It’s time to be more bullish when a fellow Irish person asks you the inevitable, “no, who do you really support?” after you’ve surprised them with your loyalty to an Irish side.
It’s time to be more dismissive when someone who’s never bothered their backside going to a League of Ireland game tells you our league, players, stadia or fans are shite.
It’s time to take pride in the fact that our little piece of the globe’s biggest sport is helping to deliver memories like Wednesday night’s — despite it being imperfect, occasionally dysfunctional, poorly supported and woefully financed.
It’s time to recognise – no, it’s time to brag – that the League of Ireland is of fundamental importance in the development of senior international players who will grace the pitches of World Cup and European Championship tournaments.
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We’ve already proven it’s the case; seven of the players who featured in what was arguably our greatest tournament victory played at Shelbourne, Derry City, Cork City, St. Pats, Waterford United, Bohemian FC and were captained by a player who started out at Sligo Rovers.
’129 years of bringing football to a community’
It’s time to let others know what we’re missing.
It’s time for me to shout about it, for you to shout about it; time for our clubs and most importantly our national association to recognise it, shout about it and invest in it. The days of expecting academies in the lower leagues in England to bring Irish 16 year olds up to international standard are gone.
We’re far from perfect and we’ve a way to go. While we are gearing up for a massive game against France on Sunday, fans of Athlone Town are gearing up for a meeting in the hopes they can save their club, the oldest club in the league with 129 years of history to look back on.
129 years of bringing football to a community, of bringing AC Milan to St. Mel’s park and drawing with them. 129 years of great days that are worth so much to their supporters that the recent bad days have galvanised them into action.
It’s time to recognise that our great days outnumber the bad, that our rivalries and friendships and memories formed across terraces from Derry to Cork, Galway to Dublin are worth multiples of anything we could experience watching a game on TV. It’s time to start believing that we shouldn’t let our kids grow up believing that football is a TV show.
It’s time to recognise that while we are small in number but we are everywhere. We have a President who’s a Galway United fan for Christ’s sake. He’s been to practically every League of Ireland ground on an official visit while he’s held that office. I ran into him one night in the bar in Bohs while he waxed lyrical – as only he can – about his memories of Dalymount.
Mike Shaughnessy / INPHO
Mike Shaughnessy / INPHO / INPHO
It’s also time to recognise where we’re failing and do something about it. Make no mistake, the league has serious issues that need to be tackled. But the first thing, the most important thing, is to get people to realise that they are problems that are worth tackling.
It’s time to stop with the reports that are never going to be actioned, time to stop with chopping and changing structures that have absolutely zero impact on whether a family will enjoy an evening at a football game.
It’s time for action. Our value has never been more obvious, our issues have never been more critical. Seven graduates of our league – half of the number of players used – took Italy apart this week, in what was one of our greatest footballing experiences. Those graduates helped earn an additional €2.5 million in prize money for the FAI.
Put half of it into the league in an intelligent way, and last Wednesday won’t be a once-off.
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Column: 'We shouldn’t let our kids grow up believing that football is a TV show'
IT’S TIME FOR a change.
It’s time to be more bullish when a fellow Irish person asks you the inevitable, “no, who do you really support?” after you’ve surprised them with your loyalty to an Irish side.
It’s time to be more dismissive when someone who’s never bothered their backside going to a League of Ireland game tells you our league, players, stadia or fans are shite.
It’s time to take pride in the fact that our little piece of the globe’s biggest sport is helping to deliver memories like Wednesday night’s — despite it being imperfect, occasionally dysfunctional, poorly supported and woefully financed.
It’s time to recognise – no, it’s time to brag – that the League of Ireland is of fundamental importance in the development of senior international players who will grace the pitches of World Cup and European Championship tournaments.
We’ve already proven it’s the case; seven of the players who featured in what was arguably our greatest tournament victory played at Shelbourne, Derry City, Cork City, St. Pats, Waterford United, Bohemian FC and were captained by a player who started out at Sligo Rovers.
’129 years of bringing football to a community’
It’s time to let others know what we’re missing.
It’s time for me to shout about it, for you to shout about it; time for our clubs and most importantly our national association to recognise it, shout about it and invest in it. The days of expecting academies in the lower leagues in England to bring Irish 16 year olds up to international standard are gone.
We’re far from perfect and we’ve a way to go. While we are gearing up for a massive game against France on Sunday, fans of Athlone Town are gearing up for a meeting in the hopes they can save their club, the oldest club in the league with 129 years of history to look back on.
It’s time to recognise that our great days outnumber the bad, that our rivalries and friendships and memories formed across terraces from Derry to Cork, Galway to Dublin are worth multiples of anything we could experience watching a game on TV. It’s time to start believing that we shouldn’t let our kids grow up believing that football is a TV show.
It’s time to recognise that while we are small in number but we are everywhere. We have a President who’s a Galway United fan for Christ’s sake. He’s been to practically every League of Ireland ground on an official visit while he’s held that office. I ran into him one night in the bar in Bohs while he waxed lyrical – as only he can – about his memories of Dalymount.
It’s also time to recognise where we’re failing and do something about it. Make no mistake, the league has serious issues that need to be tackled. But the first thing, the most important thing, is to get people to realise that they are problems that are worth tackling.
It’s time to stop with the reports that are never going to be actioned, time to stop with chopping and changing structures that have absolutely zero impact on whether a family will enjoy an evening at a football game.
It’s time for action. Our value has never been more obvious, our issues have never been more critical. Seven graduates of our league – half of the number of players used – took Italy apart this week, in what was one of our greatest footballing experiences. Those graduates helped earn an additional €2.5 million in prize money for the FAI.
Put half of it into the league in an intelligent way, and last Wednesday won’t be a once-off.
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