Local soccer clubs commiting financial suicide

THE League of Ireland season resumes this weekend, but outside the players, club officials and the dwindling number of diehard fans, does anyone really care? Soccer in this country is on its knees, both financially and in terms of public appeal, and the outlook remains bleak. Near-empty terraces, supporter apathy, counter attractions and harsh economic times are slowly eroding the game’s popularity.

Cork City’s recent demise, after more off-field drama than a year’s series of Coronation Street, underlines the financial hardship stalking clubs at present. Players all over the country are on minimal wages – when they do eventually get paid – and, yet, we are facing the quite extraordinary situation where three Galway City teams within a few miles of each other are about to kick off their League of Ireland campaigns.

There is nothing wrong with ambition and though it must be put on record that both Salthill Devon and Mervue United have earned their right to participate in the First Division, the bottom line is that both clubs are dicing with financial suicide. Mervue reportedly didn’t pay any of their playing staff in their first campaign at this level last season, but the running of the team probably still didn’t fall far short of €100,000.

Just like Salthill, the Mervue club is a dynamic institution and both have excellent facilities as well as a deserved reputation for nurturing schoolboy talent. But the question now has to be asked are these clubs now stepping out of their financial league . . . and for what? Take Mervue, for instance, they had to rent Terryland Park off the Galway FA for their home games last season and, reportedly, they struggled to get even 100 fans at most of those fixtures.

After the initial excitement wears off in Salthill, they too will feel the brunt of the fans indifference. Accessibility to their grounds at Drom is a major drawback as well – travelling on narrow bumpy roads to the venue is a real turn off for those of a doubtful loyalty – and the pitch is also completely exposed to the elements. First Division football comes with a hefty price tag and, eventually, Salthill and Mervue, will have to lower their sights in the interests of keeping the things going that made them so successful in a local context in the first place. Prestige doesn’t pay the bills.

Terryland Park is one of the finest venues in the League of Ireland, but throughout last season, Galway United fought a losing battle to get the fans to come through the turnstiles. All the recent managerial upheaval at the club hasn’t helped, but Nick Leeson and company have tightened the purse strings which has helped to compensate partially for the small crowds. Will 2010 be any better? I have my doubts.

Of course, positive results on the field would make a difference, but when United line out for their first home game of the campaign against Bray Wanderers on Friday week, they will be fielding nearly an unrecognisable outfit as short-term player contracts is resulting in an unprecedented traffic flow between clubs. Supporters like to build up a rapport with their team, but if players are coming and going like flies around a cow’s dumpings, that prospect tends to get short shrift. 

United didn’t even have a manager up to a few weeks ago, never mind a settled squad which highlights the current fluidity in the League of Ireland. Sean Connor has been working diligently in assembling his playing staff, but with only a few survivors from last year, fans attending the upcoming game against Bray will be entitled to ask:

Who are they?

Thomas Heary, Bee Ami, Jamie McKenzie, James Creaney, Tom King, Karl Sheppard and Gary Curran are some of the new faces who will be around this season, but arguably the biggest loyalty they could possibly have to United at this juncture is that the club offered them the best contract going. These are difficult times for all sports – just over 4,000 were in Pearse Stadium last Sunday for the county hurlers’ first home game in nearly 10 months – and while, on one hand, it should be a source of celebration that Galway has as many League of Ireland clubs as Waterford, Limerick and Sligo put together, the reality is that three rather big fish are trying to survive in one very small pond 

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.