Big-time disappointments

At that point, Foley was so cherished by Liverpool that, even before they could sign him up full time, they were flying him to England every Friday to play for their Under-16s. It seemed like an extraordinary burden to place on someone who was barely a teenager. Yet Steve Heighway, the former Irish international and head of the club’s youth academy, was so keen on him that they wanted to properly monitor his development.
Once he moved over for good, Foley was there only a few months when a story emerged about his impact. During an Under-17 match, Kevin Keegan, then the England manager, was so impressed by Foley’s performance on the left side of midfield that he approached the Liverpool coaches. Given England’s dearth of left-footed talent, he demanded to know why nobody had told him the club had such a player on the way up. At which point someone mentioned the gifted kid was actually Irish.
Earlier this week, Foley was released by Liverpool. Just turned 21, he never played a first-team game. Never came any closer than a squad number as high as 38. Maybe he wasn’t good enough. Perhaps too much was expected of him too young. Who’s to know? What we know for certain is that this age-old policy of sending dozens of Ireland’s best young players to England and Scotland every year is patently not working. Not when maybe one in a hundred makes it as a starter at the highest level. That is not a good enough return and it’s about time the Irish tried to come up with alternatives.
That’s easier said than done. The FAI, the Eircom League and the third-level colleges in Ireland have to be able to bang their heads together to offer a different path to the promising 16-year-old than the time-worn route to Yorkshire or Lancashire or London. Some structure combining training with proper education (not the Mickey Mouse courses taught to apprentices at Premiership clubs) has to be put in place to offer these kids a reason to stay home. Especially since people involved in the game at schoolboy level openly admit a lot of the Irish boys recruited to English clubs have no business going there at all.
They have some talent but very often that itself is not enough. In most cases, the heads of the Premiership academies are only bringing them in as part of a trawling exercise. They are so fearful of losing one gem they collect every stone that crosses their path. As soon as it becomes apparent they are not the one in every hundred destined for greatness, they are released. Some cling to the dream by snagging a contract down the divisions in England. More come back to play in the Eircom League. Others are consigned to oblivion, lost to the sport forever.
The lucky ones have managed to save a few bob from the signing bonus they received. The majority, though, arrive home with precious little money, no qualification worth speaking of, and the stigma of perceived failure. Yet still, Ireland farms them out every summer, delighted to see them off, never as eager to welcome them back.
It’s a pity some of them don’t forsake England altogether and opt instead for soccer scholarships to American universities. If they are good enough to be courted by English clubs, they are surely good enough to get a four-year scholarship to a reputable college in the U.S. There, they could receive four years of free education, and excellent coaching in places where the ancillary and playing facilities are comparable to most Premiership training grounds.
Upon graduation, the player then would have a myriad of choices. With a degree in his hand, he is actually qualified to do a job. If he wants to stay in the game, he can pursue a professional career in the U.S. or back home. He can also get on the coaching ladder, as many of the Irish who received scholarships in the 1980s and ’90s have done. The higher echelons of American soccer are speckled with Irish men who are now highly respected, well-paid, FIFA-qualified coaches.
How many of the kids placed on the scrap heap by Liverpool and all the rest of the English clubs this past fortnight will end up with such careers? I’d venture not a lot.
Of course, there is this myth that by choosing America over England, a boy forfeits his chances of hitting the real big time. Rubbish. As evidenced by Tim Howard’s arrival at Old Trafford last summer, the likes of United are only waking up to the potential of players in the U.S. Spending four years playing at an American university can be a platform for the future not a dead end.
A few months ago, the FAI approached the New England Revolution’s Pat Noonan about his eligibility for the senior international team. Fresh out of Indiana University, in his first season as a professional, the 23-year-old was already on Brian Kerr’s radar.
Surely, more kids in Cork, Dublin and beyond can be persuaded to take this more circuitous path. Look around the Premiership and the majority of the American players — and there would be a lot more of them there if it wasn’t for the restrictive EU employment laws keeping them out — have something that marks them out from their peers. College degrees from institutions like UCLA and the University of Virginia.
We’re not saying the American route is the ultimate solution to the problem of too many Irish boys being washed up by English clubs at the age of 20. It’s simply a viable option for any talented kid who’s capable of staying in school and sitting the Leaving Cert. When the scouts come calling, and the parents, in particular, get stars in their eyes, it’s an alternative they’d do well to consider.