Not the only club in the region doing this, albeit with smaller money that's above minimum wage
I know signing former pro players on amateur contracts isn't breaking the rules per se but it's questionable enough to warrant the FAI investigating before granting them a FD licence. Looks like Courell's talk of tightening financial checks after the Dundalk licencing loophole hasn't been backed by enforcement...
Was it a loophole or just a half baked job done by the licencing committee -they'd call it a loophole before theyd admit that they just didnt check things out. There are plenty of issues with enforcement of existing rules loopholes and all oer the years. My favourite is that plans for stadium development are sufficient to not meet ground requirements.
Haha exactly. The 'loophole' being that the FAI only check a club's finances once before awarding the licence. And they had no process in place if a club was sold before the start of the season but after a licence was awarded. And despite it happening in 2023, no-one from the FAI spoke up or followed up until the end of the season when Dundalk looked like they were in serious trouble.
Not sure I follow you on the last point though - is this a club who was awarded a licence based off of stadium plans that wouldn't meet the minimum requirements, even if they were implemented?
Basically yes. If a club has just plans for a new development then a licence is awarded even if the current ground doesnt meet licencing requirements (Im not talking about a club with nothing but a pitch). United Park is probably the best example and one that has recieved derrogations for the longest as there has been one new ground or pie in the sky park or another in the works for a could of decades. Oriel is a kip but believe it of not meets most of the requirements so why I have not picked on my own beautiful kip! Finn Park might be another but I dont think it misses as much as United Park especially on the important issues like exits, evacuation times, away fans not having to walk across the pitch to exit, to floodlights and pitch perimeter wall being almost on the touchline so H+S issue for players etc.
I dont know whether its been good or bad, it could have driven clubs out of the league or out of business if applied strictly, but certainly in Dundalk's case stricter application of licencing on Oriel may have forced a new stand or extension of the main stand by now after European earnings and not missed grant applications over the years from 2016. If not going to a greenfield site most grounds would be exposed to the planning process from which they'd have previously been exempt - so try to build a new stand in Oriel, not changing capacity, but then traffic management comes in to play and it gets messy as where Oriel, UP, and many other grounds are traffic congestion is an issue match night, people parking on footpaths, local residents objecting to plans etc. One Drogheda plan was objected to by the NRA as parking would have happened on the on/off ramp and hard shoulder of the M1. Too much info for the question asked but another example of why there are no straight lines in LoI!!
Ah yes, I'm with you I just didn't follow your last sentence. I thought you might have been alluding to a specific incident - such as the infamous GUFC stand incident that cost Dundalk that promotion back in 2007.
It's a fair point about preventing criteria becoming too strict that they potentially force clubs out of the league when we don't have enough clubs to replace them with. But I really don't think we're in danger of being too strict when it comes to the League of Ireland! If anything, we're too lax meaning stuff like Dundalk's situation last year goes unnoticed. And without relegation, there's no where to fall.
However, it also means there's no external threat which should in theory make it easier to set basic standards, like requiring national youth teams. If you compare our stadium criteria with the NIPL's most of our clubs (PD & FD) would probably meet the NIPL standards (bar the toilet requirements) but none of them outside Shamrock Rovers meet our own the PD standards.
I just find it pointless that our league sets criteria for Fifa category 1 & 2 stadiums, which is currently impossible for almost every club to meet. It doesn't seem too hard to introduce lower, more achievable criteria that would still improve things over time, albeit slowly. Being stricter could simply mean adding spending caps to the club until the short-term plans are implemented (and credit to Shelbourne who did appear to have made some H&S to their main stand this year).
That damn fancy DVD arranged by one of the greatest fraudsters of all time!! Might get over it one day...
There is definitely argument to have attainable minimum standards. What I would like to see now under the changed attitude of Dept of Sport and with the new cool LoI is the current minimums being presented to Govt. for planned and leaguewide funding. In a manner where joint tenders could minimise cost if it was possible. Yup f...ing toilets, crazy that its such a common non complance issue. You would think that with no relegation risk from senior football that it would have allowed for greater facilities development but as a league we just iflated wages in a shortsighted arms race for decades but its also created a competative league where teams have their day but few ever completely dominate ala Scotland.
I guess as much as I complain about facilities I should be grateful we now promote based on meritocracy and not solely on how big your stand is!
Haha hats off to you Nesta, you're thinking bigger than me. That's a good solution alright; get the government to fund minimum standards across multiple clubs at once! The money is earmarked for a specific, measurable target so it can't get redirected elsewhere and if it does, it makes the whole league look bad and puts future funding in jeopardy, hopefully keeping every club honest.
I'm not sure if I agree that the inflated wages has prevented a Celtic/Rangers style domination of the league (more a temporary domination by clubs until they implode) but I am thankful how competitive the PD is. To bring this back on topic, let's just hope that if there are suspicious things happening behind the scenes in Athlone, they get stopped before they negatively impact the club.
Shouldnt be in the country without a visa if one is needed. Can you register and play football if its for 'recreation' avoiding work permits?
Seems like she was on a student visa which I wouldn't have thought was a problem in an predominately amateur league. But the claim is that Athlone are now applying for a work visa which would require paying her at least €770 a week for the year. Can Athlone afford that?
Originally Posted by Elfman
Surely that can't be right? Minimum wage would meet the requirements, presumably.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
True, it might be bull - the Twitter account said the visa required a minimum salary of 40k per year so I just cacluated the weekly amount.
According to the General Employment Visa requirements, the minimum salary is €34k per year but Sports and Fitness jobs are not eligible for this so it could well be a different visa they're on about:
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/e.../work-permits/
Is there a market for womens player sales out of LoI? Or is this a longer term thing where naturalisation is the gateway to EU/UK clubs for an agent to make money on free transfers. Its long and risky investment. Maybe the are just trying to improve the squad with cheap foreign talent!!
I've believe with LOI US/Canadian imports both men and women there is a mixture of student, other full-time employment who have visas and holders of Irish passports. I think some on the Shels women's team may have been studying they usually move on after a season or two. I don't see any LOI team hitting it lucky with any US/Canadian import flogging them off to Europe for a big transfer fee they would have ended up in MLS or NWSL if they had shown signs of that talent level through their systems, that's why the Athlone/Valeo thing made no financial sense anyone decent like Pierrot or Hickey will be off to a bigger LOI team or off elsewhere in Europe after becoming a free agent
The Athlone women's refusals is crazy if any of them had recently graduated Athlone would have known if they did not secure a full-time job with a work permit that they would be ineligible to be registered play LOI and 'LOI footballer' is certainly not on the critical skills occupation list if Athlone are thinking about to paying anyone €38k+ to play in the LOI Women's Premier Division while JR Wilson, Dean Williams, Kailin Barlow, Declan McDaid etc. are hilariously rumoured to be on amateur terms!
The Leinster Senior League needs a strong Bohemians
I am missing something here? It sounds like Athlone are spending more on there womens adult team, than there mens adult team. Cant imagine any Athlone mens first team player earning 30k pa.
It doesn't appear you are missing anything, per below IT article quotes from their club secretary Athlone have signed four US players to their women's team on professional contracts and in one case they have received a work permit
The 'Critical Skills Employment Permits' list certainly does not include anything for professional sports athletes but from the 'General Employment Permit' and the 'Ineligible List of Occupations for employment permits' list I can't see anything that excludes professional sports athletes so I am assuming all four will have to qualify for the 'General Employment Permit' thus all four if approved will have to be paid a minimum salary of 34k (!)
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...layer-permits/
Athlone did, though, have to make do without three of their American players due to work permit issues when they opened the defence of their title with a 2-0 win over Wexford on Saturday – the hugely influential Madie Gibson and new recruits Natalie McNally and Katherine Sullivan.
“Athlone Town have signed four players on professional contracts that require work permits,” club secretary David Dully explained. “So far, we have received one permit and are still awaiting the remaining three to be issued.
“Contrary to some reports, the FAI is not refusing to register the players. Registration can only be completed once the necessary work permits are in place, and the FAI have supported the club’s application process.”
“Last season we required a work permit for Brenda Tabe and it took months to complete the process before we could finalise her registration and she could play for the club. We are hopeful that this application process will be complete this week.”
Last edited by total hoofball; 12/03/2025 at 5:53 PM.
The Leinster Senior League needs a strong Bohemians
I'm afraid I took the Sports and Fitness jobs (SOC-3, 344) that I referenced above from the very same "Ineligible List of Occupations for employment permits" so I doubt it.
Always possible they've found a way around it but initial impressions wouldn't be great.
Dan McDonnell reporting Athlone about to be taken over by some Canadian business man and they want Ruairi Higgins to take the job
Undermining the current stup even if under performing. Even if a new owner came in and appointed a new manager tomorrow they are limited to an existing squad, Higgins does the 'my squad' so that'd take 2 transfer windows really. He'd be dropping a level so would have to be a longer term project. Name dropping a high profile manager sound like a bit of a sweetner right now and a bit like Waterford, where is the benefit to a new owner unless its foundations up project. Its not like its the otlet for North American based players, men or women that the current or prior owners seemed to think!? All active interest interest in the league, especially outside the existing powerhouses is to be welcomed if due process is followed and committment is shown.... and fans not showing impatience at billionaire owners for short term dips under slighly unhinged chairmen that would move on so deep pockets walk on as requested to do. Wonder if the Dundalk owner is open to a takeover or is there some ego there too.
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