Mayo FC profile ‘has to get bigger’, says club chairman

THE chairman of Mayo FC has said that the newly-formed club’s profile ‘has to get bigger’ for it to succeed in the future. 

Joe Faughnan, who took on the role in July, said that many people are ‘confused’ between the different soccer teams representing the Mayo Football League, the Mayo youth leagues and Mayo FC. 

In its first season, Mayo FC fielded U-14 and U-15 boys teams and an U-17 girls side in the League of Ireland. The Mayo Schoolboys/Schoolgirls Youth League also continued to field teams in interleague competitions. Similarly, the Mayo Football League also fielded a team in the adult Oscar Traynor Cup, a developmental U-21 side, and is now fielding an U-18 team. 

Next season, Mayo FC will field an U-19 girls team and an U-17 boys team in the League of Ireland, bringing the club’s total number of teams to five. 

Speaking on the Mayo Soccer Podcast, Faughnan - who is a weekly guest on the podcast - said Mayo FC’s first season had been ‘very positive’ but said the club’s profile needed to increase. 

“The profile of the club is something that has to get bigger. A lot of people, I think, are confused between all the different types of Mayo soccer. You have the Mayo women’s league, you have the Mayo junior league, you have the Mayo youths, now you have Mayo FC. I think sometimes, to people that aren’t into football, that kind of stuff can be waffle,” Faughnan said.

“They don’t know the difference between them. I think there’s a lot of growth that will have to come on that side. That’ll help get sponsorship and it’ll help sell tickets and that down the road. It’s so easy for Sligo Rovers to fundraise because it’s such a historic club. You go into Sligo and it’s the Sligo Rovers brand. 

“There’s clubs in Mayo that would have a gigantic brand compared to Mayo FC, just junior clubs, everyone hears them,” Faughnan added. “Even teams down in League Two, everyone would have heard of Achill Rovers, Bangor Hibs.” 

The well-known Conn Rangers clubman said that recruiting coaches with UEFA B qualifications would be a challenge given that managers, he claimed, were being paid up to €10,000 to coach junior club teams. 

“You only have a certain amount of UEFA Bs in the county and to convince them to take over teams, Super League clubs, let’s be honest, guys are getting €10,000 in places to coach local teams,” Faughnan said.

“That’s a sign of it, they don’t have the hassle of having to go around the country every second week. That’s no different to the club game in Gaelic. When the money is there, there’s that to it.”

Faughnan said that fielding an U-17 boys team would be ‘a gigantic step’ given that those players will not have played a League of Ireland before. 

He added that being unable to field older players from other League of Ireland teams was a disadvantage for Mayo FC in their first year. 

Faughnan also revealed that his fellow county councillor, Mark Duffy, had joined the Mayo FC committee. 

Duffy is a long-time member of Ballina Town and played in goal for the Beleek-based side at Super League level for many years.