League status quo to remain for 2013

Keith Kelly

The status quo regarding the League of Ireland situation in Galway is set to remain for the 2013 season after the CEO of the FAI, John Delaney, yesterday confirmed to Tribune Sport that the single entity Galway club will not be in place for 18 months.

A report commissioned by the FAI earlier this year recommended that the four major stakeholders in the game locally – the Galway FA, the Galway United Supporters Trust (GUST), Mervue United and Salthill Devon – come together to form a single club to compete in the League of Ireland.

However that is not now going to happen in time for next season, and in a further blow to the wider soccer public in Galway, Delaney all but confirmed that the GUST would not receive a licence to compete next season, effectively locking-out the main body of soccer supporters in the city and county.

“I think that [locking-out] is a very harsh way of looking at it. The reality is, it is too short a time-scale to have everything in place for next season, we are trying to address the issue of senior soccer in Galway, and we want to take our time and do it right.

“The view of the League Directors would be that we are in the process of going from the present situation of having two clubs in Galway to having one club, so going back to the situation in the 2011 season where we had three clubs would not be helpful in that regard.

“I do empathise with supporters who want to get to a solution quicker and see a single Galway club in the league next season, but there are a lot of issues to be resolved to achieve that, and it all takes time,” Delaney said yesterday.

The first in a planned series of meetings towards a single Galway entity was held in the city on Monday night and was attended by Delaney and Director of the Airtricity League, Fran Gavin, as well as two representatives from each of the four stakeholders.

Delaney said that, as far as he is concerned, “the meeting, which saw everyone come together as one group, went very well” and that the representatives of all four groups were to go back to their own members and discuss the next step.

“The representatives are to go back now and meet with their members and talk about where to go from here. Hopefully if all agree to continue in the process, I will bring in an independent chairperson, as well as having FAI representation on the committee. The meetings to-date have been facilitated by Bernie O’Connell, who has been an enormous help, and he will also be involved in the process going forward,” he said.

Delaney confirmed that GUST, Mervue United and Salthill Devon had all submitted expressions of interest to compete in next season’s First Division, but the fact he says there won’t be three Galway clubs in the league next year does suggest that the GUST application has already been rejected, without going through the licensing process. 

“Obviously, I would like to see the hopes of those [Galway United] supporters to have a team playing next season realised, they were without a team this season, and they will again in 2013, but if we are going to achieve the aim of having one Galway club, we need to take our time and do it right.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.