Gerard Lawlor questions if clubs could 'put little more into infrastructure than footballers' amid pitch concerns

The Irish League calendar has been badly impacted by postponements in recent months, largely due to persistent rainfall – Northern Ireland was hit with its wettest January in 149 years last month.

Matches across the Premiership, Irish Cup and League Cup were all affected, while Ballymena United’s Showgrounds and The Oval, home of Glentoran, suffered the worst in terms of games called off.

Irish League clubs are currently progressing through the Northern Ireland Football Fund process – a ringfenced budget of £36.2million which was first promised for crucial infrastructure upgrades in 2011 but never delivered.

Recent events have also once again raised the topic of potentially changing playing calendar – one of NIFL’s goals as outlined in their 2023-2028 strategy document – to limit the impact of adverse weather.

As investment continues to be welcomed and high-profile transfers increasingly common, Lawlor wonders if more can be done to improve pitch quality.

"I mean, we can never control the weather,” he said. “Maybe some of the work can be done more in pitches, maybe clubs can put a little more into their own infrastructure than maybe just into footballers...we've got to be straight about that.

"Is there a need for clubs to be more professional, to have more care for pitches, to have more resources to deliver those? It has been a tough winter, there's no doubt about that whatsoever.

"We've had probably two or three problem pitches, which has caused us a lot of issues...it really has to make us rethink seasonality.

"I see even the League of Ireland have had games postponed over the last two weekends, so this all needs to come into the equation when we have those discussions and see where we go.

"But it evidences more that football is not a once-a-fortnight role where probably years ago the groundsman came in on a Friday, did a bit of work for playing a match on a Saturday and went away.

"We need top class services, we need professional services for the game to develop and grow on facilities...hopefully they will be in the future.”

NIFL are in a unique position of having to cater for needs of both full-time and part-time clubs in the Premiership, but Lawlor remains committed to delivering for all of their members.

"I'm very lucky that I have a very supportive board,” he added. “Our board are very good and Chris Brindley (Chair) is fantastic to almost take the step back and manage that as well to help me.

"As staff, we get pulled from pillar to post some days. I always describe it as a parent – when one child's happy, one is annoyed, you never get two that are happy on the same day, and that's football.

"We speak to leagues all over Europe on a daily basis and it's no different, that's just what football is.

"Some people describe it as selfishness, but I don't describe it as that. They're under pressure, they're in need and it's up to us to give them the tools to be able to progress and develop to go forward in the future.”