Super League is suggested to lift soccer fortunes in Tipp

By Gary Culbert

The new third tier of League of Ireland soccer, otherwise known as the National League, made a big splash recently with its opening round of games. The ripples of said splash eventually hit the Tipperary soccer scene, where punters and players alike were left questioning how the Premier County ended up with no dog in the race with addition of clubs in counties such as Mayo and Carlow/Kilkenny.

There has been no professional soccer team in Tipperary since Peake Villa FC and Thurles Town FC amalgamated in 1977 and leading coach Barry Ryan has called for a united approach to soccer in the county.

“We've nothing to aspire to for a young player, all the options are outside of Tipperary – but can we be brave and create a product within Tipperary?” he suggested.

“If we created a Tipperary Super League, could that then lead to a really competitive all-Tipperary Oscar Traynor team that could win an Oscar Traynor, and could that team be the foundations of a Tipperary team in the League of Ireland.”

Thurles native Ryan is a decorated former player and manager in both the North Tipperary (NTDL) and Tipperary Southern and District League (TS&DL).

The former Thurles Town, Peake Villa, and Clonmel Town star has noticed a decline in local football in the county, and, as the leading voice on South Tipperary soccer, he has come together with other ex-players and stakeholders in the league to offer a potential solution: a Tipperary Super League.

“Carrick United were such a powerhouse for so many years in Waterford and they've massively dropped off. Clonmel Town have had their own issues in Tipperary,” he continued.

“Nenagh AFC have obviously felt that they needed a different challenge and I'm not so sure how well Limerick has worked out.

“Then you see Killavilla United looking to try and get a different challenge as well (in the CCFL) and you're left thinking to yourself: could we have a solution right here at home where we could all come together.”

“Tipperary football needs Nenagh AFC, it needs Killavilla United and I think Carrick United will have an awful lot to offer as well,” he added.

Ryan believes that the time is right for the two committees - NT&DL and TS&DL - to come together.

“We have spent too many years where people are looking after their own house. We have to move with the times; local football is not what it was so how can we fix it; how can we change it? I think that surely leads to a conversation and people being at least willing to get around the table,” Ryan said.

He maintains that the old John Delaney Cup, a pre-season competition between the leading North & South Tipperary League teams, provides a good roadmap, and indeed working proof, of how the Tipperary Super League might be implemented.

Ryan added: “The top eight teams in the whole of Tipperary have come together in the past to play competitive football, so you're just talking about doing it again but in a longer league-based style instead of a one-off cup.”

“You could even have a trial period where you make a Tipperary Super Cup, ran by the two committees coming together, just to see what the logistics are and how it could work.”

One benefit of a trial period for just a Tipperary Super Cup is that teams like Nenagh AFC and Killavilla United would not have to leave their current leagues in a blind leap of faith; taking part in the trial tournament during the off-season of their current leagues to see the level of the other teams in Tipperary. However, Ryan says that the long-term goal should be to try and get clubs to come back to the Premier County in a bid to grow Tipperary soccer.

“We need to get Nenagh back, whether they join the NT&DL or the TS&DL it really doesn’t matter, we need to get these clubs around the table because they've got too much to offer to Tipperary soccer to be elsewhere.”

“The only way it's going to get off the ground into more than a conversation is if the two league committees are willing to meet and look at establishing a cup competition as a trial period, just to see what it will be like working together.

“If we have anybody in the North Tipp or South Tipp committees who are honest and open, they have to accept that football is dying within county”, Ryan concluded.