IF nothing else the controversial Wimbledon for Dublin proposal has at least sparked a bit of debate as to where the National League goes from here. Even if the proposal dies a death, its legacy ought at least to be a new sense of direction from within Merrion Square. Ought to be.
But will it? Those concerned about our National League, especially those who preside over it at administrative and club level, should have been given a fair old jolt by this saga.
Heretofore, the impression has been of 50 tailors dummies being wheeled in for Senior Council meetings and sombrely agreeing that Wimbledon for Dublin would be a bad thing.
Ten years of a golden era in Irish football have just passed. It's scarcely credible that the decade has passed and the domestic game still cannot command more than one `live' match a season, while highlights come and go in various forms depending on what time of the year, or the week, or the day it is. TV deals have come and gone and still there is no quid pro-quo link between the club and international games.
The FAI/NL are every bit as much to blame as RTE for, in that time span, both club rugby (off a smaller support base and with facilities which are certainly no better) and hurling have demonstrated what improved television coverage, strong marketing and revamped structures can achieve for a sport's image.
The National League is about more than maladministration. It's about Rovers, both of them, Shels, Bohs, St Pat's, Cork and more, Dalyer, Richer. Tolka, the Showgrounds and the Brandywell. It's about great players, and good people who have supported the clubs from their pockets. It's about three quarters of a century of tradition. And, bugger the begrudgers and knockers who never see the sky over a National League ground, it's better than it was even five years ago. Believe me.
Back to Wimbledon. The National League have rights here, the same as the Danish League would have should a Bundesiga", club declare their desire to relocate to Copenhagen. Seven thousand Irish footballing fans were in Tolka and Richmond on Friday, night and another 4,500-5,000 attended the other four Premier division games.
Did more commute to England over the weekend? Even if more did, does that mean the National League fans should roll over and die?
As Dr Tony O'Neill says, why should they all surrender their birthright? At least not without some substantial carrots. And thus far, there hasn't been any veg put on the table, never mind, meat. Assurances to under write any losses in gate receipts in private conversation aren't enough. Talking to Paul McGuinness last week (a nice man, it seems, who like Eamonn Dunphy has a "dream"), it is clear that the Dublin consortium have, as yet, nothing tangible to offer.
As Des Casey pointed out last week, the shame about the Wimbledon for Dublin proposal is that it has already degenerated into a scene of conflict rather than dialogue. More's the pity. The FAI/NL might be, in a far stronger bargaining position than they realise.
It is conceivable that the FAI/NL could possibly stop the Wimbledon for Dublin proposal at source by making clear representations to the English Premiership chairmen. In that scenario, Merrion Square could engage McGuinness, Owen O'Callaghan and Co from a strong bargaining base. "What's in it for us?" is a justifiable opening query.
Handled properly, this could conceivably be, a gamble, worth taking. Otherwise it's difficult to see where the vision, the stimulus for the domestic game is going to come from.
Sky's Vic Wakeling would have been impressed had he been at Tolka Park on Friday. (So might Paul McGuinness and his son Max). The Sky stuff is, at least, well packaged and presented. The domestic game is often a much underrated product badly packaged and presented, or not at all. And for all the improvements at some clubs, if it is true that a league is only as strong as its weakest clubs, then the weak and small minded are still bringing the progressive clubs down.
