Sir, - For several years Irish businesses have (quite rightly) asked us to "buy Irish", to support and nurture our own economy, instead of adding to the bloated coffers of other nations. This is why it saddens me greatly to see that, in the past few weeks, Irish businessmen have been pumping money into British soccer clubs. I refer to the (quite staggering) £50 million invested in Manchester United and to the several millions invested into Glasgow Celtic.
While these foreign clubs get wealthier, our own domestic league struggles along, surviving on (welcome, if insufficient) grants. If there was an industry in Ireland that was struggling, and we saw our nation's millionaires investing in that same industry in a foreign economy, there would be uproar. Soccer should be no different, the impact on the domestic game of the investment of a mere fraction of what has gone abroad would have a tremendous effect.
Certain people may argue that the rewards for investing in the Eircom league are not there, but this is not true. There is so much untapped revenue (TV rights, merchandise, gate receipts, enormous bonuses for progressing in European competitions) that a professional Irish league could bring. It is shocking that this opportunity is being ignored by our citizens who have the money to invest in sport. Simply look at the progress made in countries such as Sweden or Turkey in recent years.
It is high time that we stopped seeing ourselves as a second-class sporting nation, adopting foreign leagues as our own in pathetic self-delusion, and began to "invest Irish". - Yours, etc.,
Mark Greene, Abbey Vale, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.