Sport

Brendan Crossan: An all-island football league is the way forward despite what the Irish FA say

going places Crusaders had a taste of the big time when they faced Wolves in this season’s Europa League.  The north Belfast club is one of the key backers of an all-island league, realising that a raising in standards would lead to big games on a more regular basis
going places Crusaders had a taste of the big time when they faced Wolves in this season’s Europa League. The north Belfast club is one of the key backers of an all-island league, realising that a raising in standards would lead to big games on a m going places Crusaders had a taste of the big time when they faced Wolves in this season’s Europa League. The north Belfast club is one of the key backers of an all-island league, realising that a raising in standards would lead to big games on a more regular basis

PRIOR to last season’s Irish Cup final between Crusaders and Ballinamallard United, I interviewed Declan Caddell at Seaview’s new clubrooms.

You were already sufficiently impressed with the glass-fronted building before stepping inside its swanky surroundings where all the Crusaders players mingled and had lunch together.

The team had just completed a light session: some passing drills, some video analysis, and a bit more detail about the strengths and weaknesses of Ballinamallard.

Even allowing for the heroic work of Harry McConkey, it was always going to be a huge ask of the 'Mallards to upset the Crues.

You just needed to look around the Seaview clubrooms to appreciate the vast difference in preparation between the two finalists.

While Sean O'Neill, Colin Coates, Rory Hale and Declan Caddell were tucking into lunch and ensuring they were hydrated for the next day's session, McConkey's players were probably all out working in the real world: teaching, digging holes, building walls, driving forklifts or working in offices.

Then they'd all try and beat the rush hour traffic to get to training on time.

In recent times, Crusaders Football Club has been making the transition between part-time to full-time.

Each season they’re getting stronger.

Rory Hale remarked that the Crues are stronger this season because they have greater numbers in the full-time ranks compared to last term.

A rising tide raises all boats. Well, when there's a will.

Linfield, Glentoran, Coleraine and Larne are all considering going full-time over the coming seasons.

Other clubs, while not full-time, have fitted in a third collective training session in a bid to keep pace with the likes of Crusaders and improve their own standards.

It’s a tough ask of players, especially if they have any sort of rush-hour commute.

Once upon a time, Irish League clubs regarded European football qualification as a bit of a pre-season jolly and some bonus money.

European football was viewed so casually that players and indeed some managers felt it okay to skip games because they clashed with their summer holidays.

That mindset has since changed because the windfall from Europe is now huge.

Clubs used to net, say, £80,000 for qualifying for Europe, half of which was probably spent on travel and accommodation for away games.

Now, European qualification can be worth £250,000 and upwards to clubs.

With that kind of money, clubs like Crusaders have decided to stay ahead of the game to ensure they are in receipt of such weighty cash windfalls on a yearly basis.

With that kind of money, you can plan for the future, put in motion ambitious business plans, attract more sponsors and build swanky new clubrooms that will ultimately pay for themselves.

The way things are going, a significant gap between the top four or five clubs and the rest is starting to emerge.

The clubs with the best business plans will be able to sustain their challenge.

In a couple of years' time, the top Irish League clubs will almost certainly feel they've outgrown the domestic ranks and that the next, instinctive step is to join forces with Shamrock Rovers, Derry City, Dundalk and Cork City.

It's not surprising Crusaders were (are) one of the main backers of the proposed all-island league, the brainchild of Kerry native and tech entrepreneur Kieran Lucid, until the Irish FA drove the idea into the hard shoulder yesterday with a quite scathing and deflating statement.

Lucid had been heading up an impressive consortium committed to raising football standards in Ireland.

All the research had been done, everything had been costed, with a six-figure TV broadcasting deal ready to kick into gear.

Big-name sponsors were apparently twiddling their thumbs, hoping for the green light from the movers and shakers of football either side of the border.

It was estimated the winners of the new all-island league would receive €800,000, dwarfing the prize money both north (£50,000) and south (€110,000), while the consortium's revenue projections were between €6m-€10m per year.

The all-island league consortium insisted the respective international teams - north and south - would remain untouched.

Understandably, the new all-island league idea had been met with scepticism in some quarters.

'Show me the money', has been the refrain of some clubs, even though Lucid had tried to allay these fears at a well-attended discussion in Dundalk last week and how their partners Hypercube - a Dutch sports consultancy firm - were assessing the new league's viability.

The audience was told Hypercube had extensive experience in devising structures for European football associations.

The all-island league's recently launched twitter account was selling the idea with enviable slickness too.

In one of its latest posts, a two-minute 20-second video, captioned 'The Football Wheel', it makes a persuasive pitch.

The narrator, with a northern accent, says: "The problem for football on both sides of the border is best explained by what we call the football wheel, which consists of four areas: public interest, finances, standards and success.

“The root of the problem for the game, north and south, is the low level of public interest in the domestic football by European standards, which has a knock-on effect in finances, standards and success..."

The video clip goes on to explain how the football wheel will only turn with the help of more public interest in the domestic game.

But scepticism appears to have won the day - for now, at least - with the Irish FA insisting Lucid's figures were "highly speculative" - isn't everything speculative? - and went on to cast doubt over European places, prize monies and youth solidarity funding if the all-island League became a reality.

The Irish FA's statement contained the painfully anodyne platitudes of how they would be "happy" to "enhance" cross-border cup competitions "at all levels".

Many local Irish League clubs feel that they would be left behind should a new cross-border league become a reality, while many local Irish League fans have been lukewarm towards the proposal.

Irish League standards have improved in recent seasons but really only at the top end.

For many of the thousands of football fans who flock to watch Manchester United, Liverpool, Rangers and Celtic on a weekly basis remain to be convinced about the climbing domestic standards.

Poor facilities don’t help local football’s reputation and its part-time mentality.

That's why this huge football supporter base that migrates to Britain on a weekly basis will never - or rarely - darken an Irish League turnstile.

Football north and south simply doesn’t have a broad enough appeal.

It has to ask itself why. A lack of investment would be top of everybody's list.

The local game will continue to trundle through the decades, convincing itself that it’s in reasonable health when in actual fact it could be doing so much better.

The inconvenient truth for local football enthusiasts is that the game has no vision here.

The Irish FA was far too eager to dismiss the all-island League idea and in yesterday's statement painted a utopia of its senior ranks which was hard to take seriously when you consider the paltry prize money on offer and poor facilities.

In time the governing body will almost certainly feel the wrath of those top Irish Premiership clubs who were keen to hear more about the new league and want to raise the bar.

Whether the Irish FA cares to admit it or not, an all-island league is a golden opportunity to re-imagine and re-invigorate the local game.