Mayo FC can compete with Mayo GAA

THE chairman of Mayo FC has insisted that the newly-formed soccer club can compete with Mayo GAA.
Speaking at the official launch of the club, Séamus Hughes said that Mayo FC would offer young players ‘a choice’ between elite soccer and Gaelic football.
There are currently over 8,000 players registered with soccer clubs across county Mayo.
“Firstly, the biggest game in town is soccer. When Ringo’ [Michael Ring TD] said it there, he wasn’t lying. There’s more people playing soccer than any other ball sport in the country,” began Hughes when asked who Mayo FC could compete with Mayo GAA – which is the fifth largest sporting brand in the country.
“What are we offering? We’re offering them a choice. Some will prefer the soccer over the Gaelic, some will prefer the Gaelic over the soccer. What we’re offering them is a choice. We’re not holding any guns to any heads or anything like that.
“The players are in Mayo. Nine of 20 on a panel down in Sligo [Rovers] are Mayo-based players. The appetite is there.”
Mark Scanlon, the FAI’s League of Ireland Director, said that Mayo FC and Mayo GAA would be ‘complementary’ to each other going forward.
“I don’t really see it as a competition. I see it as complementary and a pathway for young players,” said Scanlon during an interview with The Mayo News.
“So the Mayo Gaelic football team has been fantastic over the years and given great excitement to the county. But there’s no reason why Mayo FC and the football teams, mens and womens, can’t do the same for the county over the years.
“I’m from Meath myself. Yesterday I saw the Meath Gaelic team play seven young players I used to coach in football teams in Meath who were playing in Croke Park. “It’s great to see those young kids still playing sport.
“For some of them that journey will be in football and for some of them it will be GAA, whether it's in Gaelic football or whether it’s in hurling, but ultimately kids will still be playing sport.”
Scanlon then cited Tralee-based Kerry FC, who entered the League of Ireland last year.
“I don’t really see it as a competition, I see it as another element to the sporting landscape in Mayo. And like we’ve done in Kerry this year, which is obviously another real GAA stronghold, we’ve seen sellout crowds in Mounthawk Park, we’ve seen local players represented,” he said.  
“It’s just a sense of pride for the people of Kerry and there’s no reason why that can’t be the same for the people of Mayo.”
Scanlon added that Mayo FC would have an advantage over Kerry FC by putting a full academy structure in place before competing in the adult League of Ireland.
Mayo FC will field Under-14 and Under-15 boys’ teams and an U-17 girls team in 2024, but no date has been set for fielding an adult team.
“I think the best thing about Mayo FC is that there’s a bit of a lead-in for that to happen and that the club will get the chance to build that up over a sustainable period, whereas the club in Kerry will pretty much have to go into that straight away. So it was a big jump. But they’ve done a very good job,” said Scanlon.