Madam, – Speaking on RTÉ 2FM’s Sports Bag programme last Sunday, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen expressed his desire to “see a European [football] team playing out of Dublin”.
He further opinied that “the stadium would be full every Saturday if we had a team playing in the Premiership in the UK.”
That no such venture would be sanctioned by the sport’s governing bodies, that no such league as the UK Premiership is extant, and that all six senior teams playing out of Dublin are perforce European (Lisbon Treaty or no) are established facts.
Mr Cullen’s ignorance of these matters is not his greatest trangression, however (for who except the most benighted idealist now expects a Minister to understand his or her brief?). Far more alarming is the Minister’s advocacy of a course that would inevitably result in the collapse of the already fragile indigenous football industry.
For a Cabinet Minister to propose, in the midst of a recession, measures assured to result in thousands of redundancies within his very Departments sphere of interest is dumbfounding even by the shameless standards of the current Government.
Mr Cullen declares himself “very supportive” of the notion of a Dublin-based team playing in a European league. This will doubtless be of interest to Dublin’s Bohemian FC as they prepare to represent Ireland in the qualifying stages of next year’s UEFA Champions League. It remains to be seen whether the support pledged by the Minister is forthcoming. – Yours, etc,