League must cut ties with FAI to prosper
DUNDALK goalkeeper Gary Rogers believes an independent body needs to be formed to run the League of Ireland and ensure the domestic game here continues to grow.
The 38-year-old PFAI chairman made his comments in the wake of another bleak week for the FAI, with Minister for Sport Shane Ross confirming on Wednesday that the association sought an €18 million bailout from the government on Monday.
With the possibility of the association entering into examinership, the concerns of League of Ireland players, staff and supporters were raised when the Minister said it was his guess that if the FAI goes, the league would too.
While Minister Ross and Minister of State Brendan Griffin later rowed back on their comments in a statement, which said the insolvency of the association would allow clubs to ‘rebound quickly and fulfil fixtures’, they did admit that they would need to clarify this when they meet UEFA in the New Year.
Reacting to the latest crisis, Rogers - who as chairman of the PFAI represents around 240 of the 300 or so players in the league - said the latest revelations were ‘concerning’ if not surprising.
‘It’s concerning really to see what is going to develop because of the way the governing body has been ran for a number of years,’ he said.
‘It shows too the way the league has been treated by the governing body for years. The fans and supporters have been well aware of that because they’ve made their voices heard all over the country for a long time, but it wasn’t until all this stuff came out that it really uncovered the actions of our former CEO and how the governing body has been mismanaged. The league has been mistreated within all of that as well.
‘It’s obviously hugely concerning that the governing body is in the state that it’s in. We obviously need that to be rectified in order to support the leagues, but the clubs themselves will not go bust because the clubs really don’t get all that much from the governing body as it is in terms of prize-money and stuff like that.
‘When you look at the way the FAI have handled sponsorship deals, TV deals or any sort of revenue that comes in in relation to the league, the league clubs don’t know what they’re worth, so it will be interesting to see in the different forensic reports whether we get some light shed on that subject to see exactly what revenue the league is creating.
‘For me, what the clubs and the league need to do is break away from the FAI and have some sort of loose affiliation with the FAI where they still look after officials and referees in order to maintain the national team.
‘The league should govern itself as a separate department solely responsible for promoting and running the league, because the way it has been ran over the last 10 or 15 years just hasn’t been good enough,’ he said.
While the league folding would be a worst case scenario, Rogers feels this cannot be allowed to happen due to the number of jobs and ancillary jobs created by it.
‘When you look at Dundalk on its own and what it means to the community and the people, it would be incredible to think that just wouldn’t be there,’ he said.
‘Football is embedded within the community in Dundalk and the surrounding areas and you look at all the jobs that come off the back of the club. It’s not just players, but there’s office staff and all little spin-off jobs that come off the club around the town - whether that be caterers, bus companies, printing companies or even media.
‘To think that that would go would be a massive concern, not only for the players but for every