WINTER IS COMING?

MARC CANHAM belives aligning all football to a calendar year represents “a huge opportunity” for the Irish game.

And while there is clear resistance from some quarters, the FAI Director of Football is determined to push the proposal through.

Canham launched the Football Pathways Plan at Aviva Stadium yesterday, a wideranging document spanning the next decade and beyond.

Chief among the proposals is a calendar year for games and football registration, a remodelling of the schoolboy / grassroots programme and an adult football pyramid.

Canham knows there will be warring factions, but insists it shouldn’t be seen as a winter v summer football row.

Citing the various discussions at the FAI roadshows on this Pathways Plan, he said: “There was only one part of the country that voted 100 per cent on summer football.

“That was Mayo, because they’ve been doing it for a long time. And the rest of the country was split for want of a better expression.

“We took that information and said, ‘How can we change the conversation, the debate?’. Let’s put summer and winter football to the side, forget about seasons.”

The proposed new adult football tier involves six levels with the League of Ireland Premier and First Divisions at the top of the pyramid.

Below that would be a third tier split into north and south, a fourth tier spanning the provinces and a regional fifth tier.

Details beyond that were scarce, with Canham insistsing this Pathways document is still “at the starting line” with further dialogue to continue.

“We know from the feedback that while we have a huge opportunity going forward, there is fragmentation,” he added.

“The only way we can (address) that is moving forward with different stakeholders in a room together more often.”

We know from the feedback it is a great opportunity going forward