THE first weekend of a new season and attendance figures across the five matches played in the Premier Division of our top soccer league make for sad reading.

Taking under and over exaggeration into account around 8,000 people in total bothered getting off their backsides to go to a game and that's on a week when both UCD and Fingal, who have little or no support, played away from home!

Amidst the paltry attempts at breathing life into the old dog, league management released news on the eve of kick-off that, despite Airtricity's spark, prize money was to be reduced.

In addition the granting of a licence to Limerick's representatives in the lower division this year remains a subject of controversy.

And there was a beleaguered league CEO Fran Gavin on primetime TV attempting to defend what seems to me to be indefensible.

I believe League of Ireland diehards, the blinkered bewildered and nerds on the net are very unhappy with me at the moment? Well tough boys and girls! The truth hurts and reality's often difficult to accept.

In sport, as life, change is both necessary and inevitable. I'll state it once more; this League in its historical and present guise is to all intents and purposes a Dead Duck.

Mourn for as long as you wish, but there comes a time to get over the loss and move on. What's required now is birth and new life for professional soccer in Ireland.

And the good news is that with a will to change, some radical thinking and support from a number of key players there's every prospect of a new, vibrant and successful entity.

The existing cadre of senior professional clubs seem incapable of running their own show as do the Football Association of Ireland since they assumed responsibility a few years ago.

So what's needed now is a completely fresh start with the establishment of a new Irish Premier League run by business professionals who have the qualifications, credentials and proven ability to succeed.

The new league would be constituted by the awarding of franchises based on several criteria, the most important being geographic populations.

It must be set up on an All Ireland basis with two clubs each in Dublin and Belfast and one apiece in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway/Midlands, Northwest and Northeast.

Looking round the country at the moment, only two existing stadiums fit the bill in terms of proper facilities; Tallaght and Windsor Park – both of which, incidentally, have benefited from substantial Government funding.

And here's where our political masters must deliver on their commitment to sport and professional home-based soccer by supporting the construction of new multi-purpose complexes in the other eight franchise areas which include a five to six thousand all seated main arena.

In addition those who seek and are granted one of these franchises must prove they possess the business acumen and requisite financial muscle to make it happen. Sorry, but with all due respect, supporters are not qualified to run professional football clubs.

Upon these foundations of geographic selection of participating clubs operating out of modern multi-use facilities and overseen by strong club executives, so many other positives will follow to underpin the new beginning.

Television money, the lifeblood of professional sport, would now be substantial as the satellite channels bid to secure the rights to a summertime competition when the British leagues are on holidays.

The potential for a whole new support base will have opened up as the new stadiums offer facilities that attract individuals, families and groups who would never darken the door of the existing archaic third-world grounds that are frequented by a handful of fanatics.

A raft of potential new sponsorship deals would open up as companies who wouldn't touch the existing set up with a barge pole suddenly see potential in furthering their aims through TV and vastly increased attendances.

With vastly increased revenue streams across the board clubs would be able to attract and keep players here at home who currently ply their trades below the Premiership in England.

Standards would rise, clubs qualifying for European competition would do so with genuine prospects of advancing to the group stages of the Europa Cup and perhaps even the Champions League.

The day would then arrive when players from our own Irish Premier League would be selected for the Irish international squad, something that can never realistically happen at the moment.

There are those who'll cite numerous reasons why this vision for Irish football cannot be achieved. And yes seeking exchequer support in the current economic climate may seem far-fetched, however, as night follows day this depression will pass.

All I ask is that without going into detail consider how here on this little island Rugby Union and Bord na gCon have each transformed their sports.

Look across the water at how Rugby League has had to adjust radically in order to survive and prosper.

Consider how professional soccer in Australia, which was at one time a mirror image of our failed League of Ireland, has totally re-invented itself by scrapping the old league and starting up again on a franchise basis.

Part-time football run by willing amateurs on a week-toweek, hand to mouth, boom to bust basis from rundown dilapidated grounds of a bygone era is a recipe for disaster and has failed.

Time to bite the bullet and go for a fully professional league with one new club in the Northeast covering Newry, Dundalk and Drogheda.

Yes a tough pill to swallow but then again radical surgery, treatment and medication are never easy but essential to recovery and future good health.

- Gerry Kelly