Lights. Camera. Action: Three words that are vitally important when making a movie, a TV programme or covering a sports event.
The first word is one of the most important in television terms, and last Friday night I noticed the importance of good lighting at a sports event in the starkest sense.
United Park played host to a title winning match for the second season in a row. At the same time, Munster opened their Heineken Cup account with a home match against Montauban at Thomond Park. The contrast was huge. United Park looked dark and uninviting in general, with a number of very dark patches on the pitch, which looked terrible on television. Thomond, on the other hand, was dazzling under the bright Limerick lights.
Imagine any performer going onto a semi-lit West End or Broadway stage. No matter how good that performance was, it would be a let down to the audience if they had to struggle to see him or her on a murky stage. That is the stage we ask our eircom League Players to perform on, week in week out. The quality of the lights at all the eircom league grounds are simply not good enough.
With increased (and soon to be further increased) live and highlights coverage of the league matches here, it is vitally important that the standard of floodlighting is improved to UEFA standards.
If this means a subsidy from the FAI, then it's money that must be spent. Not only does it add to the sense of occasion at the venue, when you walk out to your seat and face a beautifully lit field, it also, very importantly, makes the match more television friendly. There's an old saying about first impressions lasting, and for people who don't attend eircom League matches, if their first impression when watching on TV, is of a dimly lit spectacle, it's not going to entice them out. It's simple psychology.
I watched the last 20 minutes of Drogheda united versus Glentoran in the Setanta Cup on Monday night on TV, and I, and the people I was with, found it very difficult to differentiate between the two sides colours, particularly on the far side of the pitch, because the floodlights weren't good enough. This is an absolute no-no when it comes to televising football. If you can't tell which team is which, it's switch-off time.
Huge steps have been taken over the last season or two, to try to generate a sense of occasion around matches here. I've written before about the impressive flag displays from supporters, which look great, the mascots are always a hit, especially with the younger supporters, and the PA can be used to good effect in whipping up an atmosphere before and during the matches. But I come back to the lights. Put on a show in a dimly lit theatre, and it's going to look second rate, no matter how good the show actually is.
Speaking of good shows, the general reaction to last Monday’s MNS, was positive. It was interesting to hear Disco Tony McDonnell say that the players’ wages are going to have to be reduced in the situation the clubs find themselves in. It's a realistic assesment coming from a former top man in the PFAI.
Interesting too, that even in the euphoria of having clinched the league title, Pat Fenlon was in very reflective mood when interviewed by Tony O'Donoghue. Pat elequently summed up some of the hurdles facing the clubs in the league, and Cobh's Stephen Henderson also called on the decision makers in the league to take action to avoid the sort of problems many clubs have faced this term.
Before the programme Tony Mc suggested that a much more business like attitude to signing players, and contract negotiations was going to come into play. Too often, a manager desperate for success, will offer a player an extra x euro on top of his current wage, wherever he is, in order to entice that player to sign. This is all fine and dandy, until big crowds don't come through the turnstiles every week, and still the money has to be found to pay that player his top wage. Maybe if each club had a business manager who worked with the (football) manager to ensure that a wage structure is in place, and doesn't get exceeded, things might improve.
The news that over 75 percent of all players will be out of contract come season’s end, will work in the clubs favour now. It's a buyers’ market, and let’s hope the clubs use that position of strength to readjust the wages paid throughout the league. I don't like saying that, because the players are the lifeblood of the game, and they're the ones who go out and provide the entertainment every week, but realism must prosper over idealism for the time being, if clubs are to survive and avoid the negative headlines in the media about players not being paid their wages next season.
One other thing that's going to have to be looked at longterm is the proliferation of clubs in Dublin. If Shelbourne get promoted, and UCD survive, we could have a ten team top division next season with 6 clubs from Dublin or its environs in the league: Bohemians, St Pat’s, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, UCD, and Bray Wanderers.
This would highlight the folly of so many clubs coming from a city that doesn't have the population to sustain so many sides.
Look at Newcastle with one club, Sheffield with two, Bristol, two, Manchester, two (I know Bury is as near to Manchester as Bray is to Dublin, but you get the idea).
As a Shamrock Rovers fan, ask me would I fancy a merger with St Pat’s and I'd do my best Ian Paisley impression: ‘Never, Never, Never.’
Likewise, a merger of Shelbourne and Bohemians would make sense to many outsiders; two Northside clubs from a couple of miles apart, both looking for a new stadium. But would the fans approve - me thinks not.
Dave Bassett was nearly run out of town a few years ago when he had the temerity to suggest that the two Sheffield Clubs should merge if they were to have any chance of making an impression in the Premiership at the time. That’s in a city with a population of around 600 thousand people.
It's worked in rugby across the water - Neath/Swansea Ospreys and Newport/Gwent Dragons being prime examples.
Perhaps somebody from within the league here should undertake a study to see how the fans in Wales reacted at the time, and since, and the practicalities of how mergers of top clubs work. Realistically, neither Neath, nor Swansea would have any chance of surviving in the big bad Heineken Cup world that they're in at the moment, without pooling their resources. It was probably a painful decision for all involved, but the rewards are there for all to see. Could it be that something as radical as that is needed here?
I'm not sure if a top division with 5/6 clubs from the same city is sustainable in Ireland. If Rovers ever do merge with St Pat’s, maybe we could call the team Shamrock Rovers FC. Taking the Shamrock Rovers from the Rovers side of the merge, and the FC from the St Pat’s side!
If that ever does come to pass, I sincerely hope they have proper floodlights wherever they play.
