Move aside doom and gloom and make room for improvements
IT has been a bit of a milestone week in local football and life in general as we marked a year since first going into lockdown. Much has happened in that time since Larne’s Mark Randall scored the only goal of the game against Glenavon in the late kick-off on Saturday, March 7, 2020.
We’re all too aware of the impact the pandemic has had on all our lives in that time, and local football has had to transform itself almost unrecognisably to remain in existence, albeit at just one level.
It has been far from smooth sailing: the rancour and fallout of how last season came crashing to an end will always be the elephant in the room, the disgraceful treatment of Institute and PSNI still leaves a very unpalatable taste and, worryingly, the potential for the local game to rip itself apart still looms large.
The farcical situation of the IFA’S insistence that the Irish Cup will be played when they say it will in a madcap May, even if it means cutting across an already hectic schedule in the Danske Bank Premiership, needs to be resolved.
NIFL’S response that they bring forward the start of the competition to help the league get over the line before the nonsensical Uefa June 1 cut-off also went down about as well as Alex Salmond being invited to Nicola Sturgeon’s birthday party.
Ballinamallard United, one of the forgotten ones — otherwise known as the non-elite — led the chorus of disapproval at this suggestion in that it would mean even less time to get ready to play, having been left twiddling all their limbs by a shameful lack of forward planning from the powers-that-be several moons ago.
Players and club staff are feeling the constant grind of Saturday-tuesday games with mounting injuries, and there is still a long way to go, even without the Irish Cup.
Take Portadown. They have played the fewest games to date (24) through no fault of their own, some Covid-related postponements and the weather not playing ball meaning that from this Saturday they still have nine games to play before the scheduled split — if we have one — at the end of April.
Next up come Linfield, followed, in the space of 11 days, by clashes against Crusaders, Glentoran and Larne. That is a huge ask for Portadown at the best of times, never mind when they are already running on fumes.
As well as the physical toll, there is the mental one too, not just for the elite players but for those further down the footballing pyramid who have been deprived of action for so long.
At Championship level this is already having an effect. Ballinamallard,
Institute and Newry City, given their geographical situation, have often looked south to bolster their ranks but, with travel restrictions, that is one route that has had more obstacles thrown onto it.
With still no sign of elite status being conferred upon the great unwashed away from the Premiership, it is going to be even harder to keep hold of players.
This week, Institute’s Conor Quigley spoke of his quandary at signing on for another season that could see him kicking his heels again if, and it is probable, we go into lockdown again.
“I’m sure a few other players are the same but there’s going to be a reluctance to sign while we don’t know if there’s going to be elite status,” he told the Derry Journal this week.
So, all doom and gloom then? Not so fast.
To get to the stage we are currently at with roughly two-thirds of the Premiership completed is nothing short of miraculous, and we should all doff our caps to those who made it possible.
The testing programme has been a huge success, and the IFA and NIFL are to be lauded in pushing this along, but the clubs have been phenomenal and, while last season ended with much eye-gouging, name-calling and bad feeling, there has been, by and large, much more of a united front.
Yes, the communication between the IFA, NIFL and the clubs needs a huge kick up the proverbial, but to have had so many games played is incredible.
The lack of fans for the most part has made it feel strange.
“Without fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing,” the late, great Jock Stein famously said, and the men in the suits would do well to remember that.
The clubs and the media, both written and broadcast, have worked their little cotton socks off to keep fans up to date, and while the relationship between managers and media can be fractious at times, better that than nothing at all.
BBC Northern Ireland also deserve great credit too for, finally, covering the game, with more live clashes on the telly and streaming matches online and the rollercoaster technological white-knuckle ride that is the red button.
Clubs have also gone down the livestream route, bringing in some much-needed coffers to try and keep things afloat.
And on that subject, and not before time, the Assembly’s Department for Communities and
Sport NI have dished out the dosh from the Sports Sustainability Fund, with the IFA getting a cool £6.5m.
The bulk of this goes to the 12 teams in the Danske Bank Premiership, so expect a lot of new Mercedes in the car parks and ermine-trimmed seats and lobster baps in directors’ boxes up and down the land.
I merely jest. This cash is vital just to keep going, and now that the Assembly has finally extracted that digit from that particular orifice, it will now hopefully do likewise for the Sub Regional Stadia Programme for football.
This initiative has moved with all the pace of a one-toed sloth with a limp since the carrot was first tantalisingly dangled in front of us back in 2015.
Then the Assembly went into self-imposed lockdown, even before it was all the rage, and we have been waiting for the £36.2m to filter through.
Clubs haven’t been standing still. Many have put in a lot of hard work to be ready to move when the Assembly finally lets the cash go.
Glentoran have been the latest to reveal their plans for a new Oval. Initial consultations had them marked down for the biggest slice of the pie, a £10m redevelopment of the old site to create a 6,000-capacity stadium with two new stands, a smorgasbord of off-field stuff and a new ‘plastic’ pitch.
They are not alone. Crusaders have been given the nod by Belfast City Council and planners to erect a 1,246-seat stand at Seaview. Coleraine also have plans for a new artificial pitch and for a redevelopment of the Showgrounds to make it the heart of the community, while under the umbrella of Mid and East Antrim Council, Ballymena United, Carrick Rangers and Larne are all looking to upgrade their existing facilities with new stands and improved training areas.
Like Glentoran boss Mick Mcdermott, his counterpart at Crusaders, Stephen Baxter, has been banging the drum for better facilities to attract new fans.
“We want better playing surfaces and facilities when development has been sadly lacking for 20 years. Giant strides from all the teams show the willingness is there to make progress and we need the support of the authorities,” he told the Belfast Telegraph recently.
And that is the key. Clubs have to drive this forward, whether it be with the deep pockets of Ali Pour and Kenny Bruce at Glentoran and Larne or teaming up with local authorities to make things happen.
Work is under way at Inver Park on a new stand and plans are in place to build a new main grandstand, along with the incredible work that has already been carried out there by Gareth Clements and his merry band of men and women.
It’s not spending money for the sake of it, Larne are making a real difference. They are becoming a community hub, and their scholarship programme is just another fantastic initiative, combining education alongside Uefa-qualified coaching.
Innovation has led to inspiration for others. Linfield announced their intention to go full-time with the recent launch of their strategic plan for 2021-2025: ‘Fortune Favours the Brave — Never Standing Still’.
‘Progression in Europe’ and keeping ahead of the pack at home are the two defining elements of that plan, as chairman Roy Mcgivern spelt out.
“We have seen other developments in the Irish League and we have watched that in terms of Larne, Crusaders and Glentoran (going full-time) and, while it hasn’t been the main factor for us, you have to take account of what’s going on around you. Linfield can never stand still and we have to plan for the future,” he said.
And that has to be the message for all our teams and football now.
There have been dark times and there may be more to come, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, so let’s strive to get there together.