The Limerick Leader

**gael353** · 13/08/2012, 3:50 PM

I kept my mouth shut about this during the run up to the Man City game but todays leader just takes the biscuit.
All during the run up to the city game dispite the game being the only show in town they constantley put pages and pages of Munster rugby in to compete with the limerick show. On one night when limerick had pictures of players in Thomond and man city players holding limerick shirts their main story was about the eagerly awaited Munster game against leinster in the cider cup....ON OCTOBER 5TH FFS.

Tonights is just crass though. "GO ON YOU SUPER BLUES! WE'RE BEHIND LIMERICK FCS BID FOR PROMOTION" They announce this for the first time when with 7 games to go fair ****ss. !Limerick 3 Wexford Youths 1" in a GAAesq header as if Limerick were at home. Clearly not having a reporter at the game they gave the scores and when they happened before putting last weeks table up showing limerick 3 points clear followed by last weeks fixtures labelling them as results. They finishe with the awe inspiring "Limerick are closing in on the title" although from their table......

**nigel-harps1954** · 13/08/2012, 4:16 PM

Any coverage is good coverage.

**LFC Blue** · 13/08/2012, 6:21 PM

While I agree there's always room for improvement wit the leaders league of Ireland coverage we only have to go back a couple of years when the name Limerick FC would fail to even appear in the Leader throughout the entire season. Atleast now we're guaranteed atleast one full page despite at times it being a bit half arsed.

**Jofspring** · 13/08/2012, 6:52 PM

When we can start pulling in a few thousand people through the gates and become some way successful then I'm sure the coverage will improve. Munster have earned the right to have that much coverage in fairness and we haven't yet. I'm happy with the coverage we get to be honest. Usually a mention everyday followed by a recap covering a page or two in the weekender.

**da bishop** · 13/08/2012, 8:46 PM

to be fair to gael he has a point,though the ...leeeeder..has been a bee in his bonnet for many a long year......the quality of their coverage does leave a poor taste at times.his gripe is akin to my own regarding the the 95fm crew.

**ped_ped** · 14/08/2012, 12:06 AM

What else is new? The 'behind the Super Blues' rhetoric and the timing of the goals in the most cost-effective and time-saving way they can 'cover' Limerick FC and they're always gonna play the percentages and cover GAA and Rugby - it's what people read.

It probably doesn't help either that over the years they amass X amount of Rugby analysts, Y amount of GAA analysts and don't actual have anyone that knows ANYTHING about senior soccer in the area. (They do occasionally cover English/Scottish/Spanish football in the opinion piece across the way, though, so I suppose that covers their soccer fanbase far more efficiently.)

**magicman** · 16/08/2012, 12:59 AM

Gael you seem to have a problem with the Leader for a long time now.

"Similar Threads" on the bottom of the page links back to posts from 2004 when you and JohnD had the same problem.

Times have changed in the Leader. The sports dept is run by out of towners now so it is nothing to do with a grudge or being biased against the club.
The Leader is not in the greatest of health. Ask anyone around and they will tell you the same things. What they need is to sell papers. To do that, they need articles that will attract a large client base.

The Junior Soccer coverage is top notch and has a large following so that helps shift papers. The GAA, while in my opinion goes overboard sometimes, has a huge following so that will sell and the same with Munster Rugby.

At the moment, Limerick senior football has not got the necessary fan base to cover a large portion of coverage and the Leader probably don't have the money to justify it either. Home games are one thing but away games cost money. It means getting a reporter and a camera man to travel. Or a reporter with a camera.

Next year will probably be different if Limerick are in the Premier because there will be a decent amount of additional interest

**Treaty Gooner** · 16/08/2012, 3:46 PM

One wouldmhope there'll be substantially more interest. Will the crowds flock to see Sligo Rovers more than they have Waterford Utd when they're in town? Don't see the media changing anyone's mind so what they print or don't print will have little effect on the club.

**NeverFeltBetter** · 16/08/2012, 3:53 PM

In the event of promotion, crowds will turn up in numbers for early games. After that, its down to how the team plays. It's still premature talk anyway.

**gael353** · 16/08/2012, 5:36 PM

Originally Posted by magicman

Gael you seem to have a problem with the Leader for a long time now.

"Similar Threads" on the bottom of the page links back to posts from 2004 when you and JohnD had the same problem.

Times have changed in the Leader. The sports dept is run by out of towners now so it is nothing to do with a grudge or being biased against the club.
The Leader is not in the greatest of health. Ask anyone around and they will tell you the same things. What they need is to sell papers. To do that, they need articles that will attract a large client base.

The Junior Soccer coverage is top notch and has a large following so that helps shift papers. The GAA, while in my opinion goes overboard sometimes, has a huge following so that will sell and the same with Munster Rugby.

At the moment, Limerick senior football has not got the necessary fan base to cover a large portion of coverage and the Leader probably don't have the money to justify it either. Home games are one thing but away games cost money. It means getting a reporter and a camera man to travel. Or a reporter with a camera.

Next year will probably be different if Limerick are in the Premier because there wll be a decent amount of additional interest

I think im entitled to have an opinion on ****e "journalism" and no matter how bad things are you wont see a cider cup league table being wrong, or munsters fixtures being classed as results. I wonder if Munster win the heino cup will it be accompanied by a massive "staged" photo of a Limerick player hanging jerseys, or a limerick gaa player bringing home the cows. Im a follower of all codes btw but Football always only gets the front pages when its "Limerick to go bust", "the end is neigh for limerick" etc etc. This idea that Limerick will only get good coverage when they have 26,000, 20, 000, 15,000 8,000, 4,000 (what is the cider cup average these days) does not wash with me. Limerick play once every two weeks in the city. Munster are out of season. You will not see many limerick fc stories when limerick are out of season. Nick Rabbits is the only journo with an idea of football in the leader and he doesnt even work in the sports dept.

**NeverFeltBetter** · 22/08/2012, 4:53 PM

http://www.limerickleader.ie/communi...k-fc-1-4186123

Article in the leader about Limerick FC community projects. Do many other teams do stuff like this? (Or are they in the financial position to be able to?)