The League of Ireland is going from strength to strength but Stephen Kenny believes fans will be turned away from the product if one glaring issue remains.
The former Ireland manager has had a transformative impact since joining St Patrick's Athletic midway through last season, nearly pushing them to an unlikely League of Ireland title.
An opening round draw at home to Drogheda last weekend proved an underwhelming start to the season for the Inchicore club, but things are certainly on the up for Kenny and his side.
The League as a whole has been experiencing a boom in recent years, with Bohemians vs Shamrock Rovers drawing a record crowd in excess of 33,000 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin last Sunday.
The decision for Bohs to move a home game from Dalymount Park to the signficantly larger Dublin 4 venue certainly paid dividends, but facility issues on the Friday night at Tolka Park reared their head as a stark precursor.
A power cut in Drumcondra threatened the postponement of Shelbourne vs Derry City at half-time, but thankfully that outcome was avoided.
Facilities across the League of Ireland have been in dire need of investment from the Irish Government and the FAI, but it remains a contentious issue.
Kenny, who knows all about Irish soccer having worked in the top flight for years and also been Ireland manager, believes that LOI venues should hold in excess of 12,000 spectators to meet the current demand.
While some venues are set for redevelopment, notably Bohs' Dalymount Park which is due to be increased to 8,000, Kenny fears stadiums of that size will still be inadequate.
The Dubliner is fearful that fans will continue to be turned away from the grounds, and ultimately the LOI as a whole.
For a few years people would have said, ‘I tried to get my friends and family to come to a game’" Kenny said.
"Instead of saying, ‘Would you like to come?’ it’s, ‘You can’t come because we’ve no tickets’. It’s difficult to get tickets for Inchicore, the capacity is 5,500 including a full away section.
"I’ve seen fathers take their sons up to Dalymount and not be able to get in, just turned away. Bringing your kid to somewhere and you’re turned away, it’s not a great experience so you mightn’t come back. That is the danger. I think you will lose people."
He continued: “It takes so long to get anything done and funding is so slow and there’s no real will.
"I heard the Taoiseach saying a couple of years ago, ‘We’re certainly going to fund academies’ and I haven’t really heard anything since.
“Dalymount is taking so long, (St Pat's owner) Garret Kelleher has his plans for Richmond, he showed me them but it’s going to take time and funding.”
There clearly is a buzz around Irish soccer right now as illustrated by sell-outs up and down the country and the increase of match broadcasts on terrestrial TV.
Development is certainly needed to meet current demands.
