LONG WAY TO GO
Irish football needs a proper talent conveyor belt before it can think about qualifying for major tournaments
WHAT is to be done? The eternal question of Irish football raised its head this week and it just so happened that it was being asked as Marc Canham made his first media appearance as the FAI Director of Football.
Canham has been in the role for 12 months but has spent that time getting to know the unique world of Irish football, with its various fiefdoms and intricacies. He has been touring the country, talking to the various stakeholders and, by all accounts, the Englishman has made a good impression.
But the wider public’s first knowledge of Canham came as the person who conducted the review into the Women’s World Cup, which ultimately led to Vera Pauw not getting a contract renewal. But he also has the most important job in Irish football and wants to implement a long-term vision to ensure that the country is producing – and nurturing – more talented players.
Last Thursday’s press conference was dominated by two managers, Pauw and Stephen Kenny. But beneath the headlines generated by those, Canham did go some way to explaining his vision for Irish football.
Along with FAI CEO Jonathan Hill, they want to create a viable industry for the game in this country, but they are doing this while also dealing with legacy issues from the ruinous regime of the previous chief executive.
John Delaney’s time in charge of Irish football illustrated the perils when a sporting administrator becomes more famous than those actually playing the sport – we have seen something similar in Spain after their recent World Cup win.
So, the low profile that Hill and Canham have maintained should be applauded – even if Irish football does wish to hear them more often. And apparently, they will, with briefings like last Thursday going to occur four times a year.
In the past, Irish football was held back by various factions
fighting against one another. And it benefited certain people in power to have those factions entrenched. But Canham wants to create a unified vision for the game that everyone can buy into.
‘I have been in the role now for 12 months and Irish football across all levels of the game has huge room for improvement but also huge opportunities for growth,’ he pointed out.
‘One of the biggest opportunities is about integrating all parts of the game. There are very few countries in the world who have an integrated system between grassroots, club football, professional football. We have a genuine opportunity to create a whole game plan and holistic vision which sets out the objectives that we want to achieve across all those levels of the game.’
It’s all big-picture stuff but, the thing is, something needs to be done. We can no longer depend on England to nurture our best players or simply hope that more generational talents like Evan Ferguson crop up. There needs to be a systematic development of young players in this country.
Canham mentioned Belgium – the gold standard template to replicate when any small country dreams big dreams about their national football team – and Croatia. And he’s right.
Ireland should be following the Belgian model. A nation of 10 million people who have produced some of the most skilful footballers we have seen over the past 10 years.
‘Just look at Belgium and Croatia who are two countries that often get compared with us – similar size population. Belgium had a clear vision 20 to 25 years ago and they’ve been the number one ranked team in the world for many years. That’s because of a development system, not by chance.’
But here’s also the thing – Kevin de Bruyne didn’t play any competitive matches until he was 13 years of age. The same for Eden Hazard and Romelu Lakaku.
Everyone was on the same page to make Belgium a powerhouse. Canham will need similar buy-in if something like that can be achieved in Ireland.
‘I am aware that it is a very difficult task to bring all those stakeholders together through the consultations. I delivered 18 in person all around the country, we had different affiliates, leagues, professional clubs, grassroots clubs, all in the room together.
‘We need to do that more and more if we are to take Irish football forward. We have our underage working group which has been in situ for the last year or so and we have worked through some challenges.
‘The League of Ireland, the SFAI and ourselves; that template of being in the same room leaning into conversations and dealing with some of the challenges has to be the only way that we can take Irish football forward.
‘That won’t be easy, not everybody is going to agree on that.
‘Also I have very good experience from other environments where it is very rare that you get absolute agreement in one room, but if you have a clear vision and a clear plan you have a much greater chance of succeeding.
‘From what I understand, that hasn’t happened in the past, so there is a real opportunity to bring the stakeholders together more regularly in a room and take forward some of the challenges, so that will be the approach.’
By December, Canham – who arrived in the FAI after working in the Premier League as Director of Coaching for nine years – will publish details of his vision for a pathway in Irish football.
By then, the FAI might have a clearer idea of the sort of funding that might be available to improve League of Ireland academies.
In their effort to get more of the revenue from betting tax, the FAI may have support from the Federation of Irish Sport, who in their pre-Budget submission suggested the tax rise another percentage.
It is all part of a whole that will generate an industry around the game in Ireland.
It is something that should have been done years ago, and now it is being done out of necessity.
But when Irish football finally has a conveyor belt developing talent, maybe then we can start thinking about qualifying for major tournaments on a more regular basis.
“The game here has huge opportunities for growth”
“Success can be achieved if we have a clear vision”