Don’t get cross that talk is turning towards the border once again
IT is a very rare occurrence that my curiosity is suddenly pricked by a politician. I would very much be in the Billy Connolly camp when it comes to those who hanker for the hustings, in that the desire to be a politician, of whatever colour, creed or level of cretinism, should automatically bar anyone from ever becoming one.
So when I heard that Sinn Fein’s Martina Anderson was teaming up with Derry City and Crusaders, another of my pet hates was poked with a pointy stick — politicians getting involved in sport.
But not so fast, this was weird: a politician talking about football, and making sense too. It’ll never catch on.
The MLA for Londonderry/ Derry/whatever (delete as applicable) joined up with representatives from the Candystripes and the Crues to meet Minister for Communities (that’s the Sports Minister to you and me) Deirdre Hargey to look at taking plans for an All-ireland football/ soccer/fitba (delete as applicable) League forward.
According to Anderson, they had a ‘productive engagement’ and the Minister ‘agreed to deal with the matter of an All-ireland soccer league as a priority’.
Good news. We might not have any football for a couple of weeks, or even longer, but at least there are some making positive moves towards trying to take the game forward.
“We now need the IFA, FAI and Ministers responsible for sport on this island to collaborate and agree a way forward which also ensures that local clubs can have their say,” she added.
Not so good. More chance of Martina nipping round to Gregory Campbell’s for a glass of Shloer and to help him polish off those leftover orange creams from his festive box of Loyalty Street.
“This should also include reaching out to Uefa to explore all possible support they can bring to an All-ireland League.”
If, and I know it is a huge one, we can try and park politics to the side, is now not a great time for clubs, officials and the powers-that-be to take another look at all this?
Let’s be honest, these aren’t the only two teams who have been talking about this, whether it be in public or behind the scenes, but who cares as long as we keep talking? Blimey, I sound like George Mitchell here — get that Nobel Peace Prize warmed up.
It may seem a strange time to try and shake things up when the game we love is in its biggest ever crisis, how to keep going without unduly risking the health of all those involved and, by consequence, making things even tougher for the NHS.
Talk of cross-border competition is nothing new, but what is new is the predicament we find ourselves in. Them’uns down south seem to be more on board with Waterford businessman Kieran Lucid’s ambitious plans, but that has a lot to do with the toxic relationship they enjoy with the FAI.
And that is the crux of the matter: clubs need their governing body, whether it be the FAI or the IFA, to support the move so that it can be delivered to Uefa all neatly bound up in a string of a colour to be chosen by an independent panel.
The main bugbear has always been that this would be a step towards a United Ireland — purely in football terms — and an amalgamation of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is not likely to happen anytime soon.
But the reality is that with football in lockdown, can the main players really afford to sit looking down at their feet and muttering things will be okay in a wee while?
There could well be a precedent for cross-border football.
Belgium and the Netherlands’ domestic football isn’t in the healthiest of states at the moment either and there is some talk that Uefa would actively encourage a joint
Dutch-belgian League.
The lightbulb moment may finally have arrived with these latest talks that the clubs have to press on with Lucid’s plans in an effort to work together to stay in existence.
His plan has changed greatly since he first floated the idea in 2017 with the All-island League Advocacy Group and a consultation process overseen by Hypercube, a Dutch consultancy firm.
At the end of it, the way forward was seen as an all-island champion being decided from a knockout competition after the ‘normal’ Danske Bank Premiership and Airtricity Premier Division seasons.
Importantly, this would mean the two jurisdictions would keep their independence and, crucially, the European money jackpot wouldn’t be taken away from either.
The IFA have gradually moved (do they move in any other way?) from away and hoke to a slight softening, mainly because 10 of the 12 Premiership teams joined all 10 from the League of Ireland in saying there was merit in looking further at this. Cliftonville and Dungannon Swifts are the only two, it is believed, not to have signed up.
“We, as an external group, can’t really do much more, and it’s now up to the clubs, FAS and Uefa to decide the next steps,” Lucid said at the weekend.
“It has been a very tough year for the clubs north and south and I would hope that there will be more willingness all round post-covid to think big and bold to help the game kick on.
“The clubs are in dire straits, and I would say the two FAS are feeling it too, so why not try something new once things open up again?”
The Unite the Union Champions Cup is the latest in a long line of cross-border competitions, the biggest and most successful being the Setanta Cup that ran from 2005-14.
Shamrock Rovers and Linfield were scheduled to be joined by the next top-placed teams in the respective leagues but, with the pandemic, will this happen? Doubtful.
It is interesting that Derry and Crusaders have been involved in the new talks, the pair having contested perhaps the Setanta Cup’s most thrilling final, a penalty win for the Crues after a 2-2 draw at The Oval back in 2012.
The only other winner in the competition’s duration from this part of the world was Linfield, and surely a red letter day for any Blueman when asked to name his favourite memories following the side, with Glenn Ferguson and Peter Thompson goals seeing off Shelbourne in the 2005 final.
David Jeffrey was manager back then and has always been a huge fan of tackling teams from across the border. He has welcomed the plans to extend the Champions Cup.
“I was always a massive fan of the Setanta Cup on a number of levels,” he explained.
“I did always think it did favour our southern brethren on how it was fixed up and the timing of it, but I think anything that can bring football together or anything that can bring people together, I would be delighted to see.
“People talk about an All-ireland League but to me that’s a dream to tell you the truth. It would be like turkeys voting for Christmas, and I’ve always said it’s not even about the practicalities but it’s the impact of having one league and what would happen to your European places.
“You see how important the European money is, so I don’t think it will happen for very practical reasons. But if there’s any way we can have a competition that pitches the Irish League against the League of Ireland then I’m very much in support of it, particularly given the strides made here.”
Mick Mcdermott would also welcome a chance to pit his wits against the best the League of Ireland can offer to see just how far his own side has come.
“I think that any time that you can play what we would call ‘international games’ across a border, whether that be with the south or any other country, it is a benefit to local football,” the Glentoran boss told Radio Ulster’s Sportsound last year.
“It gives you a different idea of what other countries are doing. We played Shamrock Rovers in a pre-season friendly and they were really impressive, and you’ve seen what Dundalk have done this year is really impressive.
“Are the Irish League teams far away from that? Absolutely not.”
But perhaps the most telling words came from current Derry City boss Declan Devine, a man who knows both leagues well, who spelt it out starkly back in 2019.
“Somewhere along the line something has to change for the better for the actual industry of football. There is no industry here at the minute,” he said.
And that’s the challenge now, how to turn talk into action and ensure that there will be healthy and competitive leagues and what form they take. Might be easier getting Gregory to give up those orange creams.