John Fallon: Near-miss at Markets Field places spotlight on LOI facilities

EXODUS: Waterford fans leave the stand due to a structural issue. ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

AS the World Cup looms, we’ve got a little world of our own to mind and it wasn’t a safe one for Waterford fans to inhabit last Friday.

League of Ireland fans travelling to Limerick over the decades have visited as many stadia as they’ve done guises of the city’s club but Markets Field was considered by and large the best and most modern version.

A venue rooted deep in history, dating back 131 years, had been reconditioned at significant costs to facilitate the return of Limerick FC in 2015.

According to the latest strategic plan of its owners, Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership, Markets Field reached Uefa Category Two Stage status following refurbishment.

Proof of its reputation as the football’s epicentre in the mid-west came a year later when it hosted the EA Sports Cup final, one of only two senior men’s deciders in the calendar.

What might have been overlooked at the time was the durability of the venue’s second stand, located colloquially at the Cathedral End.

It is there, behind the goal, that the away section is assigned, catering for up to 400 spectators. Last Friday’s game acted as neutral territory for Waterford’s playoff final against Galway.

Although it didn’t involve the latest Limerick tenants, Treaty United, the club are relevant to the discussion, for it was during their semi-final nine days earlier that the first signals of danger were ascertained.

Once lifelong Blues fan Ray Malone felt his foot perforate the chipboard on the first step, the 10 foot gap to the floor he saw beneath promoted action. Assistance was sought and the aisle closed out by stewards with Garda tape.

Likewise, the foundations were considered unstable, especially for a congested crowd excited about the Stakes at Play.

After it was confirmed the same ground was to stage the final, Malone escalated his concerns to the FAI by email. It transpires he wasn’t the only one.

“Treaty United wrote to LEDP after the semi-final, alerting them to the substantial damage and the deteriorating state of the stand,” Mike Aherne, club board member, told WLR FM this week.

“We pay substantial rent for the ground and were aware of the issues from the semi-final.”

So too were the FAI. They replied to Malone, acknowledging the issue and confirming it being addressed. “We have been in contact with Treaty United and the stadium owners to confirm this maintenance work has been carried out ahead of tomorrow night,” read an email by a senior official of the association, under whose control the game was.

Any peace of mind that was created dissolved within 25 minutes with the sight of Gardai swarming referee Alan Patchell urging him to stall proceedings. They’d heard and seen enough to deem the stand unsafe, ordering a full evacuation.

Pictures of rows of seats ruptured from their foundations illustrated the extent to the “substantial damage” aired on the public address system explaining the 10-minute break in place.

“I was quite surprised and disappointed for the FAI to say the damage was fixed,” continued Aherne about the email from Abbotstown.

“If that stand had broken like a deck of cards, it would have been unimaginable and we could be talking about a tragedy.

“Evacuating the stand meant penning the 400 Waterford fans onto a slippery embankment on a wet night too. I think This review will show up serious deficiencies.”

The review referred to is the one promised by the FAI in their statement issued immediately after the final Whistle. While gratitude was afforded to the various parties, no mention was made of the remedial work supposedly undertaken between the two fixtures.

Waterford welcomed the ‘inquiry’ too, anxious to uncover ‘why this issue happened’.

Seeing everyone else had their say, it was over to the landlords to complete the circle.

Asked yesterday for their take, they stated: “LEDP has been notified by the FAI of their intention to conduct a review of match operations, and we look forward to engaging with them on this.”

Waterford’s faithful will have plenty of time to continue counting their blessings while that exercise unfolds.

Scorn at domestic venues is a never-ending trend, magnified during Dundalk’s dominant period by the state of their dressing-rooms and away section, but it was expected in this era that the dangerous scenes which included two wall collapses at Bray Wanderers’ venue in the previous decade had passed.

The overwhelming sense leaving Markets Field was one of relief that nobody was injured, or worse. Such instances tend to bring into sharp focus what level of oversight exists for clubs around facilities.

It’s contained in the FAI’s bulky 177-pages Club Licensing manual under the section devoted to Infrastructural Criteria. Central to the requirement is obtaining a Stadium Certificate issued by a Chartered Engineer, “requesting evidence that all parts of the venue, including... stands, stairways and passageways... comply with standards defined by Irish law, local authority, Gardai and Fire Service.”

Elsewhere are several mentions of derogations, subject to discussions with the FAI’s Stadia and Security Committee. Yes, that’s in place, lest one doubts the area isn’t a priority. Sure how could it not be, given ‘transforming football facilities and infrastructure’ was one of the six pillars unveiled in the governing body’s strategic plan?

A nationwide audit is promised by year-end but before the grandiose notion of four-sided stadiums getting developed is kite-flown, ensuring fans and families don’t run the Gauntlet of risking carnage by attending matches would be advisable.

Attack a feeble form of defence by outdated O'Neill

It’s difficult not to admire the gumption of Martin O’Neill in his self-penned autobiography.

At a time he was out of work, reeling from his first major sacking by Sunderland, the Derryman walked into the Ireland job he always coveted.

Unquestionably, O’Neill was the correct choice in 2013. It was enlisting his assistant Roy Keane that represented the risk, for his sidekick had to make do for the first time in his managerial career with being one step off ultimate decision-maker.

Together they delivered. Reaching the Euros at a time third place in the group clinched a playoff was the minimum target but arguably the better qualification campaign followed for the World Cup. Only the wheels came off in the final hour of the playoff against Denmark.

There was no way back, that 5-1 humbling compounded by a 4-1 loss at Wales 10 months later. Keane, one of his main assets, eventually became a Liability. Time was up and they were both handsomely paid to be sacked by mutual consent.

“The truth is this; there were a number of times that I was called ‘the Northerner’ or ‘the outsider’,” he told the  Belfast Telegraph this week about his tome.

“I was treated in many ways the same way as [Giovanni] Trapattoni eventually became, one of those figures you tend to hate. I think that was it.”

Think, or conspire, all you want Martin but four years on it was still nothing personal. Cherish the memories but best to avoid rewriting history.

Rovers set to raid Peamount for Women's league tilt

Rovers set to raid Peamount for Women’s league tilt

Confirmation from the FAI last night that Shamrock Rovers are back in the WNL after a nine-year hiatus will be the cue for a slew of new signings.

Peamount United — whose coaching director Jason Carey they headhunted earlier in the season — have been their prime target for recruits over recent months. Áine O’Gorman is expected to lead the migration to Tallaght in the coming weeks, with Stephanie Roche, also tipped to join her.

Other mainstays of the Peas’ side that won back-to-back WNL titles in 2019 and 2020 are also mulling over offers but the Hoops are casting their net wide.

Amanda Budden, Shelbourne’s goalkeeper who topped the clean sheet charts with 14 shutouts, is in their sights and would be a statement signing if tempted away from the double-holders.

Rovers, though, carry the financial clout to become the market-leader in the movement towards semi-professional status.

Veteran O’Gorman confirmed as much, lauding their entrance to the league, and for players like herself heading to the World Cup next summer, the package on offer appeals.

Peamount will rely on their youth system — underlined by their U19s beating Rovers in last weekend’s national final — to fill the void left by the exodus.

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