There is a point in the build up to the ‘official‘ start of the League of Ireland season in early March when fans have to ask that all important question.

“How many do we have?“

With limited resources and very tight budgets the League of Ireland shuffles its pack quite extensively on an annual basis as clubs strip apart their roster in the early months of the year and then make the taxing effort to reassemble their ‘new‘ squads in time for the forthcoming campaign. Our league is far detached from its counterparts with the financial muscle allowing players to be tied down to long-term contracts, in a football sense, which few players actually see out with their club.

The League of Ireland does short-term. Season long deals are the ‘modus operandi‘ in the case of many contracts.

A glance at the 2010 League of Ireland transfer ‘shuffle’ for instance, will read 107 transfers, when you total the ‘ins‘ and ‘outs‘ at Sligo Rovers, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians, St Pat’s, Gaway United and Bohemians alone. The swapping and changing is mind boggling and quite hard to keep up with.

To paraphrase the celebrated ‘Forrest Gump‘ character played by Tom Hanks, “The League of Ireland off-season is like a box of chocolates. You never know what your going to get“.

This is very true as there are few League of Ireland fans who can say hand on heart with confidence that they will have the vast majority of their squad tied to their beloved club when the new season kicks off following the November closure of a campaign. Those months in between are nervous times for most and when the pre-season friendlies roll around there is often a flash back for me to days when I was counting the number of players available to my own team when lining out at junior level.

The lights may shine on a completely different starting XI this seaon. (pic credit: Peter Clancy)

Sunday mornings were quite often more about mathematics than tactics.

“How many do we have lads?” was frequently asked on arrival at the designated meeting point on an often wet and windy Sunday morning.

“Eight as it stands with two cars“.

“Does anybody know where Mark is?” an angry manager questions at his striker’s unexplained absense.

“I last saw him falling out of a club in town at 3am full of sauce. He was in a foul state and I can’t imagine he will stir this morning. Most likely still in bed and in bits“.

“What were you doing out at that unholy hour the night before a game? Somebody get around to his house and get that b*llox out of bed. I don’t care if he can’t see straight we are short on numbers and he is playing” orders a manager who at this stage is wondering why he bothers before asking if there has been any word from Declan, the right full back.

“Declan is has a family Christening to attend today. Brother’s child“.

“You must be f*cking joking! Does he know what a phone is and why did the prick not let me know? This gets worse every week” the manager curses.

Word filters through that Mark has been woken up and is on his way but needs a pair of boots and shinguards as he lost own along with the entire contents of and his actual kitbag in a pub following last week’s game, which he left 12 hours after the final whistle had blown.

“Your late! Where the f*ck were you two? You are delaying all of us!” roars the now increasingly infuriated manager as he spots two more lads arriving.

“We were having a breakfast roll around around the corner“.

“You pair of idiots. Get into Dave’s car. We have no time for pissing around. We are already 30 minutes late“.

As a very worse for wear Mark then arrives the manager lets him know what he thinks of him and with pleasure tells him that will be starting on the bench as the manager will play himself in the starting XI instead despite being 52 years old and rather brittle.

“It makes me feel so good that I was the reason you got out of bed in that state sunshine, now get into that car and try and sleep off that state you have yourself in” the manager sniggers as Mark climbs into a car in a condition that one would barely consider appropriate for somebody in an awakened state.

I recall those mornings like they were yesterday.

The League of Ireland is similar in many ways. There are no ‘Marks‘ to worry about but at times a fan is left wondering if they will ever get a full squad together in time for the March kick-off.

Players change. Love for your club never does. (pic credit: Peter Clancy)

This dilemma is not just restricted to pre-season. No no. If it was the war would be half won. For some clubs there is a battle to be fought all year round.

I was at a game, late in the season last year, where a team fielded their starting eleven and had only three subsitutes on the bench available to them. All three came off the bench including the reserve keeper who took his place in midfield for the closing period of the game. There were plenty of players signed but in the League of Ireland that is not always enough at every club. Players have to prioritize their own lives and playing football is not always top of the list, particularly when they are in a position where they need to take time off of work to get to a distant away fixture or choose between an education and football. As I said before, the League of Ireland is very detached from the riches of the game sold to us on the television and many of the players don’t get paid at all, particularly in the ‘graveyard‘ that is the First Division. It is often viewed that the clubs playing in our secondary division are left to die. It is very saddening and concerning.

Thankfully, our clubs are never fazed by a challenge and are amazingly resourceful too so there is almost always a ‘full‘ squad in place when the season gets under way. The establishment of the U19 and U17 League of Ireand Divisions will be a major asset to clubs in the coming years with respect to recruiting players and hopefully this will pave a way to a better quality league all round.

The League of Ireland will soon celebrate 100 years since the first league of 8 clubs, which incuded present day Bohs and Shels, competed for the title in 1921. St James’s Gate of Dublin won that first title as part of a treble of trophies they banked. Will we have an enhanced First Division by 2021 with clubs who are in strong standing, or a re-structured league which will allow all of our clubs to thrive? I can only dream that we will.

For now I am going to go back to the various media outlets I continually observe and keep an eye on to catch the rumours and check out the line-outs from the pre-season friendly matches which have been taken place all over the country of late. ‘Trialist‘ has to be the busiest player in the country as he has been played by a number of clubs and quite often ‘Trialist‘ is played two, three, four or even five times in the same line-up.

I don’t know how ‘Trialist‘ has not been spotted by one of European football’s giants because there are few players with an engine like him. He is relentless. He will have played about 30 or 40 matches alone or more for various League of Ireland clubs before the season has even started!

He may well become a legend at one of our 20 clubs come the end of the 2016 season and I hope he does. I hope there will be a collection of legends come November.

For now, we can only watch the last few shuffles of the deck of cards that is the national game here in Ireland during the pre-season period and hope that our team is dealt a hand that trumps all others.

Love Your League.

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