Clubs have chance to get houses in order

On Soccer: It's come to something when the main stories out of an FAI agm concern a call to arms from a former president of the association over security costs at games, and a stadium story that was entirely unrelated to the day's business.

Just a few days before the delegates gathered in Waterford there remained the potential for some fireworks over the association's elections, but they, too, failed to materialise and the meeting passed off without any of the usual hullabaloo.

It's early days, of course, and there are plenty of ways in which the somewhat strange sense of common purpose that has swept through Merrion Square could quickly pass but, for the moment at least, Irish football's governing body is becoming an uncharacteristically but rather engagingly dull organisation to report on.

Central to the air of serenity is the relative prosperity in football just now. At national level the figures released over the weekend for last year show continued growth in the association's operations. However, it is closer to ground level that the progress made in recent years can really be seen with the more progressive clubs at almost every level making the most of the support available from head office and the Government to transform their facilities.

To a large extent the Eircom League has been left behind in this process with relatively little having been achieved by the 22 clubs over the past few seasons after what had been a fairly hectic period of activity at clubs like Bohemians, Cork City, Shelbourne and Longford Town.

There was, briefly, some excitement over the fact the Government looked poised to provide some €17 million to meet the shortcomings in the various grounds identified in the first round of licensing assessments. However, it came to nothing as the clubs squabbled amongst themselves over who should get the money first.

Problems over the use of public money at Shamrock Rovers' new ground in Tallaght impacted elsewhere and several clubs allowed years to slip by without generating the rather modest percentage of project costs they were supposed to come up with to secure the Government money.

It is expected, after last year's freeze on capital grants to clubs, an announcement is imminent with up to € 8 million set to be made available for ground improvements.

It is not enough but it is a step in the right direction. If confirmed, it would represent quite a coup for FAI chief executive John Delaney who seems to have rebuilt his relationship with Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue in the wake of last year's rather ill-judged spat.

With facilities at many grounds still far below acceptable levels by anybody bar the most die-hard supporters, there will be few problems coming up with ways to spend the money, but having talked the Government into writing the cheques, Delaney may face a tougher challenge when it comes to getting the clubs to make the most of the opportunity.

With Genesis set to make recommendations on the future development of the league within a matter of weeks, there is likely to be independent confirmation that dramatic change is required at club level, with greater professionalism and more realism required in the way each goes about its day-to-day business.

At any given time, it seems, there are a couple of clubs in desperate trouble, but behind the scenes the reality, as everybody connected with the game knows, is that just about every club is struggling to make ends meet.

A substantial injection of capital now could help clubs to substantially improve facilities, increase attendances and generate new revenue streams.

It could also, however, turn out to be a major embarrassment if clubs remain preoccupied with short-term success on the field and so render themselves incapable of making longer-term progress off it.

Last week's events at Shamrock Rovers suggest that the club is, at long last, going to make a serious if painful attempt to live within its means. It is, however, only one of a number that has been storing up trouble for itself by spending money that it simply didn't have, primarily on its first-team squad.

Ensuring the rest of the clubs pursue strategies that will justify the Government's renewed willingness to support the league's development will be a key objective for Delaney and perhaps his most demanding task to date.

Still, on a day that the association's chief executive is scheduled to announce the establishment of a women's football development unit that is likely, within a matter of months, to employ half a dozen coaches, just about anything must seem possible up in Merrion Square.