Gavan Reilly: Soccer has upset the one man it must keep onside

It’s not a good look. The TV cameras are there, the minister is there, the brand new playing surface is there – part-funded by the taxpayer – and the flares are there, burning 50 holes in the synthetic ground. Now the minister is in a huff, and even if it’s a tad OTT, you can hardly blame him.

Flares may not be a popular part of the League of Ireland experience but they’re an illustration of the product, almost as if they’re a visible manifestation of the noise and passion of the fans in the stands. That’s not unique to Ireland either: most continental leagues have at least some flare presence in the tribunes. Games in Turkey would make the crowd at Oriel Park look like a Cumann na mBunscoil fixture.

But that’s not to defend an act of provocative vandalism, as was seen on Friday. Nor is it any defence to the 12-year-old who sustained facial injuries from a Drogheda flare.

Minister Patrick O'Donovan is not a natural League of Ireland man, and would rather spend his weekends watching hurling at the Gaelic Grounds than soccer at the Markets Field. So be it – soccer’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

But it’s easy for his antipathy to bleed into policy, and that’s the danger for the FAI now. These should be the sunshine days for the League, with regular mainstream TV presence and a deepening fan engagement – so these should also be the times when clubs can exert maximum pressure for the structural investment, in facilities and youth academies, that they have sought for years.

This all means it’s especially unfortunate that the man holding the sport pursestrings now has a bee in his bonnet about the League, its fans, its conduct and its management of money. His response may be a little over-sensitive, but O’Donovan is the one man Irish football can’t afford to upset.