THE FAI HAVE confirmed the contentious July start date for the national U14 leagues. 

The U14 league begins at the later date of Saturday, 2 July while the U15, U17, and U19 leagues on the week ending Sunday, 6 March. 

The FAI board voted last December to delay the start of the U14 league, reportedly to avoid the recurring situation in which younger players leave their schoolboy clubs mid-season to join an underage league side. 

Shamrock Rovers strongly condemned the move, saying they are “astounded” by the decision, saying “children aged 13/14 are being obstructed in developing their talent by a completely random, ill-thought-out decision made by the FAI Board.” 

The change has exposed tensions between schoolboy clubs and the academy sides competing in the national underage leagues. In a statement to the Echo newspaper earlier this week, the Cork Schoolboys League Secretary Eddie Doyle condemned Cork City and Cobh Ramblers for recruiting players this month in spite of the later start date. 

He wrote that the recruiting of players was “destroying the teams and the competition they played in, and denying players the opportunity to play in the most famous of all schoolboys competitions in Ireland, the Kennedy Cup”, blasting the two clubs’ for supposedly acting “despicably towards schoolboys clubs in Cork.”

Meanwhile, there have been some other tweaks to the underage leagues ahead of this season. Some overage players will be allowed to play in the U19 league, the FAI rationalising it so that “senior players returning from injury or in need of game-time can take part.”

A ramification of the change in start date means U14 sides have fewer guaranteed matches than at other age-levels: a minimum of 13 leagues games, as opposed to 27 games at U19 level, and 24 at U17 and U15 level. 

Also, a limited number of players who are U15 will be allowed to play in the U14 League, and those who are U16 will be allowed to play in the U15 League, in a move designed to provide more opportunities for players.

Players in the U14 and U15 league will now also be guaranteed a minimum of 30 minutes playing time where matches will be 90 minutes, split into three, 30-minute periods.

“We are delighted to announce some, new exciting, progressive changes ahead of the upcoming 2022 EA SPORTS National Underage League season and we are confident that these changes will improve the development experience of our young players”, said the FAI’s League of Ireland Academy Director, Will Clarke. “Last season was a resounding success and we want to build on that progress.”

The full fixture list and the competition formats are available here.

Elsewhere today, the FAI have confirmed all 20 League of Ireland senior clubs have been granted licences for the 2022 season. Athlone Town, Bohemians, Derry City, Drogheda United, Dundalk, Finn Harps, Galway United, Longford Town, St. Patrick’s Athletic, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, Sligo Rovers, Waterford FC, and UCD have been granted Premier Division licences, while Bray Wanderers, Cork City, Cobh Ramblers, Treaty United,  and Wexford have been awarded a First Division licence.