one CEO of a rival sporting body even got in touch with the FAI to ask if they could be put in contact with the consultancy firm used during the process.
When they were told that there wasn’t one, and that this was the work of the in-house League of Ireland department, there was a reaction of shock and admiration.
After the Government allotted €1m for the League of Ireland towards an independent audit of each academy and the overall landscape, Belgian experts Double Pass secured the contract in June and over the course of an intensive two-month period highlighted how the system in this country trails behind those countries ranked 51 to 100 by FIFA.
Less than 50% of clubs had a full-time academy director, just 4% (four) had a full-time head of coaching, and no club had a minimum of four full-time academy coaches.
It was sobering reading, and the document provided stark context for those decision makers at Leinster House.
A lot has happened since October, and while funding from the Department of Sport, which is ringfenced by Sport Ireland, has yet to be distributed the recruitment process for each club’s Head of Academy and Head of Coaching is now underway.
It is understood that €43,500 will be forthcoming towards the salary of the Head of Academy and €38,500 will be allocated for the Head of Coaching. It will then be up to individual clubs whether they choose to supplement those salaries further.
Sources have confirmed that League of Ireland clubs received contact from the League of Ireland department on 5 November detailing that there was an emphasis being put on putting in place a fair and transparent framework for how these key positions would not only be advertised but also how each candidate would be selected.
In further correspondence to clubs at the end of last month, the League of Ireland department are understood to have said that no formal agreements had yet been reached with the Department of Sport and Sport Ireland but some key principles were established.
A key example of this is how candidates for each position will be selected for interview.
Once the application process is open, rather than contacting clubs directly with their CVs and awaiting to hear back, it has been put forward at the behest of Sport Ireland, and agreed to by the League of Ireland department, to “establish a panel of approved candidates” in order to provide “fairness, transparency, consistency, and robust oversight.”
Candidates wishing to be interviewed must initially apply to the League of Ireland department so they can be assessed as per the against agreed criteria and qualifications, with those successful then placed in the “eligibility pool.”
Clubs will then have autonomy of selection in the second phase of the process. The League of Ireland will not be required to sign off on any appointment so long as it has gone through that first phase.
Clubs have also been informed that each job must be formally advertised and that the specification for the roles must adhere to what the Department of Sport and Sport Ireland have approved.
Funding will be put in jeopardy if the approved process as all recruitment must be carried out in a compliance with public funding requirements.
So, the prospect of a club perhaps using this additional funding to bump up a first team player’s salary with a cushy number in one of these roles in the academy will not be tolerated as they would be blocked from even getting on the approved selection panel.
Clubs have also been told they will be given mandatory training on how to carry out the selection and interview processes in a compliant manner.
All of this illustrates the importance the League of Ireland is emphasising to clubs about ensuring the trust that has been built up over the last 18 months is not lost, and that those in Government can see that the money is being utilised in a proper manner.
This, sources say, is what will be vital to increased funding year or year to ensure that top end figure of €8 million per year will be reached on time as part of their ideal 12-year cycle of funding.
Essentially, all of this to ensure that the millions of euro in public money being distributed is done so in way that effectively doesn’t allow a “jobs for the boys scenario.”
Getting the right people in these positions to affect change and help sustain the environment needed to continually develop players is the be all and end all.
Indeed, The 42 can confirm that among a handful of conditions for funding eligibility is the “establishment and maintenance of a single, dedicated academy bank account” as well as a Technical Board that must “support alignment across the club from a football perspective.”
Further to this, such is the emphasis on fairness across the board even the equipment that will be required for the athletic development element of each academy will be put out to tender to ensure standardisation of practice.
So, when those in other sports or business ask the FAI how they were able to get this funding over the line for its League of Ireland clubs, they can point to this level of commitment to transparency and professionalism as the cornerstone for what will hopefully become a watershed moment of change for the future of the game in this country.
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