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How relevant is the quantity?

If ain't broke, why fix it?
If it is broke, why leave it?
Is it broke at all?

Everyone, it seems, has some opinion on how the eircom League should be re-structured.

From the selfish 10-team Premier Division proposal, to the radical suggestion that there should be a 22-team League, all eircom League sides would seem to have some view on what should or should not be done.

Recently, clubs met to decide, democratically, what changes should be made to the domestic game. The issue was inevitably divisive and as far as I am aware, no concrete proposal has emerged. If it has, there will, however, be nothing signed sealed and delivered until the AGM of the eircom League come the summer. Or so I'm told anyway.

Therefore, I thought that I'd give 'my tuppence' on the whole affair.

What actually occurred was that the Leaders of the League recently produced a blueprint document on the future of the eircom League, about which I wrote in an Editorial previously.

Since, the clubs have arranged that they would all produce their own submissions, and what seems to have happened is that the whole discussion has turned into a debate about how the League should be structured, with all the other hugely relevant issues forgotten almost, like the ugly girl envious of her sister who acquires all the attention.

The time of the League season will also be hotly discussed however, and I'd say that by the time you read this there'll be some decision taken regarding this hugely significant topic. The clubs may vote on sticking with the status quo, or a complete contrast - summer soccer, or indeed the current system with the addition of a 6-week break.

However, the main specific topic that has fuelled tongues and paper ink has been, unquestionably, how the League should be structured. Here are some, maybe all, of the proposals, in no specific ranking:

1 - A 10-Team League:
Here we have essentially, a Dublin and District League. The suggested teams being Shels, Bohs, St Pat's, Shamrock Rovers, Cork City, Galway United, Finn Harps, Sligo Rovers, Derry City and Waterford United. While there is only 4 teams from the Pale in this line up, UCD will of course rightfully regain their place if promotion is still prevalent as I assume it will be - without it, where would we be? The consequence: a League with half its clubs from one city alone… need I say more? A selfish, hypocritical proposal from the clubs backing this disaster, including Derry, Shels and Shamrock Rovers.

Damien Richardson, after watching a high-octane derby clash between Shams and Pat's recently, remarked that games of that nature were essential on a weekly basis. In other words, having 10 good teams is better than having 10 good and 2 of less quality, for the overall standard of the League. Richardson will argue that the two teams at the bottom of the Premier Division at the minute - Sligo and Drogheda - both lost to non-League opposition at home in the cup. However, might I argue that a 10-team League, in necessitating each team having to play each other 4 times, would render derby games like the above less attractive and significant. 10 teams, in the top Division of Ireland?

And another thing: surely, if there were 10 teams, it is not left to the "big guns" to decide among themselves who they would invite to their little "big-shot" party. It should be decided by the top 10 teams according to the League table in the last season prior to the change. Other things like the "history" of a team and the "fan base" are undefined and as such are unwelcome. The top 10 teams should comprise the best 10 teams on the field. If they don't at first they soon will anyway: as I've already stressed some promotion/relegation situation is indispensable.

Those backers of this should sum it up in a blatantly paradoxical statement which to me signifies their thoughts: "We all care so much about the League we love; we desire its prosperity: now, can we all ruin the smaller clubs please about whom we couldn't give two hoots?"

No thanks, no Dublin and District League for me.

2 - A 16-Team League:
The favoured option of Galway United's Board at the moment, as well as others, including Dundalk, to name one.

This structure would, like all the others, benefit some and hinder others. Pro - 10-Team League clubs would shun this suggestion, with it having the exact opposite foreseeable affect that a 10-Team League would have. Here, we would have 4 teams from Division 1 joining the 12 teams in the Premier Division.

I amn't in favour of this either. Some system of promotion/relegation would be essential, and a 16-Team set up'd mean that the poorer teams in the Premier Division would be no better than average Division 1 outfits of today. That itself is hardly desirable and there simply is not the standard in the 26-Counties for a 16-Team League.

I am not exactly sure of what role the lesser teams would play in this, i.e. those who would be excluded from the top Division. This may result in regionalised set-ups. If it did, it may well bring the eircom League to areas currently dangerously alien to it, e.g. Kerry or Kildare, but if it did it would possibly mean that clubs would acquire amateur status. Of what standard would these regionalised, foreseeably amateur Leagues have and would they in consequence attract punters? I perceive that it may have the opposite effect and that clubs would prove ill prepared for the Premier Division, and for the poorest sides in the eircom League now, this proposal is simply horrendous, I imagine.

Sorry, no vote here either.

3 - 22-Team League:

Small clubs would inevitably support this.

The most radical suggestion surely, yet in a contradiction of what I believe is the stance of supporters on this (see poll on this site), Pat Devlin's inspiration seems to be the most supported of the ideas mooted.

This plan is outrageous, in my view, and I can see the top clubs breaking away if this is born. I've heard no one other than the Bray Manager in favour of this monstrosity, yet, according to Philip Quinn of the Irish Independent, this may well come into fruition.

Said Devlin: "Let's put all the teams together and give them two seasons to get their house in order, in terms of facilities, finance, and on the field of play".

To me, this suggestion is simply preposterous. If this is the system next season, the efforts of so many teams this season will be rendered useless.

Need I say more?

4 - The Status Quo:
Okay, it ain't sexy, but can anyone assuredly tell me with all their knowledge that any of the other mentioned structures would better this one? UCD and St Pat's advocate no change, with the former particularly vociferous in their promotion of it. Why more don't follow suit is beyond me.

Maybe we can slightly alter our current set-up, but stick in the main to what we have.

To me, this is what should happen. A mid-season break should be introduced, facilitating an earlier start to the season in order to help our ignominious European position, and the likelihood of larger attendances.

In addition, scrap the promotion-relegation playoff. If Cobh got promoted last year, where would they be faring in the top Division now? Clubs must establish some stability and a yo-yo reputation is something no one wants.

That's my own thoughts; inevitably others will beg to differ and that's fair enough. Some of the other things, which have certainly irked me, is the nice little greed of the big clubs. Under the 10-Team League structure, the sick thought whereby the smaller clubs not in the Premier Division would operate under the motives of feeding the larger teams with players is astonishingly hypocritical.

The whole rule of this is that the clubs, as ever, are out for themselves and are embodying incoherence yet again. If you are in a position to analyse the proposal of each club, take a moment to analyse how this suggestion would affect the club in question on the face of it, and it shows the selfishness that blights the League. None of this is surprising of course, but it is saddening.

I am contrary to this - I'd imagine that a 16-team League would be better for the club I love, Galway United, hence the club's stance, but I believe we must think from an eircom League position.

I, in agreement with many other fans, believe that maybe it isn't the structure that is wrong. Until the realisation of an All-Ireland League takes shape, the changing of the League structure radically within the Republic will not trigger a transformation to compliment the bother that preceeded it.

The common remark "The present system simply isn't working" is questionable, to put it mildly. What exactly is the system referred to? Is it the mentality and actions of the clubs or is it the League's structure?

As Pat Dolan has emphasised, there are other things to sort out other than this. "Hear, hear", I say. Facilities, marketing, attracting young players et al, to me are more important than how many teams there are in the Premier Division.

I've rambled enough.

The idiocy and narrow-mindedness of some clubs, in perceiving that one piece of work will solve the problems, serves to illustrate a problem we have, probably far more significant in itself: stupidity.