Mark Scanlon was appointed to lead the League of Ireland into a new, prosperous era. Recent rises in attendances suggests he is doing just that

After 61 minutes during the Shamrock Rovers v Bohemians SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division game at the Aviva Stadium recently a startling, truly remarkable notification suddenly appeared on the giant screen in the stadium. The notification simply read: ‘Attendance: 33,208.’

Anybody who has followed the domestic game for any decent length of time, and stood on ‘terraces’ that were in reality grass banks watching games down the years, will have appreciated the significance of the moment. Just how much of a milestone it was. The Aviva attendance was one of the biggest, if not THE biggest crowd, for an opening day fixture since the League of Ireland started back in the early 1920s.

To have such a large attendance would have been impressive enough if the fixture was a FAI Cup final or even an international game, but for the first league game of the season it was way out there and Trim man Mark Scanlon could have been forgiven if he glanced up at the board and felt a warm glow of fulfillment.

As the FAI’s Director of the League of Ireland one of Scanlon’s targets is to get more people through the turnstiles and the big turnout for this latest episode between two of Dublin’s oldest and most famous clubs was a sign - in all it’s multi-coloured glory on the scoreboard - that a new threshold had been crossed; that current strategies to attract more people to games were working.

Scanlon spoke to the Meath Chronicle the day after Bohs (with Ashbourne’s Dawson Devoy playing a major role ) had defeated their rivals 1-0, although in once sense the final result was irrelevant – at least in terms of what the day meant for the overall health of the league and the direction it was going.

“It would have taken Bohemians four seasons and eight home games against Shamrock Rovers in order to be able to cater for so many people,” Scanlon pointed out. “One of the most positive things for us was the amount of young people and families who attended the game. For some it was their first League of Ireland fixture and hopefully they will come back throughout the season and for many years to come. It was a great, positive occasion.”

The big attendance is part of a growing trend in the local game whereby more and more people are watching games, either live or on TV, or listening to them on the radio. “We’ve seen full stadiums for the last few seasons, we’ve seen clubs with record ticket sales, record attendances and unfortunately we’ve had to turn fans away because some of the grounds haven’t been big enough so the opportunity came with the Bohs, Rovers game to do something different. Bohemians had to give up home advantage for it to happen but it meant we got eight times the capacity of Dalymount Park into the ground.”

Scanlon’s life is steeped in football. Association football. Every waking hour you sense is spent working out how to expand and grow the domestic game partly because that is the nature of his job but also because he has a deep-seated passion for the soccer in this country – and to find out of the source of that passion you have to look at his background and how that shaped his outlook on life.

THE HOOPS

Mark Scanlon grew up in Trim but regular trips up to Dublin to see League of Ireland football became sewn into the fabric of his life from very early on.

His grandfather, John Scanlon, was from the Irishtown, Ringsend area of Dublin, a place where numerous top class footballers who went to be internationals grew up, including Davy Langan and Liam O’Brien to name just a few. It’s also the area where Shamrock Rovers were formed.

John was a League of Ireland referee and his son, Terry, Mark’s father, along with is uncle Alan were big Shamrock Rovers fans. Regularly Terry and Mark would travel up from Trim to see the famous Hoops play. Mark recalls making the pilgrimage to the Hoops temporary home of the RDS from the age of six. From the start he was smitten by the trappings of football – the colour, the lights, the excitement, the drama.

“It was my uncle Alan that bought me my first Shamrock Rovers jersey and brought me to my first game and I was probably one of the few kids in my school in Trim that would have had a League of Ireland jersey or went to League of Ireland games so I just continued on throughout the years going to games, it was always something I loved doing, it became a very important part of my life.”

On Mark’s mother’s side there’s also a connection with the game. Monica Scanlon’s family have a close affinity with two other big Dublin clubs - Shelbourne and St Patrick’s Athletic.

Mark played under-age in the green and white hoops too, those with the Trim Celtic crest. He coached at the club too from a young age, a regular presence in Tully Park. While he knew he wasn’t going to make it as a big-time player he sought other routes into the game and in 2008 he landed a job as a FAI Development Officer for the Meath area.

“I had a lot of great people with me in terms of that coaching journey I embarked on, people like Gerry Gorman and Liam Callan who would have given me a chance to work at summer camps from a young age, that was brilliant. I just loved coaching, loved to be involved. I worked for seven years as a development officer in Meath which is a role that I massively enjoyed because it gave me an opportunity to develop football in my own local area, something I was passionate about.”

After seven years developing the game in his native county the Trim man moved into Schools and Colleges football for the next five years. He enjoyed running national programmes, adding to his store of experience about the game in this country and how it all works.

In 2020 he was offered the position as Director of the League of Ireland; a big role, that carries a weighty responsibility with many dependent on their livelihoods with how the game is run. It’s an all consuming role too but Scanlon still finds time to coach at Trim Celtic including teams that contain his two daughters, Ella (13) and Mia (10). Football is both a job and a hobby. “I love the game. I’m privileged to be able to work in a job I love and also to enjoy the game as a hobby," he adds.

GENERATING INCOME

The role of Director brings with it considerable influence and power in the FAI, a body that has shipped plenty of negative publicity in recent times. A body has is mired in debt to the tune of over €40 million.

Scanlon doesn’t see that debt as a major drag on plans to develop the domestic league; his viewpoint is an indication of the kind of optimism required to fill the role he has. An optimism that is part of what he is. “Many clubs are generating income completely unaffected by any previous, historical situation,” he adds. Enough of an income, he points out, to sustain professional set-ups.

“For the first time this season in the history of the League of Ireland we have 10 full-time professional team in the top tier, the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division. Professional players playing in a professional environment and that’s something we want to see to continue to grow.

“Prizemoney to clubs in total across the divisions is €655,000. That prizemoney has risen by 35 per cent but the distribution to the club of funds (by the FAI) has risen by 205 per cent. Prizemoney is only one way we distribute finance to the clubs. We also distribute Academy grants, travel grants, Women’s football grants and funds from other sources such as LOITV.”

He talks about how clubs such as St Patrick’s Athletic agreed a deal for Mason Melia to move to Spurs for the considerable sum of €1.7 million. In the past League of Ireland clubs have allowed talented players go to English clubs, often for nominal sums. Scanlon, wants to see all that change. He is on a mission to spread professionalism in both the men’s and the women’s sectors - and big transfer fees can help in that regard.

“Hopefully in the future we will see full-time, sustainable, professional football clubs across the men’s and women’s football, to provide a pathway for young kids across the country, in Meath or any other county, so that young players will have an opportunity to play professional football and maybe international football.”

Undoubtedly one of the biggest achievements Scanlon can reflect on during his tenure as League of Ireland Director which began in 2020, slap bang in the middle of the pandemic, is the upsurge in attendances.

A 42 per cent increase over the last two years alone is a huge jump.

Once seen as dowdy, and second-rate, League of Ireland football is now box office.

The figure that appeared on the giant screen at the Aviva during the Bohs, Rovers game certainly suggests that’s the case.