Domestic game in need of sweep by new broom

THE FAI Cup final takes place next Sunday, though thanks to the customary foresight of Merrion Square this will not become generally known until about Friday at the earliest.

That the supposed blue rib and of the domestic game should be overshadowed all week by the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifier in Bucharest is entirely fitting in some ways. This, after all, was the season which saw the Premier Division kick off on the last weekend in August, when, it shall be recalled, the Republic of Ireland began its World Cup qualifying campaign in Liechtenstein on Sunday August 31st.

I ask you, what other European football nation involved in World Cup qualifying this week has also scheduled its Cup final next weekend? What other European footballing nation began its domestic season as well as its international World Cup qualifying campaign simultaneously?

It may not seem much, but it's the little things that matter. Theoretically, clashes such as the aforementioned - which diminish the domestic game considerably - should have been even less commonplace since the FAI and the National League merged.

It begs the question, do the administrators charged with running the game in this country truly value the importance of marketing and publicising the domestic game? Or do they really care? If so, they're going a curious way about it. One of the consequences of this week's avoidable clash in that the traditional pre Cup final lunch in the week of the decider had to be held last Friday as the blazers would all be in Bucharest this week.

In times past, three players from both clubs and the respective managers would have attended. Instead, one manager and a total of three players attended last Friday for what was a pretty meaningless event in any case. Coming nine days before the final, it had to be.

Nor does this have to be taken in isolation. In conjunction with the IRFU, the FAI agreed to have the final moved from Lansdowne Road. When was this announced? Coincidentally enough, on the same day that details of a new quadrangular summer tournament were announced.

Leaving aside the point that the FAI Cup final might in some respects be better off at Dalymount Park than Lansdowne Road (a red herring in this context), it creates the impression that many of the administrators regard the Packie Bonner testimonial and the quadrangular tournament as more important than the FAI Cup final.

Confirmation of the Cup final being moved at such short notice, and the announcement regarding the quadrangular tournament, also came in the week of the first live televised league game - and thereby served to deflect attention away from it.

In each of these instances - the start of the Premier Division, the televised Shelbourne Derry City league match and the forthcoming FAI Cup final - the clubs have been left to their own devices with regard to selling their product.

Indeed, there hasn't been an utterance from on high about the future direction of the National League save for the muddled debate and self interested decision by the majority of the 22 club representatives to expand both the Premier Division and the League.

That is to be ratified at this summer's a.g.m. it's still conceivable that four new clubs will not fulfil the most basic requirements of National League entry. In any event, those who do take the trouble to articulate a vision for the future, such as Pat Dolan at St Patrick's, are derided by those whose hold on power has been pretty much constant.

By comparison, the international setup is run pretty smoothly and without such wildly fluctuating changes in format. That's because it has to be. The direction comes from FIFA and/or UEFA. Left to their own devices, the majority of the National League's administrators have failed the league.

To their credit, they give of their time (and often their own money) selflessly. But it is either due to a lack of ability or genuine interest that the National League suffers from such a chronic lack of vision - as manifested by this week's lip service from on high to the FAI Cup final. It shows yet again that the National League badly needs a fresh broom and new people giving it new direction.

Once again then, the clubs will be left to their own devices. But they will rise above it.

Derry City and Shelbourne are capable of providing a good final, and a fitting denouement to the 1996-97 season. But it merely varnishes over the cracks.