New initiatives approved

New rules on minimum standards at grounds, a new format for the League Cup and a study of the ways in which the Norweigan footballing authorities have improved the quality of their league in recent years were some of the initiatives approved at yesterday's National League a.g.m. in Galway.

The proposal that every premier division club be required to have 1,500 seats and every first division club 800 by the start of the 2001/'02 season received widespread support from delegates at the meeting as did the move to reorganise the League Cup and start the league campaign itself on the weekend of Sunday the 15th of August.

Champions St Patrick's Athletic will play Derry City in their first game while up at Ballybofey this season's runners up in league and cup respectively, Cork and Finn Harps, will face each other.

The league cup, though still initially regionalised, will be run on a knockout basis next season with the first round taking place on the weekend of August 29th when Rockmount and Newbridge Town will be the two non-league teams competing.

Some minor improvements to the league programme were also unveiled yesterday with the back-to-back weeks finally eliminated from the fixture list as has the requirement for teams to complete their campaign with either two home or two away matches.

Moves to reorganise the disciplinary code were postponed as were a number of other decisions but it was agreed that a committee be established to study the Norweigan association's recent development work, although the make up of the committee has yet to be decided.

League Cup (first round draw): Group A - Cork City v Rockmount, Limerick v Cobh Ramblers; Group B - Dundalk v Longford Town, Galway v Athlone Town; Group C - Bray Wanderers v Kilkenny City, Waterford United v Newbridge Town; Group D - Sligo Rovers v Derry City, Finn Harps v Monaghan United; Group E - Home Farm v Shelbourne, Drogheda United v Bohemians; Group F - St Patrick's Athletic v Shamrock Rovers, St Francis v UCD. In the second round eight teams will play off with a further four receiving byes into the quarterfinals.

Jim Magilton has earned a recall to the Northern Ireland squad for the friendly against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on May 29th.

The midfielder, who has not played for the Irish for 12 months, has won back his place after relaunching his career at Ipswich following his recent move from Sheffield Wednesday.

Northern Ireland manager Lawrie McMenemy has also brought back Northampton centre-half Colin Hill, who last played in the Euro 2000 qualifying defeat in Turkey in September, for the game at Lansdowne Road which is in aid of the Omagh Disaster Fund.

Blackburn's highly-rated winger Damien Johnson is included and he could well make his debut against the Republic.

NORTHERN IRELAND (Squad v Republic of Ireland): Taylor (Fulham), Wright (Manchester City), Hughes, (Newcastle), Patterson (Dundee United), Williams (Chesterfield), Hunter (Reading), Hill (Northampton), Gillespie (Blackburn), Johnson (Blackburn), McCarthy (Birmingham), Lennon (Leicester), Mulryne (Norwich), Magilton (Ipswich), Robinson (Bournemouth), Rowland (QPR), Dowie (QPR), Coote (Norwich), McVeigh (Tottenham), Quinn (West Brom), Ferguson (Linfield).

Ipswich winger Kieron Dyer and Charlton right-back Danny Mills are being headhunted by Leeds United in their quest to build a squad strong enough to launch a serious assault on next season's Premiership title. Republic of Ireland defender Ian Harte will put pen to paper for a four-year contract on Monday following a season in which he has flourished.