Ireland’s woes are explainable by numbers

It hasn’t been a good start to the year for the FAI.

The search for a new senior men’s team manager has not gone to plan, by any manner or means. Having previously committed to an April announcement, Marc Canham, the association’s Director of Football, now says they’ll take even further time before appointing someone. Stephen Kenny left the position last November, though he was probably out of time last summer after a limp performance in Greece. That’s going to be nearly a year, you could say, in which the FAI have failed to identify and secure the preferred person for the job.

Then there’s the exit of the association’s Chief Executive Jonathan Hill.

Having come into the role to much fanfare in 2020, based on his exploits with the English FA, Hill certainly flattered to deceive during his time in the position. His below par performance before an Oireachtas Committee earlier this year proved to be the final straw.

For all of that, of course, there are good things happening in football in this country. The rise of the women’s team in recent years has been a fascinating journey and the League of Ireland, which still could do with a little bit more help, is thriving on many fronts.

Another piece of good work that came to the fore was the presentation last week by Will Clarke, the FAI’s Academy Development Manager and the Assistant Director of Football, Shane Robinson. This was a thorough analysis of the state of the game where it really matters for the future of football: at academy level. Damien Duff, in particular, has waxed lyrical about the need for greater investment into the game at that level to ensure things prosper, instead of all the time focusing on the need for new facilities.

Of course, facilities are crucially important. To be fair to Hill, during his time the association produced a detailed document spelling out just what is required in terms of investment into facilities all around the country to help foster the numbers playing the game right now. In that piece of work, the FAI requested the government pump in over half a billion euro over the next 15 years.

Last week’s academy plan presentation, however, laid out how bad the situation is when it comes to things actually happening on the grass.

How many people do you think work full-time in academies in Ireland, nurturing the players who will wear the green shirt in the future? Well, before you consider your answer, here’s some context for other countries a similar size to us.

According to the stats, Poland have 376 full-time staff working across 16 academies. Portugal have seven Centres of Excellence – they have 315 employees across those. Ireland has 10 – yes, 10 – full-time staff across 24 academies.

Given the stark nature of these figures, you have to ask the question – where was the planning with all of this? The 24 academies mirror the League of Ireland club structure, by and large, but it’s hardly what you’d describe as a model fit for purpose. The resources needed to fully stock those academies with qualified, full-time staff as needed, just isn’t there.

The FAI needs more money for these academies. That is the minimum requirement right now. And when you go to matches, be it League of Ireland or at grassroots level, you can see the same work going on as happens in the GAA, Rugby and other organisations. The people still pour their hearts in, mostly on a voluntary basis. They do it for the love of the game and that deserves to be supported in the form of increased government funding.

That said, you can’t blame any Cabinet or government minister for being reluctant to pull open the purse strings to the FAI given the mismanagement and unconvincing governance there over a long number of years. So it takes two to tango – the FAI must first get its own house properly in order.

What’s the solution then?

Invest in the game. Provide education to coaches and players alike. And do it all with a good dollop of patience, because rebuilding elite football here is going to take some time. And it is a rebuild that’s required. We all know the senior men’s team have been struggling for quite a while now. The Republic of Ireland now lies in 60th place in the world rankings.

The presentation from Clarke and Robinson also laid bare just how limited the current crop of Irish players are perceived to be at club level. The number of Irish footballers playing in the top five leagues across Europe (The Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue 1) has dropped by a frightening amount over the last 20 years. In 2003, 33 Irish players averaged 1,420 minutes each across those five leagues. In 2023, 16 players averaged 613 minutes. It’s a staggering fall.

The FAI is trying to implement strategies, they say, to mitigate against 20-odd years of mismanagement.

“The one thing we lack in this country,” Robinson said, “is common sense when we are dealing in football. Putting the player first…we’ve let politics get in the way of football here for 25 years. We need to have hard conversations happening now and get in front of government.” 

A rebuild of the FAI’s structures is necessary to ensure the senior men’s team returns to being competitive and in a position to qualify for major tournaments on a regular basis. Ireland, as a country, is capable of being at more tournaments.

Of course, it helps when you get some momentum along with a special group of players, a la Italia 90, but Ireland’s long-term aim should be to have a conveyor belt of talent coming through. Yes, we’re a small country but the interest and numbers are there to make a more meaningful impact on the world stage.

Rebuilds take time – and the FAI has to start with the foundations.