Intro: Five years on from Brexit, Aaron Davoren looks at how one of the biggest political changes in recent history has impacted young Irish Footballers and the League of Ireland.
On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom formally withdrew from the European Union. This significant event majorly changed the global economic and political landscape. It also had an immense impact on Irish football, both domestically as well as on the international stage.
One of the issues that Brexit posed for British sport was that it put an end to under 18 international recruitment. With Ireland being in the European Union, young Irish talent can no longer go across the shores to England’s football clubs until they are 18. This, alongside the rise of multinational, global recruitment from the top clubs in England means the pool of Irish players - which was once a goldmine for these teams, is falling at a sharp rate. Brexit’s impact on Irish football has paved some positives though, particularly in the ever growing rise of the League of Ireland, which is seeing a burst of momentum and growth post covid.
The League Of Ireland - The problem child becoming the golden child
Former FAI CEO John Delaney famously said in a 2014 2FM interview that “The league of Ireland is a difficult child for the organisation.” At that point the league was in a rough state. A lot of the teams were only semi-professional, with poor youth facilities and little to no emphasis on their academies. In a recent interview with The Athletic, current FAI academy manager, Will Clarke stated “In the past, we basically relied on UK clubs to develop our players”. On the continent, teams drawing Irish clubs in European qualifiers were licking their lips as an easy pass to the next round looked inevitable. Fast forward a decade and the picture is painted in a completely different tone and manner, one of optimism and mass growth. As of this season, all 10 LOI Premier Division clubs are fully professional, with functional under 13s, under 15s, under 17s, and under 19s academy teams. All of a sudden LOI clubs became the main stream in developing our players.
In Europe, large-scale progress has been made. Dundalk’s qualification to the Europa League group stage in 2020 saw them face Arsenal. More recently, Shamrock Rovers’ recent adventure in the Europa Conference League saw them get all the way to the knockout play-offs, narrowly falling to defeat on penalties to well respected Norwegian side Molde. Both of these European campaigns have proven that League of Ireland clubs are improving in Europe.
Progress on the pitch and development of academy structures is one important aspect, but the viewing figures, attendances and general package of the league is another aspect that has been on the rise, particularly over the last five years. This rise was perfectly captured by Copa90’s recent documentary, ‘Kicking off: League Of Ireland’, where the industrial, passionate and drama packed LOI stadiums were evident to witness. The pictures we’ve seen go hand in hand with the data, as last season a record breaking 1,001,630 fans attended an LOI game. The opening gameweek this season was also a monumental moment for the league as the Dublin derby, Bohemians vs Shamrock Rovers, had a record breaking attendance of over 33,000 at the Aviva Stadium.
The opening gameweek this season was also a monumental moment for the league as the Dublin derby, Bohemians vs Shamrock Rovers, had a record breaking attendance of over 33,000 at the Aviva Stadium.
Covid played a huge role in the growth of the league. Firstly, it brought the launch of LOI TV in 2021 - a streaming service that offers coverage of every LOI game from the comfort of home, bringing access to the league for fans from anywhere in the world. With public gatherings being restricted around certain times during the height of the covid pandemic, this played a key role in keeping fans involved with the league and the opportunity of an international market viewership with the flexible digital aspect to it. Additionally, the limitations of travel throughout Covid limited people from flying over to England to watch their favourite premier league team. They turned to their local football clubs in the League of Ireland - and many haven't turned back.
Talent staying put in the Emerald Island
Yet another unique selling point the league now has to offer is the talented young Irish footballers it has at its disposal. Brexit has given the opportunity for very young Irish footballers to amass lots of first team football experience, as opposed to academy football across the pond. 17 year old St Patrick’s Athletic striker, Mason Melia, made the news in early February as Tottenham Hotspur broke the LOI record transfer fee of €1.9 million to land his signature in January 2026. 16 year old Shamrock Rovers striker Michael Noonan became the youngest goalscorer in the modern era of european competition, surpassing Romelu Lukaku, as he netted against Molde in the Europa Conference League in February. 19 year old Shelbourne defender Lewis Temple has played over 3,000 senior league minutes over the last couple of seasons, according to transfermarkt. These profiles of players 5-10 years ago would likely be stuck in English academies at these stages of their careers. Another positive to this are the fees that LOI clubs are receiving now that these players are staying put until they are at least 18. The likes of Mason Melia could well have left the club at 15 or 16 pre-Brexit, which would have left St Pats receiving pennies for their star prospect.
It’s not all roses and sunshine however, as many question the fact that while first team experience is great for our young Irish players, the quality and standard of the LOI may be hindering them. Whilst the level of the leagues are increasingly growing, very few LOI players have yet to make the step up to the international team. Some of Ireland’s best talents of the past, the likes of Shay Given, Robbie Keane, and John O’ Shea all left Ireland for the UK at 16-17 years of age. So as of right now if you get to break into the first team whilst abroad to the UK or on the continent, where the standard of football is much higher, it’s hard to argue that they’re not more likely to produce an international level footballer. Former Irish international footballer James McClean revealed in an interview with the Irish Independent that he believes that his son is better off at fourth tier English football side Crewe Alexandra as opposed to a club in the LOI. “Back home, they don’t have that opportunity and that puts us miles behind.”
“Back home, they don’t have that opportunity and that puts us miles behind.”
Player Pool Panic:
The main negative impact that Brexit has imposed on Irish football is the diminishing pool of players playing in the top five leagues, as well as young players on professional contracts. Will Clarke cited worrying data in an interview with The Athletic by stating that Ireland has only “13 players in one of the top 5 leagues getting on average 615 minutes per player.”
Research shows that mid-ranking European nations that are similar in size level to Ireland and are competing in tournaments have an average of 35 players playing in the top five leagues, averaging 1,400 minutes a season. As for the youngsters, there are about 20 full time Irish footballers across the world that are the ages 16-18. Five years ago there were five times more with about 90-100.
There is no doubt that Brexit is a significant factor in this dramatic player pool decrease due to players no longer moving to English academies in their mid-teens. There has been an increase in other foreign markets picking up Irish players such as Italy and France. The likes of Kevin Zeffi who left Ireland for Inter Milan in 2021, and who is now on the books of AS Roma, is an exciting indication of a left field route that could become more prominent for future Irish internationals. However, it’s not going to fully replace all the talent Ireland had going to England, so it’s crucial that LOI clubs take up this responsibility. The FAI and League Of Ireland have a strategy in the works but it will require significant investment from the Irish government.
Crisis Point:
The FAI and Will Clarke are well aware of the issues that the diminishing player pool will result in for the future of the Irish football national team. The FAI and Clarke have structured an academy plan to help sufficiently produce homegrown players. This 11 year plan will aim to cover boys and girls academies with a lot of its emphasis focusing on full time academy staff. The league currently employs only 10 full time academy staff. When comparing it to Croatia, a similar size and population of Ireland, they have over 200. The estimated costs of this uptake in full time academy staff is estimated to be €8-10 million annually. This is why Clarke is turning to the Irish government to fund this initiative, as the FAI certainly are unable to at least initially look after the costs.
Clarke has reminded some of the additional perks that this €8 million investment would entail. Firstly, with up to 70% of the funds being spent on staff, 26% of these funds would be returned to the governments pockets in taxes such as PAYE and USC. It would also create up to 200 new full time jobs in Irish football. Finally, he mentioned that this annual investment will reduce year by year as academies become more self-sufficient.
The ripple effect of Brexit has forever changed the landscape of Irish football. Irish football needs to adapt and is in the process of doing so with detailed plans in the works and general recognition that the golden child, ‘League of Ireland’ is its shining light. All eyes will be on the annual government budget in October to see if Ireland’s football future has light at the end of the dark tunnel of the last decade, or will the dark days continue to loom in the midst of football fanatics across the Emerald island?