WOULD you rather have a circus come visit your town or have a playground built in it?
One will give a quick hit of excitement but leave a mess behind when it packs up and leaves.
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The other will be an amenity providing developmental benefits when it comes to social, mental, physical and coordination skills on an ongoing basis.
So, what’s it to be, kids?
There might be some excuse for children going down the instant gratification route but surely we should expect better from our football administrators and politicians?
Last week, Boris Johnson confirmed the UK government would provide £2.8million towards a feasibility study on Britain and Ireland hosting the centenary World Cup.
FOOTBALL IS COMING HOME
Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers did not put a price on our contribution but suggested a ‘significant amount’ of the department’s major events division’s €6m budget would go towards this.
The decision to proceed to the next stage was broadly welcomed.
Across the water, there was predictable talk about football coming home.
Although, having twice failed to win the rights to host the finals on their own since 1966, this time England are enlisting the help of their neighbours to try to win friends and influence people in Fifa.
A NEW STADIUM IN GALWAY?
There was no less enthusiasm on display here, with local politicians keen to get in on the act.
Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill said Thurles should be included as one of the host venues.
At least Semple Stadium is actually in existence, unlike in Galway where his party colleague, councillor Alan Cheevers, was calling for a 48,000-seater stadium to be built.
One of the sites he suggested was Galway Airport, which last had a commercial flight more than five years ago. If the airline in question had been called White Elephant the irony might still have been lost on him.
REPAIRING THE DAMAGE
There will be more of this nonsense to endure but any politician who tries to piggyback on this should be given the lowdown on where Irish football is right now.
They should have their eyes opened to how, through a mixture of recklessness (changing seasons from winter to summer and back again), neglect (insufficient all-weather facilities) and misfortune (Covid-19), a generation of young footballers have had their growth stunted over the last few years.
It means that the single biggest issue facing the game is not whether we seize what might be a once-in-lifetime opportunity to stage one of the world’s biggest sporting spectacles here.
It is whether we can try to repair the damage done to player development in recent years so there is not a crisis — another one — coming down the tracks with regards to our national team, but also participation at grassroots level.
EYES OFF THE BALL
Nobody will convince me that chasing the glamour prize will not result in us, once again, taking our eye off the ball when it comes to the work that matters.
The idea that we can do both might be more persuasive had we a history of doing right by the game at all levels.
We do not — our obsession with big-ticket items like managers, stadia and tournament bids continually distracts us from what really matters, which is getting the foundations right in Irish football and building from there.
So it is hard to escape the conclusion that embarking on what might be a fruitless pursuit will be a drain on focus and resources which should be diverted elsewhere for more lasting results.
YOUNG GUNS
Because, while Covid-19 may ultimately spare us from having to endure co-hosting a tournament for which we did not qualify this summer, if Uefa decides to move Dublin’s Euros matches elsewhere, alarm bells should be ringing about the prospect of it happening nine years down the line.
The argument over whether Ireland ‘has the players’ any more raged throughout Martin O’Neill’s time as national team manager. His final act as Ireland boss before he was sacked, bringing on Michael Obafemi for his debut with ten minutes to go against Denmark in November 2018, pointed towards a younger generation ready to emerge.
Since then, we have seen Aaron Connolly, Adam Idah, Troy Parrott, Dara O’Shea, Jason Knight and Jayson Molumby capped, with Caoimhín Kelleher and Nathan Collins likely to follow this year.
Although there is no guarantee any of them will reach the same heights, it is the most exciting crop since Damien Duff, Robbie Keane and Richard Dunne broke on to the scene around the same time.
COMPETITIVE MATCHES
They are young enough to potentially be around for the 2030 World Cup but, by then, they will need to be supplemented by players now in their young-to-mid teens who have yet to kick a ball in anger in 2021.
In fact, the vast majority of kids playing organised football have had one competitive match in the past year because of Covid-19.
That alone would be bad enough but it is compounded by what went before.
In 2017, leading leagues such as the DDSL switched to summer football as per the FAI’s wishes. Unsurprisingly, the months of June, July and August were disrupted because of players and coaches being on holiday.
NATIONAL UNDERAGE LEAGUES
But, rather than try to work through those problems, a decision was taken in May 2019 — when the FAI was too powerless to try and resist — to revert to winter football.
So that season was cut short. It started up again that September only for the final months of the year to be largely a write-off because of weather which was even worse than normal, making pitches unplayable.
Then came March last year, the cessation of all activities, before a summer resumption, a couple of friendly matches and one league fixture before another disruption with only training allowed until Christmas and none given the green light since.
With the national underage leagues, up until now, kicking in only every second year, the problems from an already-flawed system have been made worse.
SINK OR SWIM
Players are going from seven-a-side to 11-a-side football having played virtually no nine-a-side football.
In Germany, even in normal times, this transition is smoothed over by playing the first half of a match with the smaller number and the second with the larger. Here? Sink or swim, it seems.
This is the system which — in the absence of an exemption in the wake of Brexit — is now expected to maximise the potential of our brightest hopes until the age of 18.
It stands to reason that this is going to have a negative impact on the conveyor belt of talent, with 2030 in or around the time it will be most acutely felt.
LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES
That is not to mention the far-more reaching consequence of a whole generation of kids falling out of the habit of structured physical exercise.
There is genuine concern among those involved in youth football about what they will be returning to when the time comes. How many players will be lost to the game?
These are not purely football issues but societal ones, with obvious implications for our health system down the line if enthusiasm for sport cannot be rekindled.
Despite all that and the pointers suggesting limited transmission in outdoor sport, the FAI seems unwilling to publicly lobby government for a return to action.
With memories of a state-led bailout still fresh, the Association seems cowed, like a child afraid to ask if it is still grounded after a major transgression.
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But, in the meantime, the kids, society and the future prospects of our national team will continue to suffer.
So, if the government and FAI want to collaborate on an ambitious project for 2030, let them talk about building all-weather pitches the length and breadth of the country, so we can try to make up for some lost time. Tell the circus where to go.
In time, even the kids will thank them for it.