The FAI is to use the additional funds secured from the Government in return for abandoning plans for its own stadium to dramatically reshape the grassroots of football here, it was claimed yesterday when the association launched its strategy document for the next five years.

Entitled "One Game, One Association", the document confirms the shift in emphasis that had been signalled by the association's general secretary, Brendan Menton, towards the promotion of larger clubs, more flexible structures and shared facilities.

Welcoming the policies, which were officially launched by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, Menton said the priorities identified included an increased emphasis on catering to sections of society not being accommodated within club structures, developing under-exploited variations of the game such as indoor football, and developing regional centres to be shared between all football clubs and leagues in the area concerned and, where appropriate, other sporting organisations too.

"What we would like to see is a situation where clubs sought to involve people from all sections of society in the game," said Menton. "That's not to say that there won't always be room for the pub team or the junior league team or whatever, but we want to make sure that the game is available to older people, to women and to those with special needs.

"At the moment we have about 180,000 registered members, but Government figures put the number playing the game at around 325,000. What we have to address is why those additional people aren't playing the game in a structured way that receives support from us."

This issue would involve a greater flexibility in the type of football promoted, he said.

"We've already seen it with kids, where there's been a move towards the small-sided game, but we'd like to extend that to indoor football and futsal (a FIFA-recognised version of the game that can be played in or outdoors).

"Basically we're losing a lot of our young players at 17 or 18 and we're not involving as many others as we would like to, so we want to get away from the idea that football has to be a game played by men at 11 o'clock on a wet winter's morning."

A key part of encouraging an expansion in numbers will, he admitted, be a dramatic improvement in facilities around the country, and Menton insisted the funding available over the coming 12 months will signal a real start to the association's attempt to tackle that issue.

"Assuming we can come up with enough good, sustainable projects, we will be in a position to spend upwards of £15 million (€19.05 million) on developing facilities next year. Depending on the quality of the submissions (which must be in by January 4th), the figure could potentially rise to, perhaps, £21 million because of the provisions for matching funds from the government. That's more than a three fold rise on what we received last year and should have a dramatic impact."

Aside from ensuring that the money is targeted at projects that will benefit all levels of the game, however, Menton says that joint ventures with other sports will also be on the agenda.

Some of the funding which it is anticipated the association will receive is, of course, dependent on the construction of Stadium Ireland, and Ahern yesterday reiterated his intention to proceed with the project.

Addressing the issue of the capital funding required, he said he was amazed that, given the sort of funds required just to keep a Department like Health ticking over, people could "get themselves into a knot over what is, by comparison, so little for sport, particularly when you consider that it is capital spending which won't have to be repeated."