Grassroots fans and footballers deserve so much better than this

EVERY second Friday between February and October my father and his brother join an elite group of football supporters who brave the elements to watch St Patrick’s Athletic in Richmond Park in Inchicore. They’ve been going for decades. There have a been a few highs – a good stretch in the mid to late ‘90s and some decent years when Liam Buckley returned to the club more recently. But there have also been some cold nights standing by the Camac River that flows through Inchicore as the Saints struggled to put a couple of passes together.

Yet they persevere. They buy their season tickets and show up in Richmond – hail, rain or snow, win, lose or draw.

And there are many more like them scattered across the country. Loyal fans who show up at St Coleman’s Park to watch Cobh Ramblers or those who cheer on Drogheda in United Park. They don’t need analysis from Jamie Carragher or Roy Keane. They do it themselves on the terrace during the match or in the pub after the game.

These League of Ireland supporters deserve better than the huge uncertainty that currently hangs over domestic football following John Delaney’s controversial exit from the FAI.

As do the 2,700 grassroots football clubs around the country and the 180,000 registered players.

So far we have seen a lot of posturing from the Government. The Taoiseach said he is ready to step in. Sports Minister Shane Ross said he will find new ways to fund grassroots football. There are plans to pay for local development officers who set out football programmes for grassroots clubs.

However, Ross has no plans to get involved in the League of Ireland, which, as usual, gets treated like the ugly stepsister of Irish sport. Fans rightly have fears over the future of their sport which was barely supported in the first place.

For instance, the FAI fully owns Cobh Ramblers’ and Drogheda United’s grounds and has a 50pc stake in Wexford Youths’ facilities. Prime real estate, you would think, when you’re in debt talks with the banks.

Yesterday, an FAI spokesperson insisted: “none of these assets is part of the current re-financing plan”. We can only hope ‘current’ isn’t the operative word.

Labour Party Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who hosted a briefing on the FAI in Leinster House, said he believed selling off the clubs or some of their land could be a real possibility given the state of the association’s finances. “If an organisation’s finances are that much in the red and there is that level of toxicity, then surely everything is up for grabs in talks in the banks,” Mr Ó Ríordáin said. Let’s hope he’s wrong.

Mr Ross is a football fan, although I’m not sure how many nights he’s spent pitchside in Richmond. But he could use this scandal as an opportunity to properly support League of Ireland football for the first time.

It was suggested yesterday that the league could be taken away from the FAI and maybe that could be a good starting point.