Ireland’s summer season in crowded company

Summer soccer hits Ireland, but after last season’s debacle, which left Shelbourne and St Patrick’s Athletic both claiming the title following registration complaints, progress will be measured by how quickly that hangover is shaken off.

Despite the great interest in their team in the World Cup, Irish fans do not turn out for domestic competitions in large numbers, and a couple of years ago a summer season was proposed - taking the lead from Norway.

Darren Bernstein, marketing and development executive of the Eircom League, explained: "The attendances have been falling for the last 40 years, when we used to have crowds similar to England. There’s also the problem with backlogs of games in April due to postponements and weather abandonments.

"We also have problems in Europe. Irish teams play early, generally preliminaries in June or July, and many of the teams will not be fully fit and lose to teams that are low on the co-efficient rankings. We hope that, like Swedish and Norwegian teams, having the players fit and the season already three months old, that they can make it to the second or third qualifying rounds."

Within the next five years Ireland will have its champions in the group stages of the Champions League, and the switch to an early-season start for an initial three-year period is viewed as vital. The pending competition will climax in January, and next year it will be run from April to November.

"We have become too complacent," says Bernstein. "Football is the No1 game in the world, and we seem to think that as such it needs no promoting. But that is completely wrong. It’s not the No1 game here, and new methods are needed. Look at the Belfast Giants [ice-hockey team]. They are selling out most games, and who is really interested in ice hockey in Ireland? It’s all about the promotion and the attractiveness of the game.

"We try to bridge the gap between the incredible support of the national team and the fans at club level, but it is increasingly difficult. When you look at the Irish team at the World Cup, it was probably unique in that none of its players played in their own country. That is because the 70 to 80 best players in the country each year go to England or Scotland. We have to try to make it more attractive to them, too."

The move to summer competition avoids to an extent the battle for Premiership and SPL club supporters, but having moved that rock, the Irish association (FAI) find themselves up against a more traditional hard place, the Gaelic Athletic Association. On July 14, the Leinster senior football final between Dublin and Kildare will be played at Croke Park in Dublin with a predicted crowd of 80,000 - equivalent to 20 Eircom attendances.

This may explain why the GAA say there has been "no talk at all" about the FAI’s change. Indeed, the Gaelic organisers do not envisage crowds being lost to summer soccer.

GAA spokesman Feargal McGill reflects: "It’s the Irish mentality that helps us. The championship [All-Ireland] is a knockout competition, and most, say Longford Town fans, would forego a Longford Town league match if the county made it to Croke Park. We are the sport that makes your local postman or dentist into a star."

Star-making may be a step too far for the Eircom League. The GAA may not be brimful of glamorous stars like the Premiership or the Old Firm, but it contains many good players.

While Oscar Wilde is dispensing advice, it may be wise for the FAI to heed him once more: "It is better to be beautiful than to be good," he said, "but it is better to be good than ugly."