RADICAL changes impose their own demands as well as significant challenges. What has happened in rugby football over the last two years is a graphic illustration of that point.
As we approach the end of what has been in so many respects a fractious and controversial season, the IRFU is currently faced with making decisions and changes that will inevitably have a profound influence on the game in this country over the coming years. It is imperative that they gets things right.
The structure of the union itself has come under intense pressure. There is a recognition of the need for change, the issue is how best that can be brought about to the best advantage. That is now being investigated and studied by a committee under the chairmanship of Dr Syd Millar. But that is a matter for discussion on another occasion. Suffice to say that there are a lot of misconceptions and ill informed comment made about the role of the union and what exactly is now embraced in membership of the committee.
At the moment there are several critical issues being addressed by the union. There is the question of the All Ireland league, and the urgent need for reform of its structure. Then there is the matter of contracts for players at the different levels and the appointment of a third man to join Ireland manager Pat Whelan and coach Brian Ashton in the selection and management of the national team.
Taking that last issue initially, there is an increasing volume of opinion within the IRFU that there is no need for the appointment of a third man to join Whelan and Ashton. The view is being expressed that such an appointment would bring a provincial factor into play, however objective the third man might be. The federal system has been, as we know so well, part of Irish rugby's greatest strength, it is also part of its greatest weakness. It is a matter of perception in many respects with the danger of accusations of provincialism being levelled at the management.
The election sub committee has the power to leave the committee at two. Unlike former days when restrictive laws tied the hands of the union on these selection issues the laws are now much more flexible. Furthermore Whelan and Ashton can call on any helpers or advisers they wish and the necessary back up support is available. So it is possible that we may not have a third man, to join the "Big" two. Either way, no decision will be taken on that matter this side of Ireland's forthcoming tour to New Zealand.
The details of the new contracts to be offered to players are now near completion. The sub committee of Billy Lavery, chairman, IRFU president Bobby Deacy, Eddie Coleman and IRFU honorary treasurer John Lyons will meet again tomorrow. It is anticipated that they will finalise their part on the work tomorrow. Then of course it will be a question of the players accepting the contracts and no doubt their agents will come into the equation. Not all the players now have the same agent.
PAT WHELAN has submitted the names of some players to be offered senior squad contracts. There will be additions to that list following the tour to New Zealand. It can be taken as definite that the squad will undergo considerable amendment from this season, in a word, quite a few currently on contract will not be offered renewal. That is scarcely surprising.
But unlike this season, a new tiered contract structure will operate. The earning capacity of the members of the senior squad will certainly be comparable and probably marginally better than this season. But there will be a very attractive package on offer at provincial level for players not on the senior international squad. In addition, some of those players currently playing in England, will certainly be given a very worthy inducement to return home if they have release clauses in their current contracts with their English clubs. I am aware of at least six players who are now playing in England who want to return to Ireland.
It must be borne in mind, too, that a few of the best young players in Ireland are currently being pursued by English clubs. The members of the contracts sub committee are well aware of that and have taken it in to consideration. Those young players, two in particular, currently being put under immense pressure to go to England, would do very well to learn from the experiences of some who took that path last season and now bitterly regret it. Some smooth talking agents are at work, percentage is their primary concern, not the players' future welfare.
The All Ireland League this season was marked by some notable and significant achievements. Obviously Shannon's three wins in a row in the first division takes pride of place. But it is very good to see such an old and respected club as Clontarf win the second division. Their exploits have given a new impetus to the game at Castle Avenue and generated tremendous enthusiasm in Clontarf just as it has in Dolphin, who have also gained promotion. How good it is to see Buccaneers and Galwegians win promotion to the second division, now there is a great boost for the game in the west. Suttonians did splendidly in their first season to win the fourth division and to do so with a 100 per cent record. Ballynahinch also did very well to finish second and gain promotion.
There is need for radical amendment to the league structure but the league is fundamental to the game in this country. Tell them out Castle Avenue way or in Crowley Park or the McDowell Memorial Park that the league is dying. The AIL has given reward to clubs for achievement and helped generate a new level of enthusiasm in clubs who for too long had nothing to celebrate and had to play a secondary role within their own provincial structures. Take Clontarf for instance and the number of fine players they lost through the years. Their experience is no different to that of some other clubs.
There is no viable alternative to the AIL. Does anyone seriously suggest that we should go back to the days prior to its inauguration? Do we want to go back to the time when concerted and organised opposition prevented a Leinster Senior League based on merit and the time when organised opposition delayed the start of the AIL. Some of those clubs now very vocilerus on the AIL were at the forefront of that opposition. The IRFU had to literally fight some clubs to establish the league. Professionalism has imposed its own problems on the league, professionalism that the IRFU did not want to embrace.
Over recent times Noel Murphy, vice president of the IRFU, has been heading a committee that has been meeting representatives of clubs from each division. His committee will report to the IRFU executive on April 25th. A majority of clubs have blocked any change in the format of the league for next season. But change will come in the future as it must. In the interim what is wrong with a premiership competition at the end of the league next season involving the top four clubs. That will give clubs an incentive right to the end of the league as well as the financial reward that must be put in place.
