Attendees pictured (from left) Double Pass duo Hans Vander Elst and Jelle Van Camp, with League of Ireland director Mark Scanlon and Academy development manager Will Clarke. Tyler Miller/SPORTSFILE
Soccer
'If we don’t take a long-term approach now we will never fix it' - FAI on funding for player development
Audit of academies throughout the country lays bare challenges ahead of submissions to Government.
THE FAI INSIST the time for short-term fixes that simply paper over the cracks for player development in Irish football are over.
At the launch of a report from the independent auditors Double Pass, that was funded by the Department of Sport, all 26 academies at National League level were assessed with a raft of detailed findings and recommendations put forward.
The FAI met with Government officials last week, with another meeting due early next month before they submit their pre-Budget submission ahead of what they hope will be the commitment of funds in October.
Will Clarke, the LOI Academy Development Manager, admitted their thinking had “evolved” due to the findings and stressed the need for the association to build trust that any money provided by the State would be used effectively.
Among a list of sobering benchmarks with countries ranked 51-100 by FIFA, League of Ireland clubs were lacking in several key areas;
Only 46% of LOI Clubs have a full-time Academy Director compared to 60% of Clubs in FIFA countries ranked 51-100
Only 4% of LOI Clubs have a full-time Head of Coaching compared to 46% of Clubs in FIFA countries ranked 51-100
0% of LOI Clubs have a minimum of 4 full-time Academy Coaches compared to 36% of Clubs in FIFA countries ranked 51-100.
contact time for academy training sessions is 2.9 per week compared to 4.1 a week
The FAI stated in April that their aim was for €8 million per year on a phased basis for League of Ireland academies with State support for an 11-year period and investment tapering off from 2030.
On a day when the FAI also announced a programme for voluntary redundancies, Clarke also admitted that “we don’t have any suitable facilities for young girls,” and that they are “not in a position right now for massive sums of money to just be thrown into the system,” as he stressed the importance of building trust to develop lasting and sustained change.
“We’ve always tried to fix the problems of Irish football with short term solutions. Now is basically the point where we say short-termism is finished with and we have to take a long-term approach because if we don’t take a long-term approach now we will never fix it,” Clarke said.
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“We will keep making decisions that might paper over the cracks. This is where have to look, we have to build the trust and confidence of all partners. The clubs, government, Sport Ireland, Fifa, Uefa, whoever it might be.
“There is a trust and confidence building exercise for us to do and we’d like to think we delivered this project on time, professionally and to a high standard.”
Hans Vander Elst, the senior partner and director of football at Double Pass who oversaw this four-month consultation, highlighted the need for a complete mentality shift and approach from League of Ireland clubs when it comes to formal and structured links between academy development and first-team.
In an emphatic assessment of the current state of play, Vander Elst described the lack of joined-up thinking between academies and senior level as “crazy” and said they now have momentum to affect real change in the Irish game.
And he also provided another sobering comparison for facilities in this country by declaring that Shamrock Rovers’ training ground was below the standard of a club in the Belgian fifth division.
“It’s very surprising, in your biggest clubs, people in first team, the manager, are not talking with academy. It’s crazy. Then we are expecting to develop players for the first team? But they don’t talk to each other. How can players go to the first team? It’s unbelievable. It’s the first thing, with owners, with CEOs, with technical directors, that we would say ‘eh, come on, what are you doing?
“In some countries (he saw this before), but as massively as here? No. I can say it very sincerely and straightforwardly that it’s too much manager-driven. Managers of the first team are deciding everything. OK, some are there a long time, some are there one year and out, but the connection with the academy is a big link and a big gap with a lot of clubs.
“How can we develop talent when this is not happening? When you have sporting directors, managers, academy director. When you have these profiles in place then you can build something. When you don’t have one of the three this is a problem.
“It’s easy for us to come here and say everything is bad. It’s not what we are doing, we are also bringing solutions, but I’ll give you another example, your best infrastructure here, some people are talking about Shamrock Rovers and top infrastructure. My son is playing in Belgium in fifth division, the infrastructure is better.”
It was at this point that Clarke weighed in on the matter when he was asked if the issues were worse than he thought. “We all have a fair idea of where we’re at but it’s good to be able to validate that independently.
“This gives us a framework to go forward, not just from an academy perspective but from a club perspective and a league perspective. Ultimately, if we are not aligned – that’s the league, clubs, internally within clubs, we’re going to struggle to maximise the potential.”
Vander Elst added: “It’s 100% about a mindset shift. We said to the clubs, you have momentum now. All other countries are evolving, you have Brexit so it’s very difficult for Irish talent, there is now a momentum that Government can give a kick start into the system with investing and then afterwards it should be self-sustainable.
“You can build something, but now is the moment. It needs investment, then processes and structures, education and these things put in place. Then it can be self sustainable.”
Among some of those solutions and recommendations was to establish a “quality assurance system to classify academies by development standards.”
This would help ensure any financial support would be correctly utilised as Clarke continued on the theme of ensuring investment was properly managed.
“We need to build this sustainably. This is a long-term thing. We need to build capacity within clubs, we need to digest what’s in the plan, what the recommendations are and pick out maybe the four or five things that we can achieve year on year, with all those stakeholders, and continue that process.
“Because we’re not in a position right now for massive sums of money to just be thrown into the system. We won’t be able to absorb it. We need to get it right. It’s more important that we do this properly then rush it and make a mess of it. That’s where we’re currently at.”
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'If we don’t take a long-term approach now we will never fix it' - FAI on funding for player development
THE FAI INSIST the time for short-term fixes that simply paper over the cracks for player development in Irish football are over.
At the launch of a report from the independent auditors Double Pass, that was funded by the Department of Sport, all 26 academies at National League level were assessed with a raft of detailed findings and recommendations put forward.
The FAI met with Government officials last week, with another meeting due early next month before they submit their pre-Budget submission ahead of what they hope will be the commitment of funds in October.
Will Clarke, the LOI Academy Development Manager, admitted their thinking had “evolved” due to the findings and stressed the need for the association to build trust that any money provided by the State would be used effectively.
Among a list of sobering benchmarks with countries ranked 51-100 by FIFA, League of Ireland clubs were lacking in several key areas;
The FAI stated in April that their aim was for €8 million per year on a phased basis for League of Ireland academies with State support for an 11-year period and investment tapering off from 2030.
On a day when the FAI also announced a programme for voluntary redundancies, Clarke also admitted that “we don’t have any suitable facilities for young girls,” and that they are “not in a position right now for massive sums of money to just be thrown into the system,” as he stressed the importance of building trust to develop lasting and sustained change.
“We’ve always tried to fix the problems of Irish football with short term solutions. Now is basically the point where we say short-termism is finished with and we have to take a long-term approach because if we don’t take a long-term approach now we will never fix it,” Clarke said.
“We will keep making decisions that might paper over the cracks. This is where have to look, we have to build the trust and confidence of all partners. The clubs, government, Sport Ireland, Fifa, Uefa, whoever it might be.
“There is a trust and confidence building exercise for us to do and we’d like to think we delivered this project on time, professionally and to a high standard.”
Hans Vander Elst, the senior partner and director of football at Double Pass who oversaw this four-month consultation, highlighted the need for a complete mentality shift and approach from League of Ireland clubs when it comes to formal and structured links between academy development and first-team.
In an emphatic assessment of the current state of play, Vander Elst described the lack of joined-up thinking between academies and senior level as “crazy” and said they now have momentum to affect real change in the Irish game.
And he also provided another sobering comparison for facilities in this country by declaring that Shamrock Rovers’ training ground was below the standard of a club in the Belgian fifth division.
“It’s very surprising, in your biggest clubs, people in first team, the manager, are not talking with academy. It’s crazy. Then we are expecting to develop players for the first team? But they don’t talk to each other. How can players go to the first team? It’s unbelievable. It’s the first thing, with owners, with CEOs, with technical directors, that we would say ‘eh, come on, what are you doing?
“In some countries (he saw this before), but as massively as here? No. I can say it very sincerely and straightforwardly that it’s too much manager-driven. Managers of the first team are deciding everything. OK, some are there a long time, some are there one year and out, but the connection with the academy is a big link and a big gap with a lot of clubs.
“How can we develop talent when this is not happening? When you have sporting directors, managers, academy director. When you have these profiles in place then you can build something. When you don’t have one of the three this is a problem.
“It’s easy for us to come here and say everything is bad. It’s not what we are doing, we are also bringing solutions, but I’ll give you another example, your best infrastructure here, some people are talking about Shamrock Rovers and top infrastructure. My son is playing in Belgium in fifth division, the infrastructure is better.”
It was at this point that Clarke weighed in on the matter when he was asked if the issues were worse than he thought. “We all have a fair idea of where we’re at but it’s good to be able to validate that independently.
“This gives us a framework to go forward, not just from an academy perspective but from a club perspective and a league perspective. Ultimately, if we are not aligned – that’s the league, clubs, internally within clubs, we’re going to struggle to maximise the potential.”
Vander Elst added: “It’s 100% about a mindset shift. We said to the clubs, you have momentum now. All other countries are evolving, you have Brexit so it’s very difficult for Irish talent, there is now a momentum that Government can give a kick start into the system with investing and then afterwards it should be self-sustainable.
“You can build something, but now is the moment. It needs investment, then processes and structures, education and these things put in place. Then it can be self sustainable.”
Among some of those solutions and recommendations was to establish a “quality assurance system to classify academies by development standards.”
This would help ensure any financial support would be correctly utilised as Clarke continued on the theme of ensuring investment was properly managed.
“We need to build this sustainably. This is a long-term thing. We need to build capacity within clubs, we need to digest what’s in the plan, what the recommendations are and pick out maybe the four or five things that we can achieve year on year, with all those stakeholders, and continue that process.
“Because we’re not in a position right now for massive sums of money to just be thrown into the system. We won’t be able to absorb it. We need to get it right. It’s more important that we do this properly then rush it and make a mess of it. That’s where we’re currently at.”
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