EVENTS THIS week have illustrated rather well the strengths and weaknesses of the League of Ireland with the success of St Patrick’s Athletic in Russia coming against the background of Cork City’s well publicised financial difficulties. The results achieved by Irish football clubs in European competitions over the last few years have provided firm evidence of the improvement in standards of play. But that progress has come at a cost and Cork City is not the only club to find the financial commitments it has made in the pursuit of greater professionalism difficult to meet.
Games between the country’s leading clubs once attracted crowds measured in the tens of thousands but although the number of people playing soccer in Ireland has risen to the point where the FAI now proudly proclaims it to be the country’s largest participation sport, the league has found itself increasingly reliant on a relatively small but dedicated band of supporters.
The steep decline in attendances is often traced back to the start of the 1970s when the first Sunday afternoon television coverage of English football provided an easy alternative for those who wished to watch the sport. These days the league’s potential audience enjoys enormous choice at the push of a button with broadcasts from England and Scotland and the likes of Spain and Italy providing competition for paying customers. Still, it is the popularity of the biggest clubs in these foreign leagues that does so much to generate an interest in soccer among Irish children.
The long-delayed move by Shamrock Rovers to Tallaght has been one of the brightest developments in many years and the efforts of a club that is owned and run by its supporters to establish itself in a new community and to capitalise on the inherent appeal of football to the area’s youth would appear to provide a blueprint for others. However, the league’s efforts to reconnect with the public will not be easy and the succession of financial crises has done little for credibility.
Like many other clubs, both St Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City have been adversely affected by the economic downturn and, in particular, the slump in the construction sector. The Dubliners head for Bucharest next, aiming to become the first Irish club to qualify for the group stages of a European competition. But cuts in Government expenditure combined with a fall-off in sponsorship and the inability of owners to maintain existing spending levels make these especially challenging times for the league as a whole.