Clare Soccer League AGM Date Postponed Amid Covid-19 Restrictions With Ryan Set For Chairman’s Role

Derrick Lynch

The AGM of the Clare District Soccer League will take place on November 2 should Covid-19 restrictions be eased at that point.

Next Monday evening had been pencilled in a possible date for the the meeting but this week’s announcement of Level 3 restrictions mean that plans have had to be put on ice for the time being.

It also means that the start date for the new season will now be postponed until after that meeting has taken place, with hopes that the following weekend, November 7/8, will see action resume around the county.

There are a number of positions to be filled when clubs eventually gather with chairman, secretary and PRO among the positions currently vacant.

It is expected that Kilrush Rangers clubman Jason Ryan will take over from Oliver Fitzpatrick in the chairman’s role after Fitzpatrick brought his tenure to an abrupt end last month. Ronnie Pyne looks set to remain as vice chairman while Denis Collins is in line to take over as secretary. Tony Downey is understood to be remaining as treasurer.

In his letter of resignation, the outgoing chairman hit out at fellow league members and took particular aim at Jason Ryan and Ronnie Pyne whom he singled out as having played a role in his decision to step down.

It came on the same day that secretary Michael Lydon announced he was departing his role, citing “people with hidden agendas” as part of the reason for him stepping aside.

Former league chairman and Clare soccer stalwart Jim Madden, who has been nominated to resume his role as PRO, outlined his view that the manner in which that departure was handled was disappointing.

“The decision of the chairman and the secretary to step down showed a real lack of respect to the clubs. It was not the way to behave and it showed huge disrespect to the clubs and the other members of the league executive. Jason Ryan prepared a very good document based on what he had been told by the FAI and what he had been told himself from talking to players about Covid-19 and restarting the league. He went through a good number of issues about why we should not restart and it appears that the chairman just ignored it rather than sitting down with the committee and looking at the various ways of doing it. I think he should not have named Ronnie (Pyne) and Jason (Ryan) as the reason he was stepping down. I think when you are resigning from something you should not go blaming other people. You should outline your reasons for stepping down but there is no point in making it personal” he noted.

With a mostly new look top table set to be appointed next month, Madden feels that there is a huge body of work to get through for whoever takes over the reins.

“The incoming committee has a fair bit of work to do to get things back on an even keel. I found that at the recent delegate meeting that clubs really got involved in the discussion for the first time in a long time. There was a comprehensive document prepared by Jason (Ryan) in relation to Covid measures where he raised about players having to travel on their own to games and a number of players had expressed their concerns which he felt had to be taken into account. Some of the clubs like Kilrush Rangers declined to play and they were just instantly relegated without any conversation. The ball is now back in the court of the clubs to nominate people who are willing to do the work in the various executive roles like fixtures, registrar. PRO etc for the next two years. I think all sports will find the next two years very difficult” he stated.

With a starting date for the 2020/2021 season still uncertain due to current guidelines, Madden feels the focus should be on how best to restructure the league to improve the quality across the grades. Current structures prevent B teams from gaining promotion to the top tier as long as their club’s first team are operating at that level, meaning that often teams who finish well down the First Division standings are often promoted instead. That is one of the areas Madden feels needs to be looked at.

“I think any team that finishes more than three places from the top of the table should not be promoted. Most of them actually don’t want to be promoted either. I think the Premier Division has lost some of its status with the developing strength of some of the B teams in the First Division. That is down to the fact that the top clubs have a proper system in place that means they have these really strong squads. We also have to develop a better pathway and encourage the top managers to use more of their younger players. There are some very good young players coming through as we saw with the performance of the Youths team this year, who had a great year before their competition was abandoned by the FAI at the semi-final stage due to Covid restrictions” he noted.