Catching up

Once again I’ve been neglecting this platform to my shame so a quick post to catch up with a few thoughts on a several things that have caught my attention over the last while.

Not great would be the easy thing to say. My beloved Dundela sit bottom of the NIFL Championship at time of writing.

A winless start to the season saw us sink to the bottom and getting our heads above water has not proven easy so far. However a managerial change is already showing green shoots of hope with the arrival of the familiar Clifford Adams and his team arriving from being Niall Currie’s (once of our parish) number two at Portadown. The familiarity with our setup will no doubt aid the transition and as a regular terrace dweller I can see on the pitch and off it that there is already a change in energy around the place.

There’s still a lot of football to be played though and numerous other cliches to be rolled out yet. Fear not I’ll keep you advised on how we are getting on as the season progresses.

Onwards we go but to what no one really know, which leads me to my next point…..

It was announced at the ahead of the 25/26 season that the NIFL Championship would not have any relegation this time round. A league restructuring was to take place removing our existing third tier (the Premier Intermediate League) and the development of two further leagues below that would encompass the amateur leagues in Northern Ireland.

This meant no Championship team would be relegated in 25/26 and four teams would come up from from the PIL to form a brand new shiny 16 team Championship heading into 26/27.

However, news broke over the last couple of weeks to the shock of many via the Northern Amateur Football League announced that the Irish FA has paused engagement on the new National Conference League, which is due to be introduced in August.

So what does this mean for this season?

In truth no one is quite sure. However, it would be highly unrealistic at this point just over a third of the way through the season, to reintroduce a relegation/promotion spot as normal given the fact that all clubs were advised of the new arrangements.

That sound you can hear in the distance by the way is the rubbing of solicitors palms in the event of a reversal of the plan and potential legal challenges from clubs.

Further to this, and being that my team is in the bottom half of the table the end of the season is already looking like a series of glorified friendlies with nothing at stake and no peril post split as we operate on a Scottish league style arrangement here. To suddenly reintroduce the potential for relegation, while providing at least some peril would equally cause ripples of discontent in the league below should four promotion spots suddenly revert to one!

All will be revealed in time I’m sure but as this is Northern Ireland I remain unconvinced it won’t be anything other than last minute!

An icon of local and international football has officially hung up their boots at the end of this season.

Marissa Callaghan, 27 seasons in Cliftonville red with too many trophies to list. One club wonders pay attention there’s a new contender entering the chat.

Callaghan won 91 caps for Northern Ireland and captained her country at their first major tournament at the 2022 Women’s Euros.

A wonderful ambassador for the game locally and internationally there really isn’t enough space in this quick post to fully give enough platitudes.

Suspension kept her off the pitch for Cliftonville’s retention of the Challenge Cup so sadly there was no fairy tale ending with one last trophy lift her Instagram account showing the trophy won, the shirt she adored and the boots hung up would have made the hardest of souls applaud.

I’ve seen Marissa play numerous times and always been impressed by her. She was always been a top player, an on pitch leader, the definition of giving it 100% loved a tackle and she has no doubt inspired a generation to take up and take the game on to the next level on these shores.

The NI Football League recognised her contributions with a Special Recognition Award at their end of season awards and rightly so!

Salute to a legend and best wishes for whatever comes next.

Speaking of Cliftonville’s victory and retention of the Challenge Cup there was some controversy following the game as it was revealed that top IFA officials were not present at this showpiece event for the women’s game.

The only way to view this is a snub which is disrespectful to the clubs involved their players, officials and fans deserve much better from the overlords of this competition.

It is clear that women’s football here is on the rise and across the league season total attendance across all matches reached 11,000. This shows a 58 % increase in overall matchday attendance since the 2021 season.

Two standout fixtures in particular brought fans out setting new attendance records:

• The VBET Women’s League Cup Final between Cliftonville Ladies and Glentoran Women attracted a record‑breaking 1,189 supporters to Blanchflower Stadium. This is the highest attendance ever recorded for a women’s match in NIFL history.

• The league title decider between Glentoran Women and Cliftonville Ladies drew 911 spectators. That set a new all‑time record for a Women’s Premiership fixture and was the largest league crowd of the season.

While these are NI Football League (NIFL) figures and it was an IFA competition it would still be incumbent on top executives to be present for their own cup final surely?

I can’t imaging the top brass not being there for the men’s final!

The appetite is there from the fans it is an absolute shame that this is not being reflected by the competition organisers.