Grants ringfenced for grassroots rather than women's national league clubs

GRASSROOTS: The launch of the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland 2023 season held at City Hall in Dublin in February. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Women’s national league clubs have been warned they must wait – likely ‘til after next year’s general election – for direct financial Government support.

Junior Sports Minister Thomas Byrne confirmed that the recent €500,000 grant for women’s football, announced as the senior team left for the World Cup, was ringfenced for the grassroots sector.

The FAI’s 10 senior women’s clubs were operating off the basis that financial assistance would be forthcoming to defray costs associated with upgrading the league’s status to semi-professional.

The Minister, speaking after he arrived in Sydney to attend Thursday’s game against the co-hosts before a record domestic crowd of 75,000 fans, provided the state’s rationale for their priorities.

Details on the distribution of funding will be confirmed within the next fortnight but won’t be going into the pockets of the country’s top level.

“That €500,000 is an extra sum this year for grassroots,” said the Meath-based deputy.

“Half the €5.8m annual funding we give to the FAI is for the women’s and girls’ sector.

"It won't be for the professional side, not the League of Ireland this particular time.

"It is about getting more people involved, games participation officers in schools or whatever.

"We say, 'Here is a sum of money, - here is how we see it being spent.'

"The FAI and Sport Ireland will work out the terms of that, I understand, by the end of the month.

“Essentially, it'll be to employ - this is just an example - coaches to run girls’ events.

"Something similar to the mothers and others of the GAA to get people more involved but it is all about grassroots participation to get more women and girls involved.

"The women’s national league is a very important sector. There is general funding going into clubs, from that we give the FAI.

"For this money we felt it was better to support grassroots because the more we do the more the top level will benefit. The cream rises to the top.

"There are ambitious targets there, to get 60 per cent participation as a country and if we don't get more women and girls involved we won't reach that target.

"We want more people involved and have that legacy there.

"We want girls and boys and families inspired by the game. They need more outlets for the sport.

"What’s been suggested (national league funding) is not wrong but on this occasion we want to fund grassroots."

FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill recently clarified the situation around the decision by Sport Ireland not to approve grants that would have seen each women’s national league club receive €50,000 to offset running costs.

“It wasn’t necessarily a formal application process for the women’s national league but we were asked by the Department of Sport at the end of last year to think about any women’s related initiatives that would merit additional support,” he told the General Assembly.

“At the time, our league director Mark Scanlon had a proposal to hand that we felt ticked that box. As things developed, it became clear that the request was actually for a broader spread across grassroots all the way through to the international side.

“Accordingly, we have resubmitted and await a response from the Department and Sport Ireland."