New league structure rejected in seconds

It may have taken the nine-man sub-committee established by the National League last year about nine months to agree on recommendations for a new championship structure but it took delegates at yesterday's a.g.m. in the Green Isle Hotel, Clondalkin just seconds to reject the central aspect of the report.

Faced with a situation in which some clubs wanted to expand the Premier Division and others wanted it reduced in size, the subcommittee had come up with a rather awkward compromise under the terms of which the top flight would comprise 14 clubs early on but only 10 for the latter two thirds of the season.

Far from winning over the 15 clubs required to approve it, however, it was actually opposed by more than two thirds of the league's members with 16 representatives preferring a return to the drawing board and only six supporting the proposal.

Virtually no discussion of the proposal took place yesterday, but after the defeat Shelbourne secretary Ollie Byrne called on FAI general secretary Bernard O'Byrne to come up with an alternative plan at the earliest possible opportunity.

However, many of the other recommendations contained in the sub-committee's report were received favourably, with the suggestion for a new FAI Super Cup, to be contested between the four clubs which qualify for Europe, winning widespread approval.

A move to drop the Shield was also supported and it was agreed that ways of retaining the competition's title and trophy be investigated with one possibility being the introduction of an English Charity Shield style play-off match between the league champions and cup winners.

The Super Cup, which will primarily be aimed at helping National League clubs to prepare for their European games, will also be used in order to gauge the level of interest in summer football.

Delegates at yesterday's meeting were clearly divided over the longterm feasibility of a switch away from the current season and one proponent of such a move, Dr Tony O'Neill, conceded that the league and its clubs would probably have to try to get other things right before "seeing if there was a great desire to give it a try".

The removal of the Shield in its current form from the calendar means that there is space to expand the First Division championship. This will be done immediately, with the forthcoming campaign being played over four rounds of games instead of the usual three.

While a provisional fixture list has already been drawn up on this basis it may yet have to be revised as the arbitration hearing for St James's Gate, who continue to contest the fairness of their expulsion from the league two years ago, is likely to be held within the next three weeks.

If the hearing, which will be chaired by FAI Junior Council president Noel Kennedy, rules in favour of the club then the league, under FIFA rules, will have no option but to readmit them, with the result that there will 11 clubs in the First Division for at least the next year.

On a brighter note for the league's officials, there was confirmation of the agreement with RTE concerning television coverage for the next campaign. The station has agreed to allocate a slot on Friday night to the game with at least 10 live matches being covered and other weeks' programmes consisting of highlights and previews of the weekend's action.

On the financial side too, the news was fairly positive with Brendan Menton reporting that, after a good year in which income had risen faster than expenditure, the league has around £200,000 in its coffers.

As a result Menton proposed that around £120,000 be allocated to specific projects for the next season. One third of this, he suggested, should be given in grants to clubs qualifying for Europe to help them prepare for their games, clubs involved in live television games should be paid, at least one representative game should be played and around £25,000 should be spent on promoting the league.

League president Michael Hyland also argued strongly in favour of hiring a marketing manager for the league.