CONTINUED:
The point is, at some stage over the next couple of years, an Irish team will get lucky with the draw, avoid a massive giant, and grab a place in the group stage of a European competition. Most observers reckon that it will happen in the next five years or so, although with the progress being made, it could well happen in half that time. No one for a moment is denying the gulf in quality between the Eircom league and the top European ones, but the right combination of a good draw, complacency on an opponent’s part, and a little luck could produce a major upset. Derry and Shelbourne will both be seeded for their ties next season. The league has gone from 39th out of 42 in Europe, to 31st. The standings and seeding systems are worked out over a five year period, so the league is still only really competing on the basis of a 60% ranking process. (Results really were that bad prior to the change.) Two more years, and the upper 20’s are a distinct possibility if progress continues.
As for stadiums, many are in a ridiculous state of repair, but even that is being looked at. At least 4 clubs will have new stadiums within the next few years; Bohemians, Athlone Town, Shamrock Rovers and UCD. Drogheda United, Derry City, Finn harps and Shelbourne are at the planning stages, while a number of grounds are already being refurbished and developed in Cork, Galway, Dundalk, Waterford, Sligo and Monaghan. The 22 teams that comprise the Premier and First divisions will all be part of a brand spanking new league next year, with teams chosen on the basis of a number of factors including, among others, results, financial infrastructure, fan base, stadium conditions; the strongest clubs with the most potential will make up the new 12 team Premier Division.
RTE has started showing 21 league matches live per season: that’s up from 5 the previous season. Prize money has doubled, 25,000 came to the FAI Cup final at Lansdowne Road last season, and the new Setanta Cup that has incorporated Northern and Southern teams is creating a countrywide buzz, and perhaps shown the way forward for football in Ireland. The Irish League (that’s the Northern version, remember) is in even worse trouble that it’s Southern counterpart and it looks like the only way for each league to progress in the long run is in an All-Ireland league. That presents its own difficulties but the headway made by the Setanta Cup in the last two years has given hope that the whole of Ireland will have one league in 5 or 6 years time (Derry City play in the Southern League for reasons too complex to go into here).
The main problem the league faces is ignorance. The lack of promotion by Eircom and the FAI have created a situation where people don’t even know the league exists or see no reason to go. We have Irish people who are so proud to be Irish that they’ll support a team in Scotland, rather than the team at the end of their road.
It’s infuriating for LOI fans to see an Irish person ‘supporting’ a club from a drab town in England they’ve never been to, or could even place on a map. The guy from Drogheda wearing the latest Newcastle top, the misguided individual proud to be from the ‘Rebel County,’ sporting his Arsenal shirt. It’s not even their fault entirely; the league should shoulder much of the blame, but hopefully next years changes to it and the progress being made on the field will result in more people sitting up and taking an interest.
The press too, constrained though they may be by readership, should try and increase their reportage on the league. It was notable that Derry’s defeat of Gretna FC appeared on every back page in Scotland and some in England, and got mainly footnotes in the Irish press. A few weeks ago, Celtic and Manchester United both lost games in the CL. One Irish broadsheet announced helpfully on their front page; ‘Bad night for the home clubs in Europe.’ The league badly needs some kind of help in advertising it’s product on their back pages instead of always being squeezed in below the cross-channel results; surely there’s enough coverage of them in other papers if you really want it. Then again, in a country where the Taoiseach daily pronounces his love for a certain Manchester club, it’s not surprising.
One can only hope. It’s a long, hard road and things aren’t going to improve overnight. All the players themselves can do is keep playing to the best of their ability and hope that the better the league is, the better the results in Europe are, and the more coverage the league as a whole gets. Just don’t do a complete double take if you see the names of Shelbourne, Drogheda, or Bohemians nestled next to Celtic, Real Madrid, Lyon or Arsenal in the CL group stages sometime soon- they’re really not as far from it as you might think.
The FAI Carlsberg Cup Final between Derry City and St. Patrick’s Athletic takes place at Lansdowne Road, Sunday 3rd December, kick off 3:15pm
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