All Ireland league may bring brighter future
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IT appears as though the repeated assertions this time last year that domestic football was at a crossroads were wide of the mark. Only now, 12months on, do the seriously big decisions now lie on the horizon.
There's a certain irony to the fact that bringing the 22 eircom League clubs under the umbrella of the FAI has merely succeeded in strengthening their relationships with each other rather than accentuating their position beneath the new authorities.
Essentially, the rank and file have found a shared affinity in their unhappiness with the governance of the new league run under the auspices of the FAI. The headings under which they are unhappy are wide ranging.
At the top end of the scale, the Premier Division clubs are unhappy with the impending wage cap which decrees that from 2008 onwards only 65pc of a club's turnover can be spent on player salaries.
This has angered some of the bigger spending clubs who believe that it is putting a limit on investment and potentially stunting the growth of those operations with ambitions of moving to the next level.
More pertinently, some believe that it will encourage a system where players receive a portion of their regular income in a brown envelope so as to avoid running it through the books, although the tax incentives available to professional footballers these days would make such a suggestion unattractive to them.
Meanwhile, clubs at the lower end of the scale are unsatisfied with what they perceive as an overly harsh and uncompromising ruling body that hand out fines for what they feel to be relatively minor indiscretions.
With all these decisions being implemented and justified as part of the Participation Agreement signed by the 22 clubs last year, there is now a unified stance that pressure should be applied on the FAI to ensure that the agreement is re-drafted.
"It has not proved to be what we expected it to be," said another source. "We had no option but to sign it at the time, there was no alternative available to us."
Elite
Yet for those elite clubs who originally met to discuss the wage cap in October, developments have accelerated to a different level. Essentially, they are well on their way to finding their own alternative.
The prospect of an All Ireland league has been consistently mooted at intermittent periods in recent years but it has always been viewed as an impossible dream due to political and logistical hurdles.
With the introduction of the Setanta Sports Cup, co-operation and understanding between interested parties North and South has grown and it is from such origins that the latest momentum has come from.
Crucially, those behind the venture believe that UEFA and FIFA, in addition to the governments either side of the border, will be willing to support the introduction of a new superleague on the basis that it would be 'breaking barriers.'
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has already gone on record in his desire for the establishment of an All Ireland League. Ultimately, though, they accept that the project has little chance without the backing of the FAI and the IFA.
Firstly, it is the two associations who hold the power when it comes to distributing European places. And, secondly, there are elements within FIFA who would argue that if their leagues are united then the international team should go the same way and that opens an entirely different can of worms.
But those stakeholders involved in discussions are keen to avoid that ultimatum being made. Early plans envisaged that the new All Ireland League would comprise twelve teams with regional leagues underneath while both the FAI Cup and IFA Cup would remain in situ thus retaining a degree of historical tradition.
Those ideas are not set in stone, though, with the only firm issue of agreement being that any club wishing to be in the top league should be a full time professional outfit with suitable facilities.
Those clubs in the North that have participated in secret talks naturally include big guns like Linfield and Glentoran but there are also surprise packages such as Newry City who have ambitious plans about their future which they also expect to announce early next year.
And it's within that timeframe when the real substance behind the All Ireland project should come to the fore. Naturally, there is reluctance from everyone involved to show their hand at this stage while they bid to put the finishing touches to what has emerged from their considerable negotiations. In the New Year, they aim to have something tangible to present to the wider world.
At the embryonic stage, it was the clubs themselves that were driving it forward but their contribution has been superseded by third parties who they now believe can push it through effectively after recognising the potential.
What they must achieve is the presentation of a plan that will convince the power wielders in the FAI and the IFA that it deserves their support. Or, in other terms, back them into a corner whereby the country's leading clubs are threatening mutiny unless this avenue is explored.
Even in cynical corners, there is anticipation that the climate and the expertise now exists to deliver a vision that will be capable of overcoming those afore mentioned hurdles. And bring us to a crossroads where one way genuinely points to the likelihood of a bright new dawn.
- Daniel McDonnell
