PR wise, the last fortnight has been almost perfect for the League here.
The fee for Mason Melia shone a light on the work being done in the academies. Shamrock Rovers win in Norway in the Conference League knock out play off showed our teams can compete in Europe. Sponsors stepped up their activations and engagement with the league. We had a great TV game to open the season in Tolka Park, and Sunday’s record setting crowd in the Aviva Stadium caught the attention of sporting pundits far and wide.
The league posted a great picture of stadium with the tagline “Built it and they will come.”
Build it and they will come. pic.twitter.com/q4dIMq8TTG
— League of Ireland (@LeagueofIreland) February 16, 2025
Fans of the clubs here all truly believe that too. While Tallaght Stadium is the standard bearer for league grounds, and Shamrock Rovers reap the rewards of big crowds, there are other venues bursting at the seams as clubs struggle to meet demand as the League continues to rise in popularity. Some clubs like St Pats and Drogheda have made small changes for 2025 as they look for any way to increase capacity while others such as Derry City have fast tracked much large projects.
“Politicians can’t keep ignoring it” is the cry from some quarters as sell out signs appear every week in the league. “We need to invest to make sure these aren’t one offs” was the cry when Mason Melia is sold for millions and Michael Noonan breaks youngest scoring records in Europe. Backing the clubs here is now seen as a “no-brainer” by many fans. Build the academies so we can develop players and sell them for profits. Build the stadiums so we can fill them with paying customers. Down the line, it will all pay for itself. Simple.
The tide is turning faster for some
Nothing is simple when it comes to politicians. This isn’t the place for deep political discussion but it’s clear that it’s a tough job balancing national interests with those of the people who elected them. Many in Dublin believe the Metro North project is a “no-brainer” but the plans remain without any work being done for years. Folks in Waterford will make claims that minimal investment in the airport there will revitalise the area and earn the state millions in return. It can’t get past the initial planning stages. Up and down the country, there are thousands of proposals, big and small, that proponents call “no-brainers” that will never see the light of day.
We won’t even delve into the serious problems in housing and healthcare that pretty much everybody in the country thinks is a priority.
If you want examples for the pace of development in football here, ground broke on the new Finn Harps stadium in 2008. There have been several changes to the plans in the near 17 years since and we’re still years from the stadium seeing construction workers on site. Dalymount Park was sold to Dublin City Council in 2015. It took them seven years to publish their final plans for the stadium and two and a half years later we’re still a couple of years away from Bohemians needing to move out for the work to be done.
Everybody knows that Finn Harps and Bohemians will grow when their new stadiums are open. They’re “no-brainers.”
League of Ireland clubs, and indeed the FAI, haven’t exactly been the most solid of propositions for politicians either. There’s been scandals and bailouts on the national level, and clubs dying and near-dying regularly. Is it worth a politician who finished 4th in a four seater banking on the support of local footballs fans if things go awry again?
Where is all this negativity going you started to wonder 4 paragraphs ago, and the answer is that it isn’t negativity, it’s pragmatism and luckily for all concerned the LOI clubs are under no illusions here. They know how hard they have had to work to get to the stage we’re currently at – unprecedented levels of interest – and they know they’ve earned that in spite of political indifference and, until recently, without any backing from the media or the government body.
The tide has turned with them. We have TV deals, radio deals, backing of big sponsors and the league has become a focus for the FAI with several great people working hard for the League to flourish. The key now is patience. We have established a great product, which despite all its flaws, has become an attractive proposition for thousands of people every week.
The League needs help from the Government if it is to move forward but, as we’ve seen with more serious issues, the pace of change can be frustratingly slow. The role for League of Ireland fans now isn’t to harangue local politicians for their lack of a silver bullet, but rather continue to attend games in numbers and spread the word about all the positive factors in Irish football.
Clubs will continue to work in their communities (many with grants from local government) and make sure that everyone is aware of the role they play in the lives of many in their areas. There are no such things as “no-brainers” but if politicians can be educated on the value of Irish professional football, then we might get some movement. They’re smart people, they’ll get it. They’ll see that relatively small amounts (in government budget terms) can help the sport here realise its potential. Then they can all claim a piece of the glory. It isn’t about “no brainers”, it’s about following the smart moves – and backing the LOI is the smart move now even if we won’t see the benefits for many years.
Fans of LOI clubs basically only agree on two things – that refs are biased against their club, and that we’re only decent stadiums away from a great league. While we wait for the stadiums to be developed, we’ll have to settle for sold out signs and record breaking crowds enjoying an improving product.
