Nostalgia for a time when Irish domestic soccer had high prestige

AS GALWAY said goodbye to a favourite sporting son last week, Eamon ('Chick') Deacy, who got the city's biggest funeral in modern times, it was gratifying to note in all the tributes paid to such a special person the emphasis placed on his status as a local hero. For all that the prodigiously gifted Chick achieved with Aston Villa and the Republic of Ireland, what continued to endear him to the city and county was something different, but equally valid â€â€ he was 'one of our own.' He may have played against Brazilian and Italian legends such as Socrates, Falcao, Zico, Eder and Junior, Gentile, Cabrini, Tardelli, Michel Platini, Boniek and Paulo Rossi, but at Chick's funeral there was even more talk about his playing days at Irish clubs: West Utd, Galway Rovers, Galway Utd, Sligo Rovers and Limerick. But now, sadly, the domestic soccer scene is a pale shadow of its former self and while Mervue and Salthill Devon are marching on, it's surely not good enough that there will be no 'full' Galway city team playing at the highest level in the coming season and, in the process, honouring the Chick Deacy legacy. [private] Professional sport in Ireland has suffered considerably since the end of the so-called Celtic Tiger era. Not so much in rugby, with the I.R.F.U. a wealthy organisation well able to pay its bills, pack the Aviva Stadium for the home games in the Six Nations Championship and pay full-time players big salaries, although at lower levels sponsorship is not as easy to get and the All-Ireland League has lost its lustre and its former status as a major club competition. The worst hit professional sport is soccer. Not at international level â€â€ the Italian 'dream team' of Giovanni Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli are still being paid more to manage the Republic of Ireland than Enda Kenny is paid to run the country, and our top players are on the Rich List too â€â€ but the League of Ireland, in sharp contrast, operates in the lonely foothills of that money mountain. Close to the poverty line. Ireland's domestic soccer scene has one massive contradiction that leaves it destined to never fulfil its potential. A recent major survey showed that soccer is the nation's most popular sport, with Gaelic Games next and rugby third. That's not a surprise; it was common knowledge. But it's of no value to the League of Ireland or, sadly, to Junior soccer in this country, â€Ëœordinary' club soccer in towns and villages all over Ireland. For, as everybody knows, soccer's popularity here is due mainly to the tight grip exerted by the Premiership across-Channel, to a much lesser extent clubs in the lower divisions and also, of course, to the Champions League which is not only Europe's top soccer competition but probably third in the order of world sporting events â€â€ behind the Olympic Games (1st) and soccer's World Cup (second), and ahead of rugby's World Cup, golf's Ryder Cup or the Masters at Augusta, Georgia and cycling's Tour de France. Despite the huge, unwavering support for 'The Boys in Green,' most Irish soccer fans' first loyalty is to one of five Premiership clubs: Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs. Listen to the soccer talk shows on national radio stations and you'll hear fans using â€Ëœwe' and â€Ëœus' about the English teams they support. So it's no wonder that great Irish clubs of the 1950s and 60s such as Drumcondra and Cork Athletic and later Cork Hibernians went out of business, and that former giants of the League of Ireland such as Waterford, Limerick and Cork City lost their magic. In more recent times, that also happened to Dundalk and Shelbourne, while Shamrock Rovers were more often in the doldrums than at the top and another big Dublin club, Bohemians, were close to financial extinction in 2010. Shamrock Rovers were the Manchester United of Ireland in the 1960s, winning six Cup finals in a row and fielding teams of star names, legends of Irish soccer for their achievements at home â€â€ not like later, in the 1970s and 80s, as seen on the BBC, on Match of the Day. Mighty Shamrocks Rovers men of the 1960s like Pat Dunne and Mick Smyth (goalkeepers), John Keogh, Pat Courtney, Paddy Mulligan, Ronnie Nolan, Tommy Farrell, Johnny Fullam, Bobby Gilbert, Frank O'Neill, Jackie Mooney, Eddie Bailham, Paddy Ambrose, Mick Leech, Liam Tuohy, Mick Kearin and Mick Lawlor. In the 1968 F.A.I. Cup final Shamrock Rovers defeated the League champions Waterford 3-0. Mick Leech scored twice and. The attendance at Dalymount Park on that glorious occasion was 45,000. Those were the days! We'll never see their likes again. [/private]