Game's matador must take bull by the horns

IT WOULD be tempting to describe last Friday's draw between Shelbourne and St Patrick's Athletic at Tolka Park as a rare oul Dublin derby. In fact, it was a modern day Dublin derby with an important difference.

The pitch was riddled with more good young Irish players who have played across channel than would have been possible 10 or even five years ago (The Shelbourne midfield quartet alone were all young twenty somethings who have played in England, added to which were Pat Scully, Dave Campbell, Keith Long and Eddie Gormley, as well as a host of good home based players).

These included, of course, the international squad's newest member Stephen Geoghegan. His like probably couldn't have made it without the undoubted improvements of recent years.

An atmospheric, near all seater stadium was the perfect backdrop for the crowd of around 5,000, who enjoyed a richly competitive game. The proof in the pudding was the reaction of Mick McCarthy: "It was very committed, which was nice to see, and there was a bit of quality to be fair. Players like Eddie Gormley and the two Shels lads (Geoghegan and Tony Sheridan), they're the starring lights. The crowd were brilliant and it was a good advert for the game here."

Tolka Park last Friday showed what is possible when two of the more progressive clubs come face to face. It also showed what is not being achieved. It could be like this, well, if not all of the time, then most of the time, but it isn't.

Clubs such as Shelbourne and St Patrick's, who are striving to market their game better, build better facilities, improve the quality of players in the domestic game and ultimately go full time, believe, rightly, that the clubs are doing it for themselves.

Sure, there have been occasional grants from the FAI for both these clubs, without which pitch and stand improvements at both grounds would not have been possible. But there is a chronic lack of leadership, of real vision from the top, as well as any sense of imaginative co operation between the clubs.

This is leaving aside the self interested, myopic, tail wagging the dog decision to expand both the Premier Division and the League by four clubs. Not to mention the appalling sequence of rule interpretations which has resulted in countless suspensions, as well as court cases - the ultimate indictment of Merrion Square's administration.

No, this goes further. "It's about the total lack of marketing in the game amongst other things, maintains the St Patrick's chief executive and team manager Pat Dolan. Look at what marketing has done for the Premiership in England, which in terms of standard is not a whole lot better than it was a few years ago. It has just been marketed properly. The most pressing need for the National League is better marketing and improved television coverage. If we had that at St Patrick's we could increase our revenue from perimeter advertising tenfold. So what do they do, they appoint an administrative secretary instead of a commercial manager for the League.

"Instead we have a television deal in which the clubs had no input and we are then told it will have a regular magazine programme incorporating all facets of the Irish game, including junior football. I ask you, where else would that happen?"

Indeed, the inexplicable failure link television coverage of a successful international team over the last decade with the National League is the most damning indictment of the domestic game's administration. Using the international matches as a leverage for improved coverage of the domestic game was supposed be one of the merger's main selling points. It hasn't happened and won't appear to under the recent agreement.

A mole tells me that the aforementioned deal has not been signed yet. In which case the clubs and others who purport to believe in the advantages of the merger should have it torn up and instigate a new one.

Damien Richardson at Shelbourne echoes the acute sense of frustration felt by Dolan and St Patrick's. Accordingly, in the wake of Friday's match the two men have agreed to set in motion a manager's association, with the express, view, that all other interested parties from PFAI to media to referees, directors, administrators and supporters - all come together for an end of season seminar/conference/ whatever.

"We are promising more now than we've ever promised before but if we're to show that this isn't just an illusion then we have to grasp the initiative now. At this conference we should also invite guest contributors from the non league in England, the Nationwide League and the Premiership as well as the separate entities from the game here."

Meanwhile, back at Merrion Square, anyone with a sense of vision or passion is largely ignored and even ostracised. Despite the changes in personnel after the recent watering down of the report by marketing consultant Ray Cass, everything changes, everything stays the same.