Time for a change

It seems a little strange now, but after more than 40 weeks of football, this season may well be remembered most for what happens in Dublin over the next few days. Friday night's cup final replay will, for a start, go a long way towards colouring people's memories of the campaign as a whole, but more important than that perhaps is this afternoon's meeting of the 22 National League clubs at the Mont Clare Hotel in Dublin.

A memorable cup final replay would be a considerable boost as we move into the close season. These things are, as a rule, better the second time around and a game much better than an improvement on Sunday's contest at Tolka Park would indeed be something worth witnessing.

Of more lasting significance, however, will be the clubs' ability to transform the multitude of proposals currently floating around into concrete changes in the way the game is run here. We will get a good idea of just how likely that is to happen late this afternoon.

The original impetus for change came from the league's officers and the idea, when first openly discussed, appeared to involve gathering enough momentum so that the clubs would feel obliged to go along. The aim was to achieve a greater centralisation of the decision-making powers within the game and, subsequently, to introduce a whole range of measures affecting everything from youth development policies to spectator facilities and the structure of the league. When the clubs assumed early control of the process and the dreaded "sub-committee" was created, it didn't look good at all for the Blueprint for Change, as the league's proposals were called. But what has emerged now, and what will be discussed today, remains an interesting and progressive document which, if adopted and acted upon over the summer months, could represent a firm basis for progress.

In very basic terms the six-man committee, which was chaired by UCD's Brendan Dillon, has come up with a plan which envisages the appointment of a full-time commissioner to be paid a salary of at least £50,000, with more or less immediate effect; the development of the league clubs' various youth development schemes in conjunction with FAS and the FAI; tighter financial accountability for member clubs; the establishment of an under-21 league; and changes in the way that the game is covered on television. (i.e. a switch from live games towards a greater emphasis on highlights packages).

It is a pity that some points, such as the proposal to give summer football a try, have been shelved while others, such as the generally theoretical hard-line approach to clubs who fail to meet the minimum ground standards, have been dramatically softened. Still, the proposed shift to a 10-team Premier Division within two seasons represents just the sort of tough decision that most clubs have been afraid to take for too long now.

However, Dillon himself admits that the entire plan might be chucked out this afternoon and that he and the other club representatives might find themselves back where they started. In the past, attempts to introduce change have either been poorly thought out or shot down by clubs who simply couldn't reach a compromise. Today's meeting looks like the best hope to break that pattern and while there will still be a variety of hurdles to be negotiated over the summer months if any of the proposals are to have been acted upon before the start of next season, there is an opportunity to deliver something that might mark this season out as one of genuine importance in the development of the league.