WHY THE LEAGUE OF IRELAND IS PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT

The dog days of summer.  It all went quiet.  The Premier League was on a break, no major international championships and even the Copa America was a non event.  Except, of course, the soap opera that is the League of Ireland maintained a prime time slot on the back pages of most of our newspapers.  And usually for the wrong reasons.

In fairness, the plotlines have changed this summer.  Instead of the usual non-payment of wages saga (Galway excepted but for some reason no-one is too bothered about whether they pay their way), we had Ireland's finest showering in the car park at the Aviva and St Pat's players taking their European bonus standoff to the eleventh hour.

Enough to keep silly season away from personal in depth profiles of Hooperman or further discussion of why Sean Connor is still in a job. But all the time missing the big story.

The League of Ireland is punching way above its weight.  As I write, Shamrock Rovers are 90 minutes away from the group stages of the Europa League.  And not in a technical sense, they really are.  They played a top class Partizan Belgrade side on Thursday and more than held their own. Getting a result in Serbia may well be an uphill battle but the fact that it is even doable is a remarkable achievement.

And it's not just Rovers. St Patrick's Athletic successfully negotiating two rounds of the same competition before falling at the third hurdle in addition to creditable performances by Sligo and Bohemians.

Of course, as the natural begrudgers we are, we tend to focus on the failure of our teams to make the group stages rather than marvel at their ability to get close.

And believe me, we should be doing the latter.  Most football fans in Ireland don't follow the fortunes of the League of Ireland so wouldn't be aware of the financial struggles that the players encounter day by day.  This is partly because those same players wear the burden so lightly.  But it is worth examining the income of Ireland's top footballers before proceeding to look at their achievements.

The average income of the League of Ireland player is less than €500 per week over a 40 week season.  The vast majority are paid nothing during the close season.  This represents less than €20,000 per year, less than the average industrial wage.

The top earner in the League of Ireland earns less than €50,000 per year. While it needs to be appreciated that plenty of people in this country live on a lot less, we should still put this in perspective.

Let's not forget that we are talking about Ireland's top domestic footballers, the best players in this country at their chosen profession.  If I told you that that Ireland's top earning solicitor, doctor, accountant, lecturer, etc earned less than €50,000, you wouldn't believe me and rightly so.  Similarly, if we compared the salary of the country's top earning plumber or plasterer or engineer.

If we compare them to footballers of comparable stature across the pond, say the Championship where the quality is only marginally better, the highest earner would take that salary home in two weeks.

The point is that our players aren't receiving the income and consequently the respect they deserve.  But yet we expect them to perform at levels way above their income.  We take it for granted that our top players will keep producing top class performances because they love the game.

And we are right, they do but, in the long run, it's not enough.  Many of these players have seen income drops of 75% over the last three years.  Even in these straitened times, few could handle such a diminution of income.

Eventually, when the mortgages can't be paid, the car loan is too much and the school uniforms are too expensive, they are going to walk away.  Find something which makes financial sense. Which pays the bills and keeps the missus off their back.

Pride will only get you so far.  There will come a time when the players will stop being taken for mugs and demand a fair deal.  The losers, as ever, will be the loyal fans and lovers of the League of Ireland.

And yes, I know the clubs have no money.  Everyone gets that but if there is a bit to go around when European competition yielded more than anyone budgeted for, look after the players.

No player is bigger than his club but no club is anything without its players.  The League of Ireland can thrive and can become a force in Europe but the clubs need to realise that the players are people too.  Give them respect and watch the results. The group stages don't need to be pie in the sky.

Stuart Gilhooly is the solicitor to the PFAI and can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DSBAPresident