FAI is letting down women’s domestic game

AHEAD of the biggest international in the history of Irish women’s football on Tuesday night, the most important fixture in the domestic calendar is being shunted to the sidelines.

The Evoke.ie FAI Women’s Cup final between Shelbourne and Athlone Town has been pencilled into the FAI diary since the start of the season – Sunday, November 6 at Tallaght Stadium.

It was always a standalone game on the 2022 itinerary, as befits the occasion as well as the FAI’s desire to enhance the competition’s profile.

With live TV coverage guaranteed, no other domestic football as a counter attraction, and the upsurge in interest in women’s football following the exploits of Vera Pauw’s side, the props were in place to improve on last year’s 3,053 attendance and generate extra publicity.

Only, the goalposts have shifted. On Wednesday, the FAI announced that the final round of SSE Airtricity Premier Division fixtures would be put back 48 hours to Sunday, November 6, the same day as the Evoke.ie FAI Women’s Cup final.

The 11th-hour switch was not unexpected. Once Shamrock Rovers secured their place in the group phase of the Europa Conference League, they were locked in to six fixtures, the last of which takes place on Thursday, November 3.

They could never play on successive days.

The five league games will kick off at 7.0pm, four hours after the FAI Women’s Cup final, which is in danger of becoming marginalised.

Three of the five men’s games are in Dublin and one of them, UCD versus Shamrock Rovers at The Bowl, could decide who gets crowned champions, and who gets relegated.

The switch to a Sunday finale will impact the prospect of Shelbourne supporters getting behind their women’s team, although some diehards may take in Tallaght first and then high-tail it to Richmond Park.

While RTÉ are committed to live coverage of the Women’s Cup final, their resources may be at full stretch on the day, should the title hinge on the outcome of UCD v Rovers.

The prospect of bringing the Cup final back 24 hours was not an option as Ireland’s rugby team are playing South Africa at Aviva Stadium on Saturday, November 5.

And the men’s Premier Division games couldn’t be deferred to Monday, November 7 or Tuesday, November 8 due to potential promotion-relegation play-off considerations.

With no wriggle room due to ‘broadcasting and logistical issues’, the ShelbourneAthlone game will go ahead as planned, akin to a curtain-raiser. It harks back to a few years ago when the FAI Women’s Cup final was the warm-up on FAI Cup final day at the Aviva – a practice the FAI stopped in order to promote the women’s showpiece event in its own right.

Yet, next month, the danger is that it will revert to a second-class role for the League of Ireland finale.

In reply to queries from Sportsmail, an FAI spokesperson insisted the ‘Evoke.ie FAI Women’s Cup final is a day of utmost importance to all at the FAI’.

Utmost importance? If so, why wasn’t a standalone date and venue signed and sealed to avoid a potential clash with the last round of the SSE Airtricity League?

Curiously, the FAI did not express any regret for the damaging loss of prestige for the fixture.

For all that the FAI does for women’s football, chiefly the senior international team under Pauw, they could yet do much more.

The amateur status which pertains to the Women’s National League must be urgently addressed, lest the talent drain continue.

In the period from July 2021 to July 2022, Shelbourne said farewell to eight players, without receiving a cent. The highly-regarded Jessie Stapleton, only 17 but already a mainstay of the Reds, could join the exodus before long, you suspect

As a comparison, including add-ons, Shamrock Rovers have banked around €2million from the sale of Gavin Bazunu to Manchester City in 2018. Yet, Stapleton (below) – who could become the next Katie

McCabe – would leave the WNL for free, as things stand.

Should the FAI push for a semiprofessional standing, clubs could finally command a transfer fee rather than see the players walk out the door, thereby stunting the potential growth of the WNL.

What chance of progress is there for Irish clubs in the Women’s Champions League if the

exodus of leading players continues? None.

Players need an incentive to stay and be part of a rising movement.

‘Negotiations are ongoing between the FAI and Women’s National League Clubs around changing the status of the league to professional,’ said an FAI spokesperson.

As it stands, clubs don’t get a cent in compensation for the time and money they invest in developing under-age female players either. That needs to be changed too.

As for the razzmatazz around the FAI Women’s

Cup final on November 6, it will carry a hollow ring.

This blue riband occasion deserves better.