SETANTA SPORTS CUP FALLOUTThere is no evidence to support the view that games involving teams from North and South will bring violence to our towns, says Fintan Drury

When the draw was made for this year's Setanta Cup it was clear that Group Two involving as it did four of the biggest clubs on the island - and the three biggest in Northern Ireland - would be watched closely in the context of the All-Ireland Premier League that Platinum One has been promoting as the way forward for domestic football in Ireland.

Last Tuesday night St Patrick's Athletic hosted Irish League champions Linfield in the third series of games in this year's competition. Four Linfield "supporters" were arrested outside the ground for public order offences. Those opposed to an all-island league may see certain images of the scene as evidence that such a move will bring unwanted violence to our towns and cities. There is no evidence to support this view. The case for the establishment of a new professional league involving the bigger clubs on the island should, in fact, be strengthened by this year's Setanta Cup programme.

This week more than 800 Linfield supporters were in Inchicore for the match with St Patrick's. On the same night Derry City played Glentoran at the Oval in Belfast and brought almost 1,000 fans to the North's capital where there were no incidents whatsoever.

On March 10th, 1,700 Derry City fans travelled to Windsor Park, Belfast. I attended the game. The stewarding was excellent. The away team's supporters were vocal throughout. There was no hint of trouble, no singing or taunting that would not be in evidence at any fixture in England and the match passed off without incident. In Dublin that evening, 800 Glentoran fans were in Inchicore for their Setanta Cup fixture against St Patrick's.

In this newspaper, Tuesday evening's minor incidents at Inchicore warranted a brief mention at the start of Emmet Malone's match report. The contrast with some others was stark with the one colour photograph of a bloodied Linfield "supporter" being carried extensively along with dramatised accounts of a few minor scuffles outside the ground.

In the early 1980s I worked for a period as a journalist in Belfast. Major incidents were pretty commonplace. Even more so were minor incidents that, had they been captured by the photographic lens or the television camera, could have been used to portray an episode in much more dramatic terms than was warranted.

The chairman of Linfield FC, Jim Kerr, spoke well and authoritatively following this week's events. A number of things are clear from his account. Linfield, the best supported club on the island, takes the behaviour of its fans very seriously. It makes no assumptions in this regard and, working with St Patrick's Athletic and the Garda, the club had put detailed plans in place to ensure its travelling fans conducted themselves in an appropriate manner.

Just over 800 of them travelled with their match tickets and photographic ID. A tiny number outside of that group, who claimed to be supporters of the club, attempted to gain access and were involved in the minor fracas with gardaí. Importantly, there was no difficulty between the opposing sets of supporters.

Kerr also referenced the Garda approach as "zero tolerance". I do not know what he meant by this but many within the game here believe that concern over public safety means domestic football can be over policed. At those Dublin derbies which I have attended in recent years it would have been hard to reach any other conclusion.

Last Tuesday 120 gardaí were on duty for the match in Richmond Park - 40 of them inside the ground. That evening in Belfast, for the game between Glentoran and Derry City, 15 PSNI officers were on duty. This was the same police presence as on March 10th for the match between Linfield and Derry when the Foylesiders had brought 1,700 fans to Belfast.

So what relevance, if any, do this week's events have for the future prospects of an all-Ireland league? Some, I believe, but not that which others might want to suggest. Supporters are attending Setanta Cup matches in encouraging numbers. This is particularly true of the three clubs from Northern Ireland - Linfield, Derry City and Glentoran - that would have to be part of any all-Ireland league. What is noticeable is that some of the bigger clubs in the Republic cannot match the active support levels of their Northern counterparts.

It must be remembered too that - with due respect to Setanta - this is a competition that would rate only third in the affections of most supporters behind their league and national cup competitions. Furthermore, the matches are played on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Last year one of the stronger Premier League clubs in Ireland had net gate revenues from its 16 home league matches of €202,000. Seventy-four per cent of that amount came from just half of the fixtures. The other half of the home games generated average match revenues of just €6,000. This is a common feature across the clubs attempting to establish a proper professional level in our game. Clubs are haemorrhaging money. It is not because they are paying their players the equivalent of English Championship wages. They cannot drive up income levels and one of the reasons is that they are playing too many matches against clubs that bring no support and do not stimulate the home fans to attend in any numbers.

Over the next six weeks the promoters of the all-Ireland league will be bringing their plans to the next stage. In our only public comment to date, last February, we welcomed the commitment by the FAI and the IFA to evaluate what they described as the "talked about all-Ireland league". We have made it clear at all times that this development cannot happen without their support. We said then that what was required was an urgent and radical move given the perilous financial position of the domestic game in Northern Ireland and the Republic. This problem has since become more, not less, acute.

What Irish football needs now is for the two associations - with the strong backing of the two governments - to embark on such a radical course and to do so now. The real lesson from the first three series of matches in this year's Setanta Cup is that only an all-Ireland league can address the fundamental problems that beset the domestic game.

Last night, the current leaders in the League of Ireland Premier Division, St Pat's, hosted Cobh Ramblers at Inchicore. There will have been no public order concerns but the attendance figures will reveal a lot about the state of our National league.

Fintan Drury is chairman of Platinum One Ltd, the company promoting the establishment of an All-Ireland Premier League.