Business of Sport: May 1st is a significant date for being the deadline for online applicants to the CAO. For sports-minded students, more and more sports scholarships are becoming available at third level.
Colleges are becoming aware of the benefits of having elite athletes on campus, the attendant publicity and glory that comes from on-pitch success increases the standing of colleges in an already crowded market and, to this end, the choice for students is getting better all the time.
In Dublin, sports scholarships were first introduced at UCD in 1979 by the soccer club under the direction of the late Dr Tony O'Neill.
Following the appointment of Dr O'Neill as director of sport at UCD, the scheme was expanded to include other sports such as athletics, camogie, Gaelic football, rowing and rugby, but the success of its League of Ireland team in recent times has been perhaps the most high profile of any scholarship scheme.
Across the country, sports scholarships are widely available, from UCC - where Peter Stringer and Frankie Sheehan were recipients - Waterford IT, which had Tipperary All Star Declan Browne, to NUI Galway, who had Westmeath's Dessie Dolan.
It is estimated that about 400 third-level sports scholarships will be awarded for the coming year, which in financial terms range from 1,200 to 2,000 per annum. Competitions like the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson cups are getting more media attention (their finals are televised live) and furthermore, businesses are tapping into the commercial opportunities available.
We may not be at American levels of obsession with college sports, but the danger lies in how much more time can be given to sport from the elite athletes who might also be lining out for their counties or provinces, while trying to combine academic studies as well. Are degrees and diplomas becoming a sop to attract the best athletes to campuses?
Power plays, politicking and petty squabbling; a world where rules are devised to stop a club's success; a culture which sees players travel hundreds of miles at weekends to play with the best; and a business which means hundreds of thousands can be made if just one talent can see it through. Welcome to underage soccer in Ireland.
The news this week that the case of an under-14 player for Shelbourne was nearing conclusion has highlighted the murky business world that exists uneasily beside the schoolboy game in this country.
Over the course of this season, protests have been lodged from Lourdes Celtic, Home Farm and Cherry Orchard, against Shelbourne in relation to one of their under-14 players. The youngster, who is described as "very talented", lives in Northern Ireland, but travels to Dublin each weekend to play for Shelbourne's schoolboy team, which is also rated one of the best in the country.
Protests were lodged, appeals were heard and then counter-appeals followed; the Schoolboys Football Association of Ireland (SFAI), the FAI and even the Incorporated Law Society were all channels used to come to some sort of conclusion - but all to no avail.
And it all centred on a ruling that had been inserted the season before that stated that only those resident in the 26 counties were eligible to play for clubs in the Dublin District Schoolboy League (DDSL).
Was it aimed at stopping clubs bringing in talented youngsters from the North? And, more importantly, was it aimed at stopping one club from being too successful? A resolution of sorts has been arrived at with the SFAI instructing the DDSL to continue the Under-14 League and Thunder Cup, and dismissing the Cherry Orchard and Home Farm protests because the rule of residency is unconstitutional.
It sounds like a case from the annals of the League of Ireland, but it has given us a brief glimpse into the workings of the elite end of Irish underage football.
Being successful and getting the best players is nothing new at schoolboy level, but since the landmark decision by FIFA last year to order Tottenham Hotspur to pay Crumlin United compensation for developing Ireland international Robbie Keane, clubs have been eyeing the hundreds of thousands to be made if just one promising player strikes gold in the Premiership.
What's worse, schoolboy clubs aren't even accountable to anyone, the FAI pays little notice to what's going on and as for any money that can be made . . .
It took the intervention of one of the country's most high profile and successful industrial relations mediators - a man Bertie Ahern calls upon when there's a problem - to rule on the unconstitutionality of the residency rule, but it is hoped it won't end there.
Change is needed at a macro level in schoolboy football in Ireland; there needs to be more transparency, a clearer running of things and, most importantly, an end to the squabbling and bickering between clubs.
Clubs also need to ask themselves if it is necessary to bring kids from across the country to play for them. If the Government can protect the under-18s with the number of hours they can work surely underage players can be similarly protected?
In the case decided this week, it's hard to know which was worse - introducing a rule aimed at stopping a talented player from playing with a successful team or a club getting one of their players to travel hundreds of miles each weekend to play for them.
George Orwell once wrote "serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules." And then you pinch yourself and realise that this is under-14s we're talking about.
bizofsport@eircom.net
248p Malcolm Glazer's increased
shareholding pushed the
Manchester United price up to 250p earlier in the week, still struggling to reach the February high of 278.
"Don't tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring in the ship."
Gay Mitchell are you listening? The Greek government has admitted that the budget for this year's Athens Olympics is €1 billion over their original costing.
"The estimate for the Games budget in 2004 was bad," Christos Folias, the Greek deputy finance minister, told reporters earlier this week. "The budget was for 1.4 billon, while the costs are forecast to exceed 2.4 billion - a one billion euro overrun."
The scramble to get venues up to scratch and finished on time, as well as a huge security bill - the biggest ever for an Olympics - have been responsible for the increased costs, all of which the Greek government has accepted it will take the bill for.
Previously, their finance minister had stated: "We will impose fiscal discipline, but, I repeat, we will not derail the priority which our country has for Olympic Games."
It's all a bit like the Luas, don't you think? Budget overruns and a government's blind commitment to a project that many have questioned its ability to complete.
Only difference between here and Greece is there's no question of August coming around and athletes waiting by the side of the road waiting for the stadium to arrive.
150,000 Amount received by Crumlin United from Spurs for their
training of Robbie Keane as
a schoolboy.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)