John Fallon: Ruud Dokter never truly grasped Ireland’s unique football culture

Eight-and-a-half years is more than enough time for someone in that position to last and the concern internally was additional damage of him overstaying his welcome.

Fri, 05 Nov, 2021 - 21:47

John Fallon

After spending 13 years going Dutch in their pursuit of excellence, the FAI is preparing to go back to basics with its new football director.

News of Ruud Dokter’s imminent departure was only surprising for its timing, just a case of when, rather than if, the high performance director was being moved on.

Eight-and-a-half years is more than enough time for someone in that position to last and the concern internally was additional damage of him overstaying his welcome.

That fear was particularly brought home just over a year ago when Dokter’s specialisation argument was advanced.

For someone living and working in the country for so long to believe it would be viable that talented youngsters should concentrate on one code from 12 years of age smacked of misjudgement.

The FAI blueprint contended sporting diversity invited dilution and that alternative sports should only be participated in on a non-elite basis.

Within a few months, two of the country’s rising stars, Saoirse Noonan and Chiedozie Ogbene, were invertedly contradicting the Abbotstown party line by espousing the benefits of mixing GAA with football during their upbringing. No wonder newly-appointed Academy manager Will Clarke declined to concur with his chief’s musings when asked about the subject in June.

Ireland shouldn’t apologise for its sporting heritage, something Dokter and his predecessor Wim Koevermans seemed to struggle grasping.

Both had previously worked at their home association in the Netherlands and when Koevermans left the FAI for the job of India manager, Liam Brady advocated a replacement possessing diplomatic prowess.

Irish football was by then undergoing a radical shift, introducing for the first time national underage leagues. The FAI had tinkered with various formats until the U19 division came on stream but Koevermans quit before the contentious younger versions he visualised saw the light of day.

Once the FAI lowered the groups to U17 in 2015 and U15 two years later, trouble brewed. All-out war ensued by the time of the maiden U13 league.

By restricting entry to League of Ireland clubs, the FAI were debarring traditional schoolboy outfits. They were permitted to join if willing to link up with national league clubs, acting as a junior partner in a marriage of convenience.

Conflict and resentment were inevitable and Dokter was left marooned in the middle, unable to placate the competing factions.

There was a tacit admission of guilt made by Niall Quinn last year, when the interim deputy chief executive lamented the previous treatment of established underage clubs. After all, they did, by a landslide majority, produce the influx of newcomers which Stephen Kenny only on Thursday branded as unprecedented.

Dokter’s Player Development Plan (PDP) was presented in 2015 as the manuscript to unify a fragmented football structure, yet key elements were discarded on a regional level, especially when John Delaney’s empire started to crumble in 2019.

Age-appropriate game formats became inconsistent in the roll-out while the edict of switching the season from the school calendar to summer badly backfired.

Sceptics suggested the latter move was designed to solely facilitate the League of Ireland which, as Dokter’s document on specialisation detailed, caters for only 2% of the entire playing pool. The thirst for a change to a concept previously piloted and deemed a failure further underlined the leader’s detachment from local realities.

It suited Delaney to cite Dokter’s influence in hatching the succession plan of U21 manager Kenny following Mick McCarthy into the senior hotseat, but in one of only three full media appearances during his tenure, the Dutchman couldn’t provide any comparative examples to support the madcap arrangement as best practice.

When the demise came about of that man who appointed him, Delaney, there was a sense Dokter would follow him out the door but he was last year retained on a short-term deal running till next June.

At that stage, the FAI’s largest affiliate by a stretch, the Schoolboys FAI (SFAI), had lost faith to such an extent that they outlined their objection to his continuance in a letter to interim chief executive Gary Owens.

He was no peacemaker in their eyes, moreso aloof and disinterested.

Disquiet wasn’t confined to noisy constituents, for there was dismay in League of Ireland circles about Dokter’s allocation of scarce resources.

Given the word ‘budget’ featured three times in the job spec for his role, that Dokter chose to spend money employing 11 high-performance staff coaches last year, rather than grant money to the 20 clubs, didn’t go down well.

They receive a measly €10,000 per year for development, with only six able to afford a full-time, dedicated Academy director.

Damien Duff gained some insight too of the inner workings through his role as Shelbourne U17 head coach and wasn’t afraid to call Dokter out.

Those sympathetic to the 66-year-old’s plight claim he was doomed from the outset; the financial constraints militating against appeasing the multitude of parishes across the game.

Straitened times are set to remain in the foreseeable future but that won’t prevent the FAI headhunting a candidate for the broader post with an intimate knowledge and appreciation of Ireland’s unique football culture.