FAI press case for increased funding of grassroots football by Government

Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers TD, with FAI Board Member Packie Bonner, left, and FAI President Gerry McAnaney, right, at the launch of the 2021 edition of the Social Return On Investment Model, supported by Uefa Grow on behalf of the FAI, at the Department of the Taoiseach in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Packie Bonner says the FAI have pitched to the Government the ammunition to warrant a funding injection for Irish football.

Damien Duff’s recent barb at the quality of football facilities compared to GAA and rugby magnified an issue plaguing the game for decades.

It’s not just infrastructure that is lacking. The vast majority of League of Ireland clubs require funding to invest in youth development, a challenge heightened in a post-Brexit era.

A joint FAI and Uefa exercise, entitled the Social Investment Report on Football, was issued on Wednesday, quantifying the economic benefits of football. Among the highline figures derived from a study of the FAI’s 221,000 registered player pool and the 43,000 volunteers is a €1.8bn contribution to the state.

That’s broken into healthcare savings arising from football participation of €1.14bn, €304m from the economic impact and social benefits of €355m.

Uefa audited the figures extracted from the research by UK-based firm Substance.

“We’ve been talking to the Government for 20 years and putting the case out there,” said Bonner, technical director at the FAI from 2003-2010 before returning in May as an independent director.

“We now have the numbers from a scientific approach to deliver the ammunition by showing what it’s worth. This strengthens our case and it strengthens the case of junior sports minister Jack Chambers going back to the Government.”

The €50m that the FAI received from Government in the decade up to John Delaney’s demise in 2019 will have to be increased on an average yearly basis, given the FAI’s €65m debt. In this regard, grassroots director Ger McDermott reported a spike in applications by clubs and leagues for sports capital grants.

FAI president Gerry McAnaney noted they have a multi-departmental approach to seeking financial assistance from taxpayer’s funds.

He said: “This opens up the conversation with the Government to be creative around funding. We used to only deal with Sport Ireland but are engaging with the Department of Health through the Jigsaw mental health initiative.”

Meanwhile, it appears the FAI’s bid to acquire a derogation from Fifa around transfer rules arising from Brexit has failed. UK clubs are no longer permitted to recruit players aged between 16 and 18 from Ireland. The manifestation of the restrictions was evidenced by the Ireland squad that progressed through last month’s first phase of U17 European qualifiers having no players attached to English clubs.

Concerns have been raised about the ability of League of Ireland clubs to offer teens equivalent standards of training and playing environment to the UK, triggering their request for an exemption.

The FAI’s academy manager Will Clarke confirmed young players must look beyond the UK to Europe for suitors or remain within the home-based system. “Brexit is here,” he told the LOI Central podcast. “Based on the information we have, there won’t be any sort of exemptions made for Ireland. Time isn’t our friend here.”