Labour City Councillor Niall Mc Nelis has urged greater investment in soccer in Galway, saying that it lags behind in terms of government investment, despite being the most popular team sport in the county.
To this end, next month the Labour Party will put down a Private Members’ Motion calling for increased funding for a game that has been historically underinvested in in Ireland.
“On July 12th during Labour’s Private Members’ Time in the Dáil, we will ask Government to back the FAI’s strategy to revitalise Irish soccer,” said Cllr McNelis.
“Football is the number one participation team sport in Ireland, according to Sports Ireland, yet it has been massively underinvested in for years.
“Labour want to change that in all sections from grassroots clubs across the city and county League of Ireland clubs like Galway Utd and the international teams.
“The FAI published a report earlier this month calling for an investment requirement of €863 million over a 15-year period to address deficits in facilities and structures. This watershed report calls for external support to make a vision for a thriving football industry in Ireland, and Labour is calling on Government to take action now.
“If Labour’s plans are acted on, we could turn football into a major industry here in Ireland, and could have regular and competitive Champions League football here for our teams in 15 years.
“Football has been outside the political love circle for some time. Other codes have done an awful lot better. What the FAI are legitimately pointing out is the deficit in infrastructure within the game, grassroots, LOI, international and it won’t be cheap to fix.
“The time for complaining about the state of Irish football is over, it’s time to support it, invest in it and grow it.
“I will be engaging with clubs locally to get a sense of the issues at play so we can bring a full and comprehensive motion to Government in July in the hope that they will take serious action for clubs in Galway.
“Labour’s motion will ask for political support for the FAI report, support for the game to be more integrated into the education system and talk about centralised contracts for female players to stay in the league,” he said.
