Another year spoilt by lack of progress on the National League

There could hardly have been a better way for the National League to draw the curtain on 1997. However, the great pity of Sunday afternoon's eight-goal adventure at Turner's Cross was that while it contained so much that was good, it was hardly representative of the sort of year the senior game here has enjoyed.

By and large, the last 12 months have been disappointing. Once again, despite a great deal of talking the situation up by key figures on the National League scene, there was, on balance, little in the way of serious progress being made.

Saint Patrick's Athletic appear to have been responsible for much of what was positive. They bought up three members of the Irish Under-20 squad when it was taken for granted that players in their position would opt for an English club. They completed the second phase of Richmond Park's development and put their money where their collective mouth is when it come to professionalism by reaching the stage where around half of their first team are full-time players. Pat Dolan's banter may seem tiresome to those at other clubs who feel they are being lectured to, but hardly anybody would be so foolish as to dispute the club's achievements.

It is an unfortunate fact that in this league, clubs in apparently strong positions have had a habit of going belly up. St Patrick's, however, look to be capable of continuing to make strong progress over the coming years. Few others inspire that sort of confidence.

Even Derry City, acclaimed as the most rounded champions in years when they won the title last season, appear to have stalled. Still in the hunt for the double over the closing weeks of season and fielding a team drawn largely from the area, crowds remained terribly poor at the Brandywell. This season, the club has seen attendances continue to decline. And in Europe, as it turned out, Derry were our most disappointing performers. Being drawn against Maribor appeared to present Felix Healy's side with a fine opportunity to get to the second - and last knockout - round of the Champions' League. By the time of the away trip, however, the tie was effectively over, Derry having received a going over from a team who defended well, worked hard and took the couple of chances that came their way. Oh, that our clubs would display such precious qualities on the European stage.

Bohemians fared no better than Derry, but Shelbourne should have upset Kilmarnock in the Cup Winners' Cup. Their first-half performance in Scotland was outstanding, but the fact that they didn't come in for the break two or three up left them vulnerable and despite completely out-playing their opponents for much of the game in Dublin, their inability, once again, to find the net proved costly.

The Upshot is that with another handful of disappointing results, our European seeding will continue to fall and things, in the long term, will only get tougher.

Next year, of course, European matches will be all seated, which means only a handful of the league's grounds will be serious contenders to host games. While Shelbourne are set to further upgrade Tolka Park, Richmond Park's development is on-going and the new stand at Turner's Cross was finally opened after a planning fiasco, there has not been too much of note happening about the place.

Of course, just about every club is working to improve their ground and the work that has been done, no matter how modest, is visible at many grounds, but the state of many grounds is still pretty grim and progress is painfully slow at a time when it needs to be terribly fast. At some clubs, Sligo, Bohemians or Shamrock Rovers, for example, substantial work which has been required for some time has been put off for one reason or another. In some cases, the planning authorities have been a problem, but not in nearly so many cases as the Revenue Commissioners have. Not for one minute does this journalist envy the task of those at the 22 clubs around the country who have to balance the books and try to ensure that everybody gets paid. But the cycle of clubs failing to pay the tax they are due to and then crying "help!" when they are bankrupted, or close to it, by the inevitable bill for arrears is worrying.

This year, for one reason or another, clubs like Galway, Longford and Drogheda all found themselves in very deep trouble financially, while a few more went dangerously close to the brink and, as we move into 1998, there are a couple of clubs with very dark clouds hanging over them. Hardly the sort of situation in which the League can talk about the dawning of a new era.

There have been improvements in terms of television coverage with RTE covering a handful of games live over the course of the year and enjoying mixed fortunes in terms of the games involved.

The last, the recent game between Shelbourne and St Patrick's, was the first to really gather some momentum as an event and the broader media coverage in the preceding week was excellent, but RTE's overall commitment to the game remains highly questionable. Overall then, things might have been better. There is some forward movement but, as usual, it seems to be of the "two steps forward, one step back" variety.

In the course of a discussion on the proposed, but increasingly unlikely, move to Dublin by Wimbledon, Bernard O'Byrne said that if the league here made as much progress over the next five years as it had done over the last five, then it would be in pretty good shape.

The fact is, though, that at the current rate of progress that would mean a couple of new stands here and there, a further shift towards full-time professionalism at the bigger clubs - with little change lower down - some better pitches, a reduction in the number of kids who pass their teens cleaning boots and bathtubs at big English grounds, maybe half of the Irish Under-21 team being drawn from National League clubs and a continuing improvement in marketing. When it comes down to it then, much the same situation overall that we find ourselves in now.

I really don't wish to play down the significance of any one of these possibilities, but frankly, if the most important administrator in the Irish game isn't thinking bigger than that, then we have problems.

All around the National League, amongst some of the sports organisations with which it competes for an audience and in the leisure sectors in which it must increasingly compete, things moved pretty fast in 1997. If the gap isn't to keep widening, then 1998 will have to mark a quickening of pace by the league as a whole - and it would be nice if an attempt was made to achieve that without simply waving farewell to those who the clubs at the front of the race simply perceive to be stragglers.