I wanted to wait a few days after the final to write this article. It was some game. Far more exciting than the last time Bohs and Pats met, that’s for sure. It started off exciting with two goals within about 20 minutes and held everyone’s attention inside the Aviva Stadium for the duration of the game. However, it wasn’t the game itself that got the headlines. The big takeaway from the game for me was the fact that there wasn’t an empty seat inside the Aviva Stadium.
If you didn’t know anything about the League of Ireland or football in general and I had brought you to the game you probably would have told me that ‘’this must be one of them Premier League games’’ or even ‘’These must be two of the most popular teams in Ireland?’’ You’d be wrong on both counts. Both Pats and Bohs are only popular inside Dublin and have stadiums of less than 10,000 people and the League of Ireland obviously has no link to the Premier League.
The truth is, outside of the FAI final the average crowds these two teams pull in each week would tally to about 4,000 people, and this isn’t due to lack of interest – which is abundantly clear due to the popularity of the final. It is mainly because the grounds in which most teams in Ireland play can only carry a maximum capacity of 5,000. If they’re lucky by the way.
What this game does highlight for me (and for many eague of Ireland fans I chatted to on Sunday) is that massive investment is needed in terms of the infrastructure and facilities that many of these passionate players and fans must suffer through week-on-week. It is a shame that two teams who pulled in premier league style crowds for the game on Sunday will have to return to playing in run down stadiums and must train in basic facilities again next season.
What is happening is that the talent this league produces such as the amazing Sam Curtis, who was exemplary on Sunday by the way. Will undoubtedly go on to greener pastures as they have no reason to stay in Ireland. This shouldn’t be the case. We have a massive opportunity to compete with the European leagues these players end up going to because of the fact that the days of young players automatically going over to England are long gone. This is due to many factors, one of which being the fact that England are out of the EU, but also because many players realise that they will just get drowned out by the sheer competition for places over there which has happened countless times, to countless players over the past few years.
But this the causal fan’s fault. In fact, the casual fans are the ones keeping this league alive and seeing it grow now at a pace I don’t think anyone has seen. This League will undoubtedly grow due to the sheer support the league is experiencing now, however. This growth can stagnate. Without proper investment from the FAI that matches the leagues growing support from the fans then the league will not flourish. As I said before the onus is on the FAI now to match the fans ambition.
Why should we as fans assume that the likes of a Sam Curtis will leave the League of Ireland if they have any kind of significant talent? Why should we be told we are naïve to believe that we can’t hold onto any special talents? I would argue that the only way to grow a league is through having ‘Superstar’ players. Every league that is worth it’s wait in gold has those players and the only team in Ireland that can bolster having superstar calibre players is Shamrock Rovers, but why shouldn’t every team be able to hold onto their aces in the hole? As I mentioned before, this is because clubs simply can’t complete financially.
They need support. The only way they can get support is from the top, so I make plea to the FAI. If you want to see full capacity stadiums year in year out, then you simply must invest money into this league. It takes money to make money and the only way the FAI will ever see a significant return on investment from the league of Ireland is if they make significant changes to the status quo.
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