Coincidentally I finished reading Daire Whelan’s ‘Who Stole Our Game?’ last night and was thinking about doing a post on it, when this morning I heard on the radio that Shelbourne Chief Executive Ollie Byrne had been admitted to hospital complaining of serious chest pains. The current eircom league holders have been in serious decline since the end of the season, again being hit with yet another substantial tax bill, and it would seem the pressure has taken it’s toll. Whatever you may think of Byrne, and there are many who would hold him in fairly low esteem, he has been a strong advocate for League of Ireland football and has done much to improve people’s perception of the game. However, the question has to be asked, has he done more harm than good? Will people look at the league now and think that it’s hit the glass ceiling? Shelbourne gave it a shot and failed. League of Ireland afficianados will, obviously, argue no but it might be slightly harder for the casual observer to see it that way.
‘Who Stole Our Game: The Fall And Fall Of Irish Soccer‘ charts the game in this country from the golden era of the fifties when crowds of 22,000 would cram into the grounds to the present day, where many clubs would be delighted to get even a couple of thousand through the gates. Though a bit annoyingly Dublincentric, it is a well researched and interesting, or infuriating, read that savagely exposes the mismanagement, short-sightedness, begrudgery and political manoeuvring that has blighted what could have been a thriving institution. The chapter on Johnny Giles’ efforts to make something out of Shamrock Rovers is especially prescient.
The saddest thing about the book is how often obvious mistakes were repeated and how some of the attitudes that have blighted the game are still very evident today. Football in this country is entering a new era. The success of Shelbourne, Cork City and Derry City in European competitions, albeit a relative success, has raised the league’s profile. Kevin Doyle’s rise at Reading, after a contentious transfer from Cork, has opened many people’s eyes to the quality of player currently performing over here. Shelbourne aside, clubs here are now beginning to demand reasonably good fees for their star players and the more players that succeed across the water, the bigger the asking price will get. Talented young players no longer have to travel to England to succeed at the highest level - they can learn their trade at an Irish club and still have a chance of progressing. In time, maybe, they won’t need to move abroad at all to acheive their ambitions. Yet all this progress could be for nothing, if the culture that has beset the game all these years isn’t eradicated and there aren’t many solid signs that it has been.
I’m still hopeful, even if ‘Who Stole Our Game’ has eroded that somewhat, that the game is moving in the right direction. If the money that clubs are getting for players now can be spent on youth development, as well as improving current squads. If facilites can improve. If clubs can learn to walk before they run and fans can learn to be patient - not expecting clubs to bankroll their future on short-term success. If Steve Staunton learns that the future success of the Irish international team needs the backing of a strong league and it would be beneficial to everyone if joining a middling English or Scottish side didn’t improve your chances of inclusion over staying at a successful Irish side. If we can do these things and be open to innovation when it comes, then we might see the crowds flock back once again, we might see Irish clubs competing at the highest level and the game might just have a future in this country.
As a rule of thumb, you can measure how hungover I am by the amount of time I spend on Flickr or Flickr related sites. So if Bundaberg rum has done nothing else for you, it has at least enriched your lives with the photographic work of Natalie Aniela Dybisz aka Miss Aniela. Now how’s that for an introduction?
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