Mayo FC launch throws up more questions than answers

THERE was a mood of celebration in Breaffy House Hotel last Monday evening when Mayo FC was unveiled. It was an historic occasion, we were told, and a great day for Mayo football. And, of course it is. Or has the potential to be.
Two things struck me as I sat in the room.
The first, apart from the naming of the board members and the coaches and managers, was the lack of detail. Real, essential detail. No funding model was announced, or alluded to.
No business plan was set out. Other than the aspiration to eventually enter a team in the Airtricity League of Ireland, no long term plan was revealed.
Nobody said anything about winning anything.
And, apart from Minister Dara Calleary, nobody gave any indication of where any money might come from. Nobody said how much would be needed, or where it would be found.
No headline sponsor or benefactor was announced.
The whole thing looked alarmingly ill-prepared.
The Mayo League has provided excellent leadership over the years. The League is one of the best run in the country, with excellent facilities provided by its member clubs, following guidelines from the League. And this initiative is Mayo League driven as well.
The board of the new club is virtually identical to that of the Mayo League Management Committee. Which brings me to the second thing that struck me on Monday night.
What is it with the Mayo League and women?
You would have thought that when the newly-formed Mayo FC plans to enter girls’ teams in League of Ireland competition, and to eventually enter a senior women’s team, that they might have considered the inclusion of women on the committee or board of the new club. But sadly, no.
Indeed, with all the plans the new club has, only one woman’s name was mentioned in Breaffy House last Monday night. Michelle Ruane has been named as one of the three coaches for the girls’ Under-19 team.
When I spoke with Seamus Hughes, the Chairman of the Mayo League last September, on his elevation to that office, I asked him why there were no women on the Management Committee. “We’ll be looking for a woman to fill the next vacancy that occurs,” he replied.
Was this not an ideal opportunity to deliver on that objective?
50.34% of the Irish population is female. Mayo FC has ambitious plans to compete in the girls’ and women’s leagues. Yet, no female on the board. And this is 2023.
Going back to the money, some expenditure must have been incurred to get the club this far. A new company was formed. And the Breaffy House launch is bound to have cost something, because no suggestion was made that they had sponsored the night.
Where did this money come from? Was it paid for by the Mayo League? And if so, was it a loan, a donation, or is Mayo FC a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mayo League?
If the club is a stand-alone entity, will the Mayo League be funding it until it is able to fund itself? And will it bail it out if there is a shortfall? And, if this is the case, how do the existing Mayo junior clubs feel about this?
Have they been asked?
I also wondered why the event wasn’t held in Solar 21 Park, Milebush.
If this is to be the home of the new club, why not launch it there? Would it not have been better to associate Solar 21 – the brand – with the launch, given that the story enjoyed national publicity?
Was this not a chance to deliver added exposure to an existing sponsor - Solar 21 – an Irish renewable energy infrastructure company based close to Dublin with offices in Italy and the UK? Might this not have endeared the fledgling club, with no women on its board, to an existing sponsor in the hope that they might invest in the new project?
I wish Mayo FC well. (I wish the board came up with a more imaginative name and, definitely, a more imaginative crest, but those observations aside, I really do wish the club well.)
I will be the first to buy a season ticket when they go on sale. I will support the club and its teams. But this new club will have to be savvy to survive in a county dominated by GAA.
A county where the game has little non-participative support.
It will need imaginative leadership and will need to seize every opportunity presented and seek out new ones. It will need money – lots of it. It will need a business plan.
The plan will need monitoring, and any digression from it, will need to be addressed rapidly. And it will need women on the board.