All-Ireland league ‘not practical’

LINFIELD manager David Jeffrey has called for the Setanta Cup competition to be expanded but stopped short of advocating an all-Ireland league.

Speaking in Belfast yesterday at the launch of this year’s Setanta Sports Cup, the Linfield boss spoke highly of the benefits of cross-border competition but suggested that an all-Ireland league was not a practical possibility.

Said Jeffrey: “The facts are that if we had one league then eight places in Europe are suddenly reduced to four because we have one administration.

Never mind going into the historical difficulties in terms of the two national teams. It has been mooted before and both associations at various times have said ‘no’. But apart from the historical thing, I don’t think it’s practical or pragmatic.

“In saying that, I was pleased that the Setanta Cup was extended to four teams. And albeit that it’s not an out and out all-Ireland league, I think it would be good if it was extended again to five teams, and that games were played home and away on a Saturday.

That would be my dream because it is exciting. People love their own local game but the Setanta Club is different class. The nights we had when we played Shelbourne, Longford and Derry City, they were quality nights.

“It is a very prestigious competition and while we maybe would not have an all-Ireland league set up with one administration, I think we could be a little bit more imaginative and have something that is close to an all-Ireland league. All we need to do is look at the timing of it a little closer and maybe play it in two parts, have a break as they do in European competition. With a little imagination we could certainly develop the competition.”

FAI Chief Executive John Delaney said that any move towards an all-Ireland League would first have to be initiated by the clubs. And he reported some enthusiasm at ground level for the idea on both sides of the border.

“I’m a democrat, and it’s a question of what the clubs want,” he said.

“Anything of that nature must come first from the clubs on both sides of the border and then the associations would discuss it.

“There’s been positive vibes informally from clubs both north and south, I’d be interested in terms of formalising that and see where they go over the coming period. We’ve enough to be doing at this period in terms of our own merger and getting that right, and making the advances that we need to there. But I think over the next couple of months we’ll be working very closely with the IFA, in terms of how we agreed in December to work closer together executively. Relations have never been better.”

IFA Chief Executive Howard Wells said that his association and the FAI shared ambitious plans for the next five years.

“The Setanta Sports Cup has raised the expectations of the clubs here as they now have something to aspire to beyond the Irish League so it was logical to sit down with the FAI and talk about issues that might benefit us. We’ve been talking with them about co-operative agreements about coaching, marketing and all sorts of experiences that might benefit us.”