Keith Andrews: More needs to be done to support grassroots football

PREP: Assistant coach Keith Andrews during a Republic of Ireland training session at FAI National Training Centre, Abbotstown. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Keith Andrews believes Ireland hosting matches at Euro 2028 is great for the sport in this country but insists more still needs to be done to support grassroots football.

The Republic and Northern Ireland, along with England, Wales, and Scotland were officially announced by Uefa as the hosts of the tournament in five years times with a number of games set to be played at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin and Casement Park in Belfast.

But speaking just hours after that announcement was made by the European football governing body, the Ireland assistant manager called for further backing at local level and for the FAI to potentially look at following the example of the IRFU where applicable.

“It is brilliant for the game,” began Andrews, who played for Ireland at Euro 2012.

“Obviously we had 2020 and we know how that panned out. Of course, it’s great to get that level of football to our country.

“It would be brilliant to bring that level of competition to our shores and its promises, off the back of that, around the investment of grassroots funding, which we all know is very much needed.

“We know what’s been here in this building, and I’ve been on both sides of it, what was before - old ways and old habits, and where that’s left us, and what’s gone on in the last few years has been consistent steps in the right direction.

“But we need help, obviously. We can’t generate that type of funding that’s needed around grassroots.

“League of Ireland, as we know, the constant debates, the constant need to invest, to develop our young players, because again we all know the implications of Brexit and how that’s left us.

“We have to develop our own players, we have to take responsibility, and that will come in due course.

“The assistance from government grants, Uefa, Fifa et cetera is very much needed for the ongoing success of the development of our young players, which we are all very passionate about.

“There are elements of it that we can learn from and study. I’ve spent time with the IRFU for my own personal development and what they have done in terms of development of the provinces and schools is obviously very impressive.

“There are elements where we need to introduce that into our schools. We have to implement that into our schools and be a bit more strategic around it.

“We have to align everybody at grassroots, which is very, very difficult in this country, and League of Ireland, and us.

“To bring that all in a straight line of where we want to go, which is ultimately to create the best possible players we can, to give them the game-time, to give them the infrastructure, to give them the expertise of all the coaches that we are trying to develop, I think it all needs to come together.

“But what the rugby has produced over a sustained period of time and with the provinces in particular is very impressive.” 

The former Blackburn Rovers midfielder was on media duty ahead of Ireland’s crunch clash against Greece on Friday night as the Boys in Green look to keep their slim hopes of reaching the next Euros alive.

In order to do that, nothing less than a win against the Greeks will do which means they will need to produce a much better performance than they did during their 2-1 loss in Athens back in June.

“Definitely frustration and disappointment,” continued Andrews when asked about the current feeling amongst the Irish staff.

“You can’t steer away from where you are in the group, you can’t bury your head in the sand. The reality is we are where we are.

“I think you have to analyse the performances, which we are certainly big on - individual performance, team performance, preparations for each camp and in-camp - and look constantly to improve.

“I think when you look at the performances against some of the big teams - France at home, I think you’d all agree was very, very good, Holland first-half in particular, I was really impressed with how we pressed, our out-of-possession strategy, we possibly could have been a little more clinical, because 1-1 at half-time wasn’t a fair scoreline.

“And Greece, which is very prevalent in our minds as we are sat here today, was a blot on the copybook that we have to accept. We weren’t happy with our performance against Greece.”