The Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) is planning a significant restructure which will come into operation next year leading to the organisation being responsible for dealing with off the field discipline issues rather than the Irish FA.
he Belfast Telegraph has seen a copy of a document labelled ‘NIFL Structure - 2022 and beyond’ entitled ‘Our Football, Our Future” which has been sent to all NIFL clubs across the Premiership, Championship, Premier Intermediate League (PIL) and Women’s Premiership.
The proposals in the document will be voted on at NIFL’s AGM on July 25 but early indications from around the clubs are that the new plans driven by NIFL Chief Executive Gerard Lawlor have met with a favourable and positive response.
Since coming into post last year Lawlor and his NIFL team have worked hard to move the club game forward in Northern Ireland and have already delivered success stories including the first domestic Cup final to be played on a Sunday with the novelty of that and top value ticket prices expanding the crowd to over 11,000 watching Cliftonville defeat Coleraine 4-3 in a thriller at Windsor Park in March.
Sunday Life Sport disclosed at the weekend that 75% of Premiership clubs have expressed an interest in playing on a Sunday this season which is a further boost to NIFL who are keen to see Irish League Premiership games played over Friday, Saturday and Sunday in an attempt to grow the game. Lawlor says the plan is to have “four or five” Sunday matches in the top flight before Christmas and a similar number or more after the festive period.
Now Lawlor and NIFL are setting their sights on marking the 10th anniversary of the 2013 formation of the organisation with a new structure behind the scenes next year.
At present there are four Management committees which operate below the NIFL Board. The proposal in the ‘Our Football, Our Future’ document is to remove those Management Committees and have a General Assembly, a Competitions Committee, Sub Divisions and a Disciplinary Committee under the NIFL Board.
Lawlor’s vision is for the General Assembly to consist of one representative from each male and female club in NIFL’s membership and for it to be consultative and advisory, meeting at least three times each year in September, January and June.
The document states the General Assembly shall fulfil the following functions:
* To discuss matters of mutual interest to all clubs in membership
* To consider and advise on specific questions which may be addressed to it by the Board or any Sub Division.
* To provide a forum for discussion about and consideration of significant issues for the development of the league
* To receive a report from the Chair of the Board as to the state of the League and the latest issues being dealt with by the Board
* To appoint (in their meeting in June) members to serve on the Competition Committee, and any other committee or commission required from time to time
The Competitions Committee will consist of 10 members with three representatives from clubs playing in the Premiership and two each from Championship, PIL and Women’s Premiership as well as one representative from clubs playing in the Academy Leagues.
The quorum shall be five with members electing a Chair and a Vice Chair for each season. The Committee “will be responsible for the drafting of competition rules and for the organisation of all the cup competitions played within the League, this will include decisions as to which clubs may participate, the eligibility criteria for players playing in these competitions, and the drawing of ties and dealing with all matters pertaining to the competitions.”
The point relating to ‘eligibility criteria for players playing in these competitions’ is an interesting one given the embarrassing issues some Irish League clubs have faced with ineligible players over the years.
Most fascinating of all is NIFL’s new Disciplinary Committee which proposes to take off the field disciplinary issues away from the Irish FA’s table with NIFL feeling that would be in line with other leagues across Europe.
There were several incidents of crowd trouble last season with a number of Irish Premiership clubs fined heavily by the IFA due to spectator misconduct and threatened with playing behind closed doors if trouble persisted.
Some will suggest that with NIFL taking over this aspect of football they are policing themselves though in the document Chief Executive Lawlor stresses that there will be “independent members” on the Disciplinary Committee plus “possibly former players or referees”.
In another key point Lawlor also reveals that he has had talks with the IFA and they are behind the idea.
“At present we send out observers who then report to ourselves and we forward issues to the Irish FA for discipline and fines,” Lawlor says.
“More than often I feel the fines are disproportionate, I feel we are much better placed to deal within NIFL on “Off Field” Discipline and support and help with member clubs to solve issues, that are very much issues that cause reputational damage to NIFL.
“I’ve held discussions with the IFA on this and they are on board. This Committee I see as involving independent members along with a football person, possibly some ex-players or refs.”
Under the heading of Sub Divisions, the document declares: “The Sub Divisions are basically the current management Committees in a different name, they have no roles or power other than an information forum and possibly they will elect within their meeting reps to Irish FA and NIFL board. They will meet ad hoc and when requirements arise.”
NIFL believe the benefits of this new behind the scenes overall will be ‘more structure and improved communication between NIFL leagues’ plus:
* Greater engagement between Leagues & understanding of each other’s issues
* Togetherness within the NIFL Family
* Reduction of staff time on Management Committees, which is often wasteful & unfruitful
* More efficient and productive meetings
* Fresh approach and in line with best practice of modern successful leagues
