Backward step for domestic football

IN deciding, by 14 votes to six, to expand the National League Premier Division from 12 clubs to 16 from 1998-99, the great wise men of the domestic game have taken the most retrograde step in aeons.

This, in fact, takes us back to the one division of 16 clubs from 1977/78 to 1981-82. It didn't make for better standards on or off the pitch then and it won't from 1998-89 on either. A league, is only as good as its worst club, and henceforth the threshold will merely be lowered.

Two clubs, Derry City and Waterford United, didn't bother to attend and thus didn't vote, a damning indictment in itself (all the more so as one of the nine options up for consideration was proposed by Waterford).

Last Saturday morning's debate, such as it was (with contributions kept to brief reasoning by each representative for their club's favoured options before a vote was promptly taken) began at 9.30 and was over by 11.10am.

On the first ballot, 13 clubs voted for option four, namely a 16 club Premier Division and ten club First Division which was proposed by Cobh Ramblers. Five clubs voted for option eight, a 10 club Premier Division and 10-club First Division (proposed by Bohemians). St Patrick's voted for their own option nine, a more far reaching version of the Bohemians proposal, with one club voting for another option.

On the second ballot, interestingly, of the II Premier Division clubs present, a majority of six (Bohemians, St Patrick's Athletic, Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers, Cork City and Dundalk) voted in favour of reducing the Premier Division to ten clubs. However, Sligo, UCD, the promoted trio and the nine First Division club representatives in attendance, voted for option four.

Of course, it was always unlikely that turkeys would vote for Christmas, in other words that the small clubs would vote for a reduced Premier Division and thus reduce their chances of being in it. However, the tail is now not so much wagging the dog as tossing him up in the air and kicking him before he lands.

Where else would you have a situation where the majority of the top division would have their views on the make up of that division actually superseded by those in the lower division? Many of the club representatives who sided with the majority freely admitted that they were voting out of self interest. One can imagine them rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of the big clubs coming to their grounds and thereby subsidising their season.

Aside from their technical qualifications for making this decision, their track record would also seem to disqualify many of them. After all these are the boyos (by and large) who have voted for whimsical and equally flawed restructuring in the past. How could we ever forget the four points for an away win, three for a home win, two for an away draw and one for a home draw system of 1981-82?

Arguably, this crucial decision should have followed recommendations from, or been made by, an outside, independent body.

This latest farce does not address the most pressing needs of the modern domestic game, which are: improved television coverage, spectator facilities, marketing, and playing facilities - all of which are, of course, inter linked.

With a reduced, ten club Premier Division, it would have been more feasible to establish basic facility criteria as a factor in promotion to the Premier Division. Even the existing 12 club structure would have facilitated this progressive, but overdue step.

Do they care? Do they ever want to achieve these standards? The smaller clubs argue that they haven't got the grants (government or FAI) which the likes of St Patrick's, Shelbourne, Bohemians and others have been given over the years. But did they ever have the vision or imagination to undertake surveys and present proposals for improving their stadia to these bodies?

Now, some of them will be handed a Premier Division place that otherwise they would have lost or never have earned under the existing system. Playing standards will also drop.

As it is, where will they get these four new Premier Division clubs from and what will they have to offer on or off the pitch? After all, they struggled to get even one in the light of St James's Gate's demise.

Meanwhile, in yet another example of the domestic game's appalling administration, the word on the grapevine is that St Patrick's may be docked three points for not having Paul McGee's registration cleared prior to last Friday's defeat of Shelbourne, as happened to Cork last season.

A couple of things come to mind here. It should not be a case of waiting to see whether UCD (in last year's example) or Shelbourne (in this instance) lodge an objection. The National League itself should make a ruling on such cases, preferably before the said game - as happens in any well run league the world over.

. Contrary to my information of last week, Paddy Daly informs me that the likes of John McDermott, Mick Tomney and Tommy Traynor do not intend to follow Joey Byrne's resignation in protest over refereeing organisation. However, a statement on this matter is still expected from the FAI, while other resignations are anticipated.