League of Ireland Academy Development Manager Will Clarke: 'We want to focus on the core issues as to why we are falling behind a little bit'

League of Ireland Academy development manager Will Clarke with Shamrock Rovers academy director Shane Robinson, left, and Derry City technical director Paddy McCourt, right, during a EA SPORTS National Underage League Media Day at FAI Headquarters

League of Ireland Academy development manager Will Clarke with Shamrock Rovers academy director Shane Robinson, left, and Derry City technical director Paddy McCourt, right, during a EA SPORTS National Underage League Media Day at FAI Headquarters Credit: Extratime Team (ETPhotos)

League of Ireland Academy Manager Will Clarke praised the work many League of Ireland clubs have done in the past ahead of the launch of the EA Sports Underage National League’s starting this weekend.

Clarke is a recent appointment to the FAI after a stint as Director of Football at St Joseph’s Boys in Dublin.

And that experience shows that he knows of the problems present in the system at present – and that is something that he highlighted.

“I think that we’re boxing above our weight at the moment in terms of the job the clubs and coaches are doing at the moment within the clubs,” he said. “The clubs have done a great job with very little resources.”

At the moment, League of Ireland Academies are lagging behind in a number of aspects compared to their comparable UK counterparts.

Three Category 3 Academy clubs – Stevenage, Rochdale and Fleetwood Town – all have similar size academies to those in the League of Ireland.

But their contact time and facilities is far above what can be seen in the Republic of Ireland – and Clarke has identified that as a problem area that needs addressing.

“I don’t think we’re a million miles off that but from our perspective we have to be more ambitious than Category 3 Level in the UK,” he adds.

“We want to focus on the core issues as to why we are falling behind.

“Ultimately, it’s not about if it is an under-14 or under-15 league, it’s more about trying to highlight the issues at the start because there are a number of fundamental issues that need to be addressed.”



And it is not just clubs in the UK that League of Ireland clubs have been lagging behind – it is also clubs in the Faroe Islands, Lichtenstein and Malta.

On average, both the Faroe Islands and Lichtenstein have one full-time academy employee – while Malta have 6.

Ireland, along with Northern Ireland, Andorra and Luxembourg have none.

And Clarke is appealing for government support to help the FAI address this issue.

“We don’t get any centralised Government funding, whereas other comparative countries receive around 16% of their turnover in the form of state or municipal grants,” he said.

“There is no silver bullet here. It won’t happen overnight, but it’s certainly something that we want to work towards because, while there may be some marginal gains, ultimately without the additional funding, we won’t make the progress that we need to make.”



But in terms of the present-day issues at play – for the moment at least – Clarke confirmed that the under-14 league that is replacing the under-13 league of last season is as a result of the Covid-19 interrupted 2020 season.

Although he did say all options are being considered whether to keep it at under-14s going forward.

“As part of the strategic review within the league, everything is up for review,” he said. “We’ll use whatever data we can get our hands to make the best decisions that we can make.

“If that means we revert back to under-13s so be it and if we stay at under-14s so be it. As things stand it’s under review at the moment.

“The one thing at the moment is that we want to make it better and make early decisions so we can communicate that to the club.”