FAI maps out plan for women's game

Boosting participation levels, developing emerging talent in Ireland and establishing a national league are the FAI's key objectives for implementing the Women's Development Plan which was launched by the Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue in Dublin yesterday.

At present only 10 per cent of women in Ireland are participating regularly in sport and physical activity. Consequently, the Irish Sports Council has provided €2.25 million towards developing women's sports and €250,000 of that has been earmarked for the FAI.

There are currently just 12,000 register female footballers in Ireland compared to 450,000 males. The FAI, though, is confident its new scheme will set the foundations to increase that figure five-fold.

"Every girl in this county is entitled to the same opportunities every boy has in terms of playing football," says FAI chief executive John Delaney.

"It is therefore imperative that eight and nine-year-old girls realise they have as clear a path to progress from development squads into a national league and then, hopefully, underage squads and senior teams."

Delaney, though, concedes a women's national league is still a few years away yet. The association is currently preoccupied with proposals to revamp the men's equivalent but, he says, will approach the make-up of the women's league with an "open mind".

Noel King, senior women's international team manager, said the development plan marks an "historic moment" but warned that implementation must be immediate.

"It's all very nice to produce a document," he says, "but the real job now is making sure the FAI technical department, under Packie Bonner, can drive this down and around the country, grow the numbers and make each programme a success."

Plans, meanwhile, for an Irish Institute of Sport are, according to the Minister, at a "very advanced stage" and he hopes to bring proposals to the government shortly.

"The fact we are unable to provide the kind of medical, nutritional and psychological back up to our elite athletes when other countries can puts us at a serious disadvantage. Such a facility would yield significant benefits on the international stage."