League of Ireland social responsibility course successfully delivered
Football and Social Responsibility Officers from Sligo Rovers, Shelbourne, Waterford, Bohemians, Dundalk and UCD participated in the second edition of the League of Ireland Football & Social Responsibility (FSR) Foundation course last week.
The first edition in 2023 featured representatives from Bray Wanderers, Cork City; Finn Harps; Waterford, Wexford and St. Patrick’s Athletic.
The course consisted of two full days of theory sessions which were complemented by a study visit to Glasgow where participants had the opportunity to visit Celtic Park to hear and see the fantastic work being done by the Celtic FC Foundation.
The group also visited Hampden Park to link with the Scottish Professional Football Leagues Trust who presented some of the social programmes that they deliver via their club network.
Social responsibility is a relatively new area of business for League of Ireland Clubs and one which is actively being encouraged by UEFA. New UEFA and Domestic club licensing regulations mean it’s now mandatory for SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division Clubs to have a Football & Social Responsibility (FSR) Officer in place with a similar requirement for SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division, and SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division Clubs to follow soon.
Notwithstanding this requirement, FSR is a way for clubs to reflect their values and a way of doing business that considers the needs of their fans, their community, and the environment.
The League of Ireland Department is actively helping clubs to understand FSR and encourage them into this space. Part of this process is about providing education and networking opportunities for clubs and the introduction of a FSR Foundation course for new Club FSR Officers is an example of one such initiative to help clubs negotiate this new landscape.
If your League of Ireland Club would like to know more about Football & Social Responsibility and is keen to start a programme, contact [email protected]
League of Ireland FSR Manager, Derek O’Neill said: "The FSR Foundation course is about giving people new to this area of business a thorough understanding of the topic and guidance in how to develop and implement a club social responsibility strategy as well as showing them how to generate funding to accommodate this new area of work. Upon successful completion of the programme, participants will receive the FSR Foundation Certificate accredited by the Football Business Academy. This is the second time we’ve run this course following the 2023 edition where several other clubs were represented. There’s now a solid network of people working in this area across the League of Ireland who can learn from each other’s experiences and help each other to develop and deliver FSR programmes. Our clubs may be ultra-competitive on the pitch but when it comes to doing social good, it’s in everyone’s interest to cooperate and this is what we are seeing now with this new group people dedicated to local community development.”
