Marc Canham attempts to bring clarity as future of Donegal leagues sparks debate

Volunteers and supporters of Donegal football debated the future of the sport in the county last night and argued at the lack of lack clarity and detail issued by the FAI to the clubs regarding their new Football Pathway Plan when representatives from the clubs met with FAI officials in Letterkenny.

The FAI attempted to allay fears with the growing concerns over the future of football in Donegal as they clarified that they have no intention of forcing leagues to reschedule their playing season but rather reschedule the period when registration for the sport commences. 

A large crowd involved in the Donegal football leagues gathered in the ballroom of the Radisson Blu hotel in Letterkenny last night where FAI director of football Marc Canham attempted to bring clarity with regards to the future of the sport in the county, as he unveiled the association’s new Football Pathway Plan. 

The north-west gathering was the final briefing to the grassroots public this week with three other briefings having already taken place in Dublin, Cork and Galway, as Canham outlined the FAI’s “12-year vision” for the Irish game which will be delivered in three-year blocks. 

Canham stated that all ideas outlined in the plan are up for discussion and none are set in stone yet with more details on the plan to come later.  

Among the items on the agenda is a six-tier pyramid for men’s and women’s football in Ireland, needing around 146 clubs involved.  

The start point for men would be a National Leagues North and South, sitting below the League of Ireland First Division. For women, the initial step is a First Division. 

Canham also noted that apart from Dublin and Cork, all other counties in the country are missing some form of clear pathway for players in the men’s game, while for the women’s game, every county is missing a direct and structured pathway for players to develop and evolve the journey in the sport. 

The overarching concern in Donegal was the FAI’s plans to synchronise all adult and underage football leagues across the country to the one calendar year schedule which would see all leagues, the Donegal Junior League, Inishowen League, Inishowen Ladies League, Donegal Women’s League and the underage divisions all play during the one season. 

However, the former director of coaching at the Premier League wanted to bring clarity to the situation stating that any change brought to league formats and dates will merely be decided by the clubs themselves and the FAI only intend to change the date of registration so that every club at all ages are registered at the same time in January. 

“I want to reinforce this, what we are asking the games to think about is starting and ending the registration period at the same time,” said Canham. 

“We’re not asking everyone to play football at the exact same time, on the same day, on the same pitch, we’re just asking for one registration period from January to December at all levels. 

“The idea of when the leagues are played, that’s based on what part of the country you are in, so you can design your own schedule based on what suits you, based on access to match officials and players, etc.  

“We’re not asking you to play football for the whole year, but rather maximise the opportunity for the 12 months. We want to have the idea that if there’s an opportunity to play football then you can play football. 

“This is not about summer or winter football, this is totally up to what suits the leagues themselves.” 

However, the director of football did outline that there are issues in the association that need addressing, bringing to light the idea of revamping the underage system. 

“We feel at the moment there are a few issues,” as Canham outlines them. “We see that our underage schedule is very similar to our adult system. It’s very rare in any other walk of life that you would design something for children the same as you would for adults? 

“With the season scheduling. There’s no alignment, and the scheduling seems very messy, so we just want to work together and have a greater understanding of the structure. 

“But I have to hit home again, it’s not about playing football at different times of the year, it’s about having one registration. For our football pyramid to work, leagues have to play roughly at the same time though.” 

There were a lot of items outlined by the FAI which nobody on the night could really argue with, such as creating more participation opportunities, improving governance of clubs and leagues, and streamlining player development. 

However, when the discussion was put to the floor, many argued with the lack of clarity and detail around the plan with Donegal league fixtures secretary Christina O’Donnell outlining her concerns. 

“We see there’s a 12-year plan and we see what’s involved in the first three years, but clearly there’s a lot more to this document that you’re putting up here. Do you not think that should’ve been issued to all the clubs to read beforehand so we could come here tonight with what we think of it?” said O’Donnell. 

“You’re talking about how you will further the discussion in relation to this plan and this action, but we don’t know what you’re talking about. We need to know how you came to this three-year idea and the information behind it. We need that presented to us.” 

Inishowen secretary Nigel Ferry who expressed his concerns to DonegalLive earlier this week, addressed his worries again, this time to the members of the FAI, stating that the idea of calendar football will be detrimental to Donegal football. 

“We said last year when we met the FAI, that calendar football, summer football, whatever you want to call it would be detrimental to this county,” said Ferry.  

“Our league has been going from strength to strength. We now have 40 clubs and 60 teams playing football from August to April every year and close to 2,000 people playing adult football. 

“This has been working well for years and now your priority is to change it all which will hammer our numbers. Ten teams have already contacted me saying they will not be able to field if this changes. 

“We will also not have enough referees to cater to all the games, that’s always been a problem, and then we add to the fact that 32 clubs in Donegal operate off one pitch in their club. So, this calendar season can’t work.” 

Cranford United member Paddy Logue concurred with Ferry’s point on the calendar year saying: “I think the aspirations for the programme are very welcomed by everyone. Where you’re going to have trouble is that the leagues here start in September and end in April or May. There’s a reason for that. Leagues have the chance to play in the summer and they don’t take that opportunity, ask yourself why? 

“The other issue is that this plan is coming from Dublin, that is creating a divide which will cause the FAI problems. You want to unify the game, but you’re only going to create a split in the game and cause a problem that was never here before.  

“You have this plan imposed on the clubs. You talk about that 60 per cent of people at workshops who agree with this plan, anyone can take figures to suit their agenda. The junior clubs know what’s good for them on the ground. This is going to divide this sport in Donegal and in Ireland.” 

However, Canham disagreed with these notions stating: “We want people to be open, we welcome that. This is not a done deal and it’s not based on Dublin. The next phase is to work through the detail and consultation.” 

Gweedore United’s Paul McGee relayed his opinion on the matter by highlighting the lack of clarity and information given to the clubs about the plan prior to the meeting. 

“This is the first point of contact I’ve received about this plan,” said McGee.  

“You refer to consultation all night with stats and percentages. I’m wondering when this consultation starts? I haven’t received any emails or information about this plan. 

“You have a lot of information about the clubs that are for this change, but do you have any information on the clubs that aren’t for this? 

“From our point of view, if you force the clubs down this route, you may force the clubs out of the FAI to go down the route of a non-affiliated league. We’re volunteers and we need to be kept involved, it shouldn’t be brought to us through the media. Tonight should be the starting point of the consultation.” 

It was important to note that not everyone was totally against the proposal, with Bonagee manager Jason Gibson embracing the change. 

“I’m probably of the alternative view, I’m in favour of calendar football. I don’t think it’s as bad a state as many want to believe,” said Gibson. 

“I feel quantity doesn't always bring quality. If we look at the winter programme from August to May, we don’t play football in December and barely in January already. I think the issues with volunteers and referees can be overcome as can the pitch issue.  

“A point that we need to look at too, is, each club here has probably had 4,000 players’ names gone through the books over the last 20 years and we can probably count with our fingers how many we’ve kept in the club. 

“So, we have an issue already with retention and it’s important to fix that and keep players playing and keep them involved in the club. That’s an area we need to look at in this plan.” 

Various other aspects of the charter are due to be aired when finally unveiled to the public and the media on February 22. 

Exactly what this will look like or what will happen with the plan will be eagerly awaited.