The Real Truth About Irish Football

There will be much discussion regarding the fate of Irish football after our recent draw with Scotland. As always the debate will focus on Martin O’Neill and his team selection, and the tactics employed to try an overcome what is after all a very average Scottish side. Actually when one thinks of the five "home" nations England are much better than Scotland, yet they were dismal in the last World cup so there is always a question mark about them and their true ability compared with the worlds top teams. Northern Ireland and Wales are punching above their weight. In the case of Wales they are greatly assisted by the much maligned [fashionable stuff] Gareth Bale who is every inch a class act so much so that he can mobilise his journeymen teammates to achieve greatness, and in the case of the North they have Michael O' Neill a giant killer with the David versus Goliath syndrome who without any real star manages to induce players like Kyle Lafferty to play out of his skin and grind out results.

Us well we could spend hours discussing O’ Neill and Keane and what they have done and not done since taking on their roles, but in fairness to them the damage was done to Irish football well before they took over at the helm. To understand what is wrong with Irish football one has to hold a mirror up to Irish society and the way this country has developed both socially, politically and culturally over the last twenty years in particular. We have as a people slavishly followed the doctrine of unregulated capitalism and we along with most European economies have become disciples of neoliberalism.

What’s that got to do with football—a great many things really but perhaps we are worse off than our European counterparts in that football wise we were always at a disadvantage anyhow.
One might think that competition from GAA, Rugby, & other sports puts soccer in the halfpenny place but not so, the problem with Irish football is in that we don’t have and never had an industry. Whether this was by design or an accidental fall out from when the two main associations split I don’t really know, but it is safe to say that a football industry was never created here.

So many years ago or brightest talent went across the water to ply their trade amongst our colonial masters. This in turn led to the idolisation of clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal etc. We had our heyday when Arsenal boasted the likes of Brady, Stapleton, & O’ Leary, and also two Northern Ireland fullbacks. The Irish were now set firmly within the traditions of England’s top league. But all of that was to change with the arrival of the Premier league and the Champions league. Big money bought into the game not only were big clubs effectively bought by millionaires but the premier league itself was bought by Sky television.

Now let’s examine the FAI. John Delaney said recently that he loved Irish football and the Irish international team. This from a man who earns in the region of €300.000 per year. The champions of the league of Ireland get €100,000 says it all I am afraid this love affair is a little one sided. The FAI look upon the Irish football team as a product. Their product filled Lansdowne road and now the Aviva with Croke Park thrown inbetween.

The product to give the Premier league barstool brigades multiple opportunities to see their TV heroes, and not only that but mixing them up, the masters of Old Trafford with those of Anfield throw in a few more well know names and put on a green jersey and you are sold out.

This was masterstroke stuff from Delaney whilst he set himself up as FAI emperor he became the great survivor. He survived roaming around Poland mixing with fans whilst looking very drunk--and now he deflects more mud as one remembers Paris & then a few years later the indignant Estonians in the first leg play off as we all sat and watch the referee rob them.

But for a while Delaney's approach worked mainly due to the fact that Ireland had still the nucleus of top players playing at top clubs. But like the other "home" nations the prevalence of young players breaking through especially at the top clubs became less and less, and even now this has become only a trickle and is affecting the prospects of all five countries going forward.

Delaney has no plan B of course. Plan B would have to recognise the fact that top class Irish players playing for the premier elite is most likely a thing of the past. Save perhaps for someone willing to spend big money on the likes of Seamus Coleman who still has huge potential even if he was poor against Scotland. But where did Coleman come from, not through the schoolboy ranks of a top premier club but no he came from Sligo Rovers.

You see what Delaney can’t countenance is the replacing of his product. In order for Irish football to thrive we need to have a re-think. Money for investment in the domestic game has to be found and invested with government assistance if required.

One notes the five million they screwed out of FIFA went into the bricks and mortar to help guarantee the continuation of the FAI’S premier league product. Remember these are the zealots that brought us Eircom Jim adverts over replays of the action in the first leg play off against France for the Sth Africa World cup, like you couldn’t make it up.

This is one of the reasons the FAI won’t invest in our own domestic league because if any of our domestic players made the Ireland team a great deal of the sixty thousand in the AVIVA wouldn’t know who they were. That’s no way to sell a product John.


But when this management team fail and they will barring a miracle, we might have to thread more carefully in the corporate world of football, and go for an altogether modest management team. This predication is based on our continuing reliance on players from the championship for now and maybe lower in the future. That’s not a great crowd puller John? The fickle fans will jump from the sinking ship to pack the pubs and watch their beloved premier league.

Last Saturday we had a goalkeeper who sadly should have stayed retired from international football. We had two players from Everton, one from near relegated Sunderland, three players from survival hopefuls Stoke city, a left back from relegated Hull, a player from Norwich just promoted, and a championship hopeful from Derby. All this was finished off by veteran centre forward from Ipswich. Hardly world beaters John, and let’s remember that Ireland were the only team in Euro 2012 that had no domestic player in the squad.

The writing is on the wall John your corporate premier league product is melting. The days of blood and guts and average crowds but real Irish soccer fans are just around the corner.