Recently, the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland launched a scheme to help players find work outside the game.
The organisation's General Secretary Stephen McGuinness joined Roddy Collins and Stuart Byrne on Off The Ball tonight to talk about the initiative.
"The majority of players - the lucky ones - are on 40-week contracts. There's a greater percentage of guys who are on 36-week contracts," said McGuinness, who explained that feedback suggests that players wanted more help in seeking employment opportunities.
"Our idea is to get them in employment and when in employment, it'll be easier for us to get them educated while in a job."
He also said that the situation for domestic soccer players is most similar to one particular sport, having met with union leaders from GAA, rugby and horse racing.
Stuart Byrne while at Pats ©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan
"It's amazing when we all sat around a table, the one sport that we're actually similar to is the jockeys," he said, explaining that the career span and trajectory follows a similar pattern from the mid-teens to the 30s.
McGuinness highlighted Stuey as someone who looked to upskill towards the end of his career, and the former Shelbourne midfielder says changing mindsets is the main challenge.
"The real issue is the mentality that the players have and trying to change that mentality, basically hammering it home to them that this doesn't last forever and I remember it well when I was a player," said Stuey, who had qualifications in architecture but had to switch careers because of the end of the building boom.
Roddy also agreed and feels that some players have a "lazy mentality" and "believe that this is going to last forever".
He cited Malta as an example where rules encourage players have to have employment outside of soccer.
Stuey and Roddy also reviewed the latest action on the field in the League of Ireland.
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