Minister of State for Sport Charlie McConalogue has noted the low number of woman applicants for 56 new jobs in League of Ireland academies following the start of annual Government funding of €3 million.
The FAI informed McConalogue that only six women, from 300 applicants, went for the 24 director of club academies and 32 head of coaching roles.
Only one woman, former Wexford coach Yvonne McGrath, came through the association’s interview process. Four of the six applicants were immediately ruled out as they lacked the necessary Uefa coaching qualifications.
“The first appointees will be in position before the end of this month with others coming on stream throughout the year,” McConalogue informed the Dáil on Wednesday evening.
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“However, the FAI do wish to highlight one area of concern. The number of female applicants across both roles was low, with a total of six applications received, representing approximately 2 per cent of the overall applicant pool.
“The association have engaged with Sport Ireland on this matter and have provided feedback gathered from potential candidates who chose not to apply, to better understand the barriers that may exist.
“While it is encouraging that one woman applicant was successfully appointed to the academy director panel, this remains an area that requires focused attention.”
The FAI contacted at least a dozen women who hold Uefa coaching badges to understand why they did not put their names forward.
The association found that most of them are in secure employment outside of football, as a career in the game was not possible until the Government funding was announced last year.
The director of academy positions offers a base salary of €43,500 with the head of coaching roles earning at least €38,500.
However, the three-year contracts being offered for the roles is not considered long enough to leave a permanent job, mainly because it would reduce the chances of securing a mortgage to buy a home.
Some other woman candidates were hesitant to leave stable positions within the FAI.
Sport Ireland is working with Clarke to address these issues as the lack of long-term job security is a common concern across other sports. A potential solution is to create woman specific roles.
The FAI has selected 56 suitable candidates for the academy positions. The clubs must now choose from this panel with scope to enhance salaries, above the Government funding, to appoint their preferred person.
“The FAI received almost 300 applications for the roles of academy director and head of academy coaching,” McConalogue added. “This demonstrates both the scale of interest and the growing confidence in the League of Ireland academy system.
“Following the initial screening process, 50 applicants were shortlisted for the academy director roles and 74 applicants for the head of academy coaching roles. From this highly competitive process, 24 candidates were successfully appointed to the academy director panel and 32 candidates to the head of academy coaching panel.
“It is particularly encouraging to note that a significant proportion of applicants are young Irish coaches who have previously had to pursue opportunities abroad due to the limited domestic football industry.”
