ADSL decides to ‘call it a day’

The end of an era has arrived in local soccer with the decision to wind up the Athlone District Schoolboys/Girls League (ADSL).

The decision was made at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM), held in The Bounty on Thursday of last week, July 2.

“We decided to call it a day at the meeting. We were reduced to five clubs a few weeks ago and it’s just not viable to continue,” ADSL treasurer and former secretary Terry O’Neill told the Westmeath Independent.

In addition to Mr O’Neill, the other committee members in attendance at last week’s meeting were Brendan Connell (chairperson), Alan Hanniffy (secretary), PJ Allen and John Dolan.

With the ADSL having been founded in 1977, Terry said it had “provided football for Athlone and surrounding areas for 43 years”.

In addition to producing so many players who have gone on to have notable careers, both in Ireland and abroad, Terry said the ADSL had helped to “develop players as individuals”.

The number of clubs in the ADSL has fallen in recent years.

St Joseph's FC last year decided to move all their teams to the Midland Schoolboy League (MSL) while Ballinasoe Town recently moved to the Galway League and East Galway United pulled out.

That left only five clubs within the ADSL - AC Celtic, St Francis, Temple Villa, Ballinahown and Hodson Bay.

“For the last number of years, we have been the smallest or second smallest league in the country. We were one of only two ‘town leagues’ – the other was Dundalk - the other leagues had big populations or entire counties to pick from.”

The introduction of National Leagues at U13, 15, 17 and 19 levels has also impacted on local leagues across the country, he said.

“It’s a sad time and there is disappointment, but it’s not all doom and gloom,” said Terry.

“We have to let players go in order to get them back; that’s the way we’re looking at it. All the local clubs will get to play each other under a different banner. There will be more local games so that will be beneficial for clubs. There will still be lots of kids playing football locally and underage football will survive in Athlone,” he continued.

Over the years the ADSL travelled on many enjoyable trips abroad, including to different parts of England and to Malta.

For the past 13 years, the ADSL ran a very popular futsal (a type of indoor football) tournament hosted by AIT. The event was held in January and proved one of the highlights of the local sporting calendar.

“The futsal tournament was fantastic and it was probably the best thing we did as a league,” said Terry.

Having initially been involved with St Francis, Terry took over as ADSL secretary from the late Breffni Rowan, a legendary figure in the ADSL along with people like Pat ‘Cisco’ Flynn.

Terry worked closely for many years alongside former ADSL chairperson Padraig Quinn. “Padraig brought the league to another level; maintaining that was the hard part,” he said.

Terry recalled that at one stage there were 16 clubs in the ADSL. It included teams from towns like Mullingar and Kinnegad, in addition to local clubs no longer in existence such as St Coman’s and Connaught Celtic.