RELEGATION
& INVITATIONAL LEAGUE WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
by Brian Campbell
Can we be relegated?
Who will we play in play off?
Is the invitational league going to actually happen next
season? – just some of the questions arising in the last couple
of weeks.
There is so much confusion this season over
this ‘Invitational League’. In
the past the IFA have been rightly criticised for poor administration
and poor marketing, however things seem to be changing albeit
slowly. At IFA headquarters there are some signs the Irish League
is actually moving in the right direction.
They appear to have learned from past administration
errors putting a new ‘player registration’ database in place. Some think they need to go further by introducing
player passports, but at least the introduction of the player
database in recent years seems to be working, so all in all
a step forward by the IFA.
Irish League fans were upset this year with
the general feeling that until recently all IFA marketing resource
was channeled into the International team at the expense of
the domestic league. In an attempt to rectify this perception, Geoff
Wilson head of the IFA Marketing Department, introduced the
‘Pass on the Passion’ campaign, an excellent email Newsletter
and an upgraded Irish Premier League website.
Agreed, there’s still no heavy investment in marketing
the domestic league and more could and should be done, but with
the appointment of Geoff some fresh ideas have come onboard
and we appear to be taking some tentative steps forward.
So, this Invitational League next year, what
will it mean for Institute FC and the league in general?
Well, as explained above the IFA now appear to be trying
to take the league forward, so we’ll give them credit for that. The Invitational League is another step forward by the IFA in the
belief there aren’t enough quality players in Northern Ireland
to substantiate a 16 league Premier Division, a 12 team league
(similar to the Scottish Premier League) is to be introduced.
So the magic number next season is 12
- with 16 teams currently in the Premier League at least
four are going to lose their Premier League status.
The normal, and fair way to do this would be to relegate
teams 13th to 16th and then have a playoff between the winner
of the First Division and 12th place in the Premier League,
this way the league would be determined on the pitch and not
off it.
However, normality or fairness are not parameters
for next season. The
Premier Irish League (as it will then be known) is to be an
‘Invitational League’, which basically means clubs have to submit
applications to the IFA for inclusion in the new league.
When clubs submitted their applications on 31st March
they were handing over documentation that contained information
about their entire club.
Criteria for inclusion in this ‘Invitational
League’ was set out by the IFA, one criteria was to have a ground
good enough for the twenty first century.
The facility requirements for the Premier League in the
past were shamefully low allowing clubs like Donegal Celtic,
Armagh, Limavady United and ourselves to be promoted with limited
facilities, although ‘Stute have since rectified this situation
by improving their facilities substantially, including two new
stands.
Other requirements include financially stability,
qualified staff in all areas including safety officers, coaches,
marketing, finance and even qualified stewards, youth structure,
community programmes, woman’s teams and much more including
fan base.
Institute lodged their application on Monday
31st March, confident the improvements made to the ground and
other areas of the business will be enough to secure the final
12th spot.
Back to those three questions.
Question 1.
Can we be relegated?
Well Yes! We can, but not because of our league
position this season. If
we don’t have enough points from our application to be in the
top 12 teams on the 8th May, then we will be relegated to the
Premier Intermediate League. If 'Stute finish 13th in the league, and don’t make the top 12 teams,
again we will be relegated to the Premier Intermediate League.
However if we lose our next two matches and finish bottom we
could still make the Invitational league!!!
Management and players cannot afford complacency
to creep in as final league position is also
taken into account. It is going to be extremely tight
for the final 12th place and every point counts!
Question 2.
Will there be a playoff?
Yes -if we finish 15th we will have to play
the runners up of the First Division.
The game could and most likely will, end up meaningless,
but the IFA have stated it must go ahead.
The only feasible reasons they would do this are, in
case the Invitational League collapses due to legal action from
clubs, or the authorities are unable to progress with these
plans next season.
Question 3
Is the invitational league going to actually happen next
season?
Yes the Invitational League looks all set to
start next season. Will
we be part of it? who knows?
but if we aren’t, no one can criticise Institute FC for
not making a big enough effort with investment in the ground
and all the behind the scenes work involved in getting everything
in order for the application.
The rumours doing the rounds, and I might add
these are only rumours, are that 11 teams are safely in.
These ‘safe’ teams are Linfield, Glentoran, Ballymena,
Glenavon, Coleraine, Portadown, Lisburn Distillery, Newry City,
Crusaders, Cliftonville & Dungannon Swifts.
So if rumours are to be believed that leaves Institute,
Larne, Armagh City, Donegal Celtic, Limavady United and First
Division Club Bangor fighting it out for the final 12th place.
No doubt after penning this article, people
will still be wondering if ’Stute will make the final twelve. It’s a wait and see but again rumours suggest the final place is
between 'Stute, Donegal Celtic and the surprise package Bangor.
The timetable for the IFAP is:
14 - 18 April: Assessment of Applications by
Independent panel. Clubs will then be informed of their scores,
and their scores only.
21 - 30 April: Opportunity for Clubs to meet
Chairman of Independent Panel to receive feed back on scoring.
It is expected that clubs will at this point agree and 'sign
off' on their individual score.
8 May: Final Ranking of clubs published. There is a right of appeal but in procedural
matters only
Also all clubs will already have received their
scores for their ground / infrastructure, the scoring will also
be known for 2006 / 2007 and 2005 / 2006 sporting scores.
Meaning scores now can only be increased in
the following areas:
1. 2007 / 2008 Sporting record (max 180 points
available by winning league, CIS and IC)
2. Youth teams supported by club (30 points
for having 3 teams)
3. Community Involvement (10 points for having
4 community programmes)
4. Women's team (10 points for a woman's team)
5. Club being solvent (20 points if in a position
of net assets)
6. Trading surplus (40 points if income exceeds
expenditure)
7. Debt management (debts as a % of turnover
0 - 80 pts depending on level)
8. Income & Expenditure projection (0 =
none provided, 30 = one provided without underlying assumptions,
60 = one provided with underlying assumptions)
9. Business Plan (up to 50 points)
10. Head coach (0 = no UEFA licence, 10 = B
Licence, 20 = has A licence or is enrolled on A licence course)
11. Finance Officer (0 = no qualification or
experience, 20 = qualification or experience)
12. General Manager (0 = none in post, 15 =
one in post)
13. Safety Officer (0 = none, 5 = Safety Officer
no SCNI qualification, 15 = SO with SCNI qualification)
14. Other Coaches (0 = no other qualified coaches,
5 = 1 other coach with UEFA B, 10 = 2 or more other coaches
with UEFA B)
15. Stewards (1 point up to 10 for every steward
with SCNI qualification)
16. Media Officer (0 = no qualified media officer,
10 = club has a qualified media officer)
17. Attendances (10 - 50 points depending on
ranking, based on attendance figures supplied to IFA)
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