By RJ Mitchell
IRISH Padel Association president Barry Coffey has admitted that his organisation’s pursuit of National Governing Body status is pivotal to the growth of the game on the Emerald Isle.
Coffey has been president of the association since 2018 and has already entered dialogue with the Irish Tennis Association to try and broker a similar relationship to that formed between the LTA and the former British Padel in the UK which led to the LTA becoming the governing body for padel in Great Britain.
Coffey, himself a former British over-45 veterans No.1, is also the organiser of the Six Nations Masters Championship scheduled for later in the year, while at 58 he became the oldest player at the European Championships when he represented the country of his birth in 2019.
Placing Irish Padel at two years behind their UK counterparts, Coffey’s missionary-like zeal for a sport that he is both passionate about and determined to grow in the land of his birth, is palpable.
He explained: “The Irish Padel Association was formed in 2016 to represent padel players and help develop the sport in Ireland and I became president in 2018.
“I was out there playing a lot of tournaments internationally and with my contacts it made sense to become president as I was playing the UK circuit as well and I built up a lot of contacts that have helped the association.
“At the moment our main goal is to get national governing body status for padel. Padel in Ireland is in a similar situation to the UK a couple of years ago when you had British Padel which was very well-organised but didn’t have governing body recognition.
“So at present padel is not recognised in Ireland as a sport by the government and we are trying to fix that and the way we see that happening is the way that it has happened with the LTA in the UK.
“I have had a lot of talks with people like Tom Murray at the LTA and we are now talking positively with Tennis Ireland in the hope that we can achieve something similar to the way it has worked in the UK.
“In essence to achieve national governing body status with padel is our goal, even if it means that we as an organisation disappear, the good of the sport comes first.
“At the moment because we don’t have NGB status there is no great advantage for anyone to join the association but many people support us online, they play and it is about to change, and I would say we are two years behind where you are in the UK.
“Previously people said you have to keep tennis away but I didn’t agree with that and it has proven correct with the way padel has grown alongside tennis in Europe and now the UK.
“For people who want to get into padel then a proper governing body is very important to them and one of the key factors here is that it unlocks funding.
“When you are applying for government grants and you don’t have a National Governing Body you have a problem and for us that is something we have to overcome and if it means filling that line in with: ‘Tennis Ireland in brackets Irish Padel,’ then I am happy!
“Again, what matter is what is best for padel in Ireland and that clearly is gaining National Governing Body status. So, I can only hope that comes to pass as it will unlock funding and provide legitimacy for the sport I love dearly and has given me so much joy over the years.”
A former Irish badminton champion in 1983 & 1984, Coffey decided at 26 that he just wasn’t cutting the competitive mustard and retired to become a successful businessman based in France before selling up in 1999.
Still based ‘en France’ Coffey is acutely aware of how successful the European model of marrying tennis with padel has become, particularly as it is also enjoying a similarly impressive development after the installing of the former British Padel Chief Executive Officer Tom Murray as the LTA’s padel overlord.
Coffey said: “In France the French Tennis Federation run padel in Italy it is the FIT who run padel there and more recently in the UK it is LTA Padel under Tom Murray, who has been very supportive from the outset and is doing a smashing job.
“It has shown recently that small tennis clubs who may be struggling install padel courts and they are full again and it has positive impacts in so many ways.
“At the moment in Ireland there are just 17 courts for a population of 5 million and that is, proportionately, very similar to what you had in the UK but what is really positive is that we had seven courts built in the last year.
“So, we have almost doubled our courts and that is a big deal for us at Irish Padel. All of these courts were built by Padel Tech of Edinburgh and they have been a huge supporter of the Irish Padel Association and I must pay tribute to their work in that respect.
“So for us getting that NGB status is vital and the chance to tell the world about our story in Ireland via the Padel Paper is massive and very much appreciated.”
Coffey is an interesting man to speak with by any standard and his tireless lobbying on behalf of the Irish Padel Association he champions does him credit as well as provide him with the opportunity to pin the ears of the game’s great and the good.
The Irish Padel Association president said: “Playing for Ireland in European Championships at 58, in what was an open event, I was lucky enough to have a meeting with Luigi Carraro, the president of FIP at the back end of 2019.
“He stressed the need to get Tennis Ireland on board and stressed this is what FIP would like and although we haven’t managed that mainly due to COVID we are getting closer.
“I actually got to carry the flag at the Europeans and was up on the podium and they knew what this meant for Irish Padel and for me and I have to be honest the tears flowed.
“The big countries were all there and they were chanting: “Ireland, Ireland and then Barry, Barry” and that was a moment I will never forget. It was a special moment.”
Yet there is another string to Coffey’s bow as he revealed: “I started a tournament called the Six Nations Masters and this all came about after I had played a tournament in Scotland at Stevenson at the West of Scotland Club. I was lucky to win that one and I was chatting with a few people and saying: ‘There isn’t much for veterans in terms of international matches happening!’
“At that point I had just organised a match between Ireland and Monaco and Paul Ross from Padel Tech was there and he was delighted to support it so we had a Four Nations in 2018 with Ireland, England, Scotland and Monaco and we held that in Casa Padel in Paris.
“The following year we grew it to six and we invited Switzerland and France and that was great only for 2020 to get knocked on the head because of the pandemic. In 2021 I took the event to Helsingborg in Sweden and brought in Finland and Sweden although the Swedes were just too good!
“For 2022 I hope to make the venue announcement very soon. We will be looking to unveil a major title sponsor shortly as well, so watch this space for what will be an exciting development.”
