‘THE TALENT IS OUT THERE.’ TALENT DEVELOPMENT IN IRISH FOOTBALL: AN EXAMINATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND PRACTICE. LAURA FINNEGAN O’HALLORAN A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Liverpool John Moores University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March, 2020 Table of Contents List of Figures .............................................................................................................. 7 List of Tables................................................................................................................ 7 List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………8 Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 9 Declaration ................................................................................................................. 11 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 12 List of Academic and Professional Disseminations Arising From This Thesis ........ 14 Peer-reviewed journal articles ................................................................................ 14 Conference proceedings ......................................................................................... 15 Impact ..................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 1. Introduction and Literature Review ................................................... 17 1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 17 1.1.1. Relevance and Importance of the Thesis .......................................... 19 1.1.2. Thesis Objectives ............................................................................. 22 1.1.3. Structure of the Thesis ...................................................................... 22 1.2. Literature Review ........................................................................................ 24 1.2.1. What is talent? .................................................................................. 24 1.2.2. Talent Development in Sport ........................................................... 25 1.2.3. Talent Development Models ............................................................ 26 1.2.4. Talent Development in Football ....................................................... 29 1.3. Characteristics of Successful Talent Development Environments (TDEs) . 32 1.3.1. Holistic Ecological Approach to Talent Development ..................... 35 1.3.2. Bio-ecological Talent Development in Sport ................................... 41 1.4. Football Structures in the Republic of Ireland ............................................ 45 1.4.1. Sporting Culture in Ireland ............................................................... 45 1.4.2. History of Football in Ireland ........................................................... 45 1.4.3. Football Governance Organisations (Republic of Ireland) .............. 49 1.4.3.1. Football Association of Ireland (FAI) .......................................... 50 1.4.3.2. The Schoolboy Football Association of Ireland (SFAI) ............... 51 1.4.3.3. Dublin District Schoolboy League ............................................... 53 1.4.4. National Development Structures .................................................... 53 1.4.4.1. Kennedy Cup ................................................................................ 56 1.4.4.2. Emerging Talent Programme ........................................................ 57 1.4.4.3. National under 13, under 15, under 17 and under 19 Leagues ..... 59 1.4.5. Talent Development in Irish Football .............................................. 62 1.5. Research Paradigms Utilised ...................................................................... 65 1.6. Clarification of the Research Aims and Structure of the Thesis ................. 68 Chapter 2: Study One .............................................................................................. 70 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 70 2.2. Aim ............................................................................................................... 71 2.2.1. Research Questions: ......................................................................... 71 2.3. Literature Review ........................................................................................ 72 2.3.1. Relative Age Effect Overview.......................................................... 72 2 2.3.2. RAE Explanatory Factors ................................................................. 74 2.3.2.1. Physical Advantages ..................................................................... 74 2.3.2.2. Peak Height Velocity .................................................................... 75 2.3.2.3. Maturation and Physical Performance .......................................... 75 2.3.2.4. Anthropometric Advantages ......................................................... 77 2.3.2.5. Cognitive Advantages ................................................................... 78 2.3.2.6. Social/maturational Advantages ................................................... 79 2.3.2.7. Seasonal Variations....................................................................... 80 2.3.3. Social Agent Model of RAE............................................................. 80 2.3.4. Place of Birth Effect ......................................................................... 81 2.3.5. Place of birth explanatory factors ..................................................... 83 2.3.6. Interaction Between Place and Date of Birth ................................... 85 2.3.7. Player Migration ............................................................................... 86 2.3.7.1. ‘Brawn Drain’ ............................................................................... 89 2.3.8. Irish Football Migration History ...................................................... 90 2.3.9. Player movement within Irish schoolboy leagues ............................ 92 2.3.9.1. Internal club movement ................................................................ 93 2.4. Study Rationale ............................................................................................ 94 2.5. Methodology ................................................................................................ 96 2.5.1. Participants ....................................................................................... 96 2.5.2. Procedure .......................................................................................... 96 2.5.3. Statistical Analysis ........................................................................... 97 2.6. Results ......................................................................................................... 99 2.6.1. Relative Age Effect .......................................................................... 99 2.6.2. Place of birth .................................................................................. 103 2.6.2.1. Schoolboy leagues ...................................................................... 106 2.6.3. RAE and Place of birth ................................................................... 108 2.6.4. Player movement ............................................................................ 109 2.6.4.1. Origin of DDSL migration .......................................................... 111 2.6.5. RAE within migrating players ........................................................ 113 2.6.6. Research Question Summary ......................................................... 114 2.7. Discussion ................................................................................................. 115 2.7.1. RAE ................................................................................................ 115 2.7.2. Place of birth .................................................................................. 118 2.7.3. Migration ........................................................................................ 118 2.8. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 122 Chapter 3: Study Two ............................................................................................ 125 3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 125 3.2. Aim ............................................................................................................. 129 3.2.1. Objectives: ...................................................................................... 129 3.3. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................. 130 3.4. Literature Review ...................................................................................... 131 3.4.1. An ecological approach to analysing Talent Development Environments .................................................................................................... 131 3.4.2. Sport Governance ........................................................................... 131 3.4.2.1. Effective Sport Governance Principles ....................................... 133 3.4.2.2. Football Governance ..................................................................