New Development League offers ‘more opportunities’

The incoming Women’s Development League is set to have a positive impact on both players and the domestic club scene, according to Shelbourne’s Rachel Graham.

The new league, which will officially kick off in 2026, was announced earlier this month and will see the 12 current SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division clubs fielding Under-23 teams.

They will be joined by ten clubs currently participating in the EA SPORTS LOI Academy Development Programme, which will have senior status within the new league, namely Bray Wanderers, CK United, Cobh Ramblers, Drogheda United, Dundalk, Finn Harps, Kerry, Longford Town, Mayo and St Patrick’s Athletic.

Replacing the current EA SPORTS Women’s U19 League, it will not include promotion to the Women’s Premier Division in its inaugural season but that may be a possibility down the line.

Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, Graham welcomed the advent of the new league which will act as a bridge when it comes to age grades, helping to address a drop-off in playing in numbers in the crucial 19-23 category.

“Anyone close to the league knows the Under-19s (league), is probably not working as well as maybe it should. Our Under-17s League seems to (have) better competitive games,” said Graham, who also discussed ending up on the losing side for Shelbourne against rivals Athlone Town in what was essentially a title decider at Tolka Park on Saturday.

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“I think it’s probably (because) our senior league is so, so young and the best 17s players skip it and just go straight to senior.

“The pool of the Under-19s age group is actually quite small, so (the new league) opens the gap there. Every senior team will have an under-23s team and the new teams will obviously be adult teams and look I’d imagine (the latter clubs) will naturally just be under-23s anyway – I can’t imagine there will be too many over the age or in their 30s looking to play so it will probably even itself out.

“It’s more opportunities. There are some players at our club now that we have coming to the end of our 19s, high potential players but just not ready yet (for senior), so it gives them the extra few years to develop and get themselves up into the senior squad.

“And there are more opportunities then across the country, like geographically… Drogheda, Dundalk, areas that we wouldn’t have had senior teams before.

“So that’s more opportunities and these teams now come into the FAI Cup in the first round, so that’s more games and more rounds in the cup that probably makes it a bit more competitive.

“And then I think the best thing is hopefully, not next year but the year after, they’re going to have promotion and relegation into the top tier.”

While some of the reaction to the new league has focused on a desire to invest in other areas of the women’s game, Graham pointed out that the funding for this has come from UEFA which means it is ring-fenced for a specific purpose.

“I saw people saying there’s a big need for an Under-23 squad and Under-21s international. I fully agree with that, I definitely think that’s an area that needs to be looked at. But (the Development League) is UEFA-funded,” she said.

“It’s a UEFA grant and when UEFA give grants and funding, it’s very specific on where that money has to go and it’s not just them giving the FAI a hundred thousand and saying, ‘look, spend it how you feel best’.

“It’s a league development grant so that’s what the money has to be used for and it was probably either this or an Under-15s league.

“So I think that’s obviously the next step if this goes well, you start going younger and younger and would complete a full pathway then and if you can go 15s to senior it would be brilliant.

“But you can’t do everything all at once. So this is probably where the money is going to be best spent for next year and if that doesn’t work then maybe you can use the grant for an Under-15s league. But you have to give it a go and see how this one develops.”

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