Originally Posted by BohDiddley
I thought about putting this in 'The Phrase That Pays' but it doesn’t really fit there. PTP is for the here and now, but this is a longer-term strategy.
We often read on this and other football MBs how wonderfully organized the GAA is. An important part of that organization is the connection between the local club/parish and county level.
Every kid who plays GAA knows the path to the top level, because the sport is run in a joined-up manner, and they aspire to progressing to play at Croke Park. It's the GAA way.
That doesn't happen in soccer. In the minds of children playing in the schoolboy leagues, the next step for them, in their dreams, is Lansdowne Road and Old Trafford, or even Madrid or Barcelona. For reasons that have been well-rehearsed here and elsewhere, most have no awareness of, loyalty to, or aspirations towards the top level of football in their own country.
I have seen schoolboy teams in which, out of a squad of up to 17 players, one or maybe two will go to EL matches. These kids are swimming against the tide: being an EL supporter, perversely, puts the child outside the loop, because all of their team-mates, and their managers, are in thrall to the ManU/Arsenal/AC/Real circus. Turning up in an EL shirt gives the child curiosity status, at best.
Some managers and coaches, who often have no experience of real football, will actually feel threatened by the presence of such a shirt, even in Size 10-12 Years, because, for them, the local link does not compute. They will generally talk about English teams and managers, and will actively disparage LoI teams, spouting the usual myopic prejudices, of which we have lately seen an outbreak among sports hacks. Parents join in. Kids, who are naturally competitive, boast about their Nike 90s, but also about their trips to Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford.
Schoolboy soccer in Ireland has grown enormously in recent years. It used to be unusual to play for a schoolboy club, but now every other kid is doing it. We have seen the FAI argue for more funding on the basis of its enormous strength in numbers. But as yet the senior game is not benefiting from this growth as it should. That's because, although the numbers have changed, the old culture remains.
I propose a determined, long-term programme to promote EL football in kids' dressing rooms and clubhouses, to complement schemes like Kids Go Free. I think such a programme could be easily designed and implemented based on local networks and a few volunteers. For example, it wouldn't be hard to offer schoolboy teams special outings to EL matches, maybe even to meet one or two players. No doubt, some clubs already have schemes like this, and have links to various junior clubs, and the FAI summer schools already do their bit, but I think the key is that it is run and sustained on a national level, with high profile and a high awareness.
At a minimum, every schoolboy player walking into the clubhouse should see an EL poster advertising the next local game. EL should be part of the furniture at kids level. Ideally, every kid who plays soccer in Ireland should get to see the game played at its highest level -- in Ireland.
A campaign like this would bring rewards in the long run, in terms of engaging youngsters in a way that lets them see a real progression from where they are to professional players in Ireland. And, in the short term, it might drag some of the managers and barstooling oul' lads along, kicking and screaming, until they find themselves pleasantly surprised.
Of course, there will be the usual objections and doubts: IFA or League or club incompetence and inertia; media bias; or the sheer hopelessness of trying to take on Sky, RTE and the E. Prem.
But this is a way around those obstacles, because we are dealing with football players, already playing their game in Ireland. Imagine an Irish soccer scene in which every schoolboy player wanted to play for Bohs or Rovers, Cork or Shels, or whoever they identified with in the Premier or First Divisions. Is this really unachievable?
