In a landmark week for women’s football, Linfield getting hammered eight goals to nil in a European competition went mostly unnoticed.
But, for me, it evoked several memories. As a six-year-old travelling on a packed 60-seater bus, leaving Donegal and travelling to Windsor Park, Linfield’s stadium, for the autumn international against England. As a ten-year-old going to the Brandywell with my older brothers to see Derry City play Linfield, the old enemy who guaranteed a packed stadium.
Seduced into becoming a soccer fan but unblinded to the genesis and the implications of Linfield and Derry City getting trounced in their respective European competitions; Linfield beaten 8-1, Derry beaten 4-0.
Concurrent with those poor results, the Irish rugby team climbs to number one in the world by outplaying the might All Blacks and Kerry beats Galway in front of 82,000 supporters in the magnificent Croke Park stadium.
If you had been in Dublin and had time to walk down the street to Tolka Park, the home of Shelbourne, one of the best-known soccer clubs in Ireland, you would have your eyes opened.
A few years back I went to a match in Tolka Park, not long after I attended the famous Oval in east Belfast, the home to Glentoran Football Club. What those two stadia had in common was that both were museums to rust. I am sure both have since had a lick of paint since the two distinct leagues they play in have experienced a bit of a boost in supporter attendance, probably an antidote to Covid. But rust wouldn’t be the nadir of soccer stadia on this island, the toilets at Finn Harps in Ballybofey will take that prize every day.
Soccer in the south is full time professional while in the north it is a mixed bag; four or five clubs full time, the rest part time. A few clubs, Linfield, Shamrock Rovers, maybe Dundalk, would have a few pounds in the bank, some would be financed by benefactors and the rest would financially struggle to stay afloat from year to year.
Calling soccer in Ireland an elite sport might be stretching it. Not that the elite thing is without its problems. I recently sat in the cheaper seats in Manchester United’s Old Trafford, amazed at the prices the normal people were paying to keep the pampered players on the pitch in the luxury they don’t deserve. I vowed not to return too often.
UEFA, the governing body and the cash cow that keeps the game, both north and south, from completely sinking under the waves, gave something like £70,000 pounds to a study about the future of both leagues in Ireland. The central recommendation that came from the study was that both leagues should keep their structure and the bulk of their fixtures and a restricted all island league added. The study provided an analysis of the financial benefits that would accrue to all the clubs, the poorer ones as well as the less poor. It pointed a way to keep the leagues viable and hopefully improve the standard.
Before the ink was dry the governing body in the north, the IFA, rejected the report and its recommendations. Before the clubs or the fans could get a word out of their mouths, the hierarchy had rejected the whole report.
Historically, the hierarchy in both leagues acquire their positions mostly by garnering the votes of junior clubs who have the same voting powers as Linfield or Shamrock Rovers. The manipulation of that process led to the FAI (the south) accumulating debts of £63 million and having to be bailed out by the Irish government and UEFA.
Matters never got to that outlandish state in the north but the rejection of the UEFA backed report ensures that we continue to feed off the crumbs that fall from the tables of others and more 8-1 hammerings.
