PFAI, clubs and FAI meet to consider possible League of Ireland shut down

The FAI, Airtricity League clubs and representative of players are to meet on a daily basis as part of an effort to monitor the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

They will monitor senior football in Ireland and seek the financial support that would be required if games have to be played behind closed doors or postponed over a prolonged period of time.

The three parties met to discuss the issue for the first time on Wednesday afternoon when clubs from both divisions were represented along with the league and the FAI. The meeting was held at the request of players union, the professional footballers’ association of Ireland, who have expressed concern about the fate of their members in the event of a long shut down of any sort.

Two representatives from each of the three stakeholders will now meet each day as a subcommittee with one of the first items on its agenda being to estimate what funds might be required in the weeks and months ahead. The intention is to then make representations to the likes of Uefa and international players’ union Fifpro in an effort to secure backing.

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“It was a very positive first meeting,” said PFAI general secretary Stephen McGuinness afterwards, “but it is only a start. What we will be looking to do is see how much it would take to run the league if there were no match-day revenues coming in and then see where the necessary financial support could be obtained.”

McGuinness believes that clubs will prefer to postpone games rather than play them behind closed doors in the hope that they can have spectators at them later on in the year but there is, he acknowledges, likely to be a major impact if any restrictions are imposed, something he believes could well happen by the end of next week. The entire campaign could be impacted in one way or another with, for instance, the mid-season break potentially scrapped if a backlog of games has to be played.

"As things stand, this weekend's matches are okay but I would be worried about all of the games after that," he says. "If you listen to the way that Simon Harris and others are talking, it seems to be only a matter of time before they take action to stop crowds coming together and that would cause immediate problems for the league.

“What we can’t allow to happen is a situation where the players then don’t get paid for one, two, three months. Some of the clubs will be fine but some would struggle, particularly if something went on for more than a month and anything is possible right now.”

McGuinness pointed to the €800,000 of government funding recently ring-fenced for the development of the league and women’s game as one possible pot that might be raided given the scale of the problem and suggested that half of the money could ultimately be used.

During the Foot and Mouth crisis of 2001 some games were played behind closed doors and part-time players agreed to defer wages but the number of full-time professionals in the league here has, he says, more than trebled since then.