Was agreed a while but needed crumlin to move a game. Very short notice for any Harps fans travelling
That time of the year already. European fixtures rescheduling league changing fixtures mixing thing.
St Pats v Harps now on Tuesday 17th May
Harps v Crumlin FAI Cup game moved to Saturday night 21st May because of this.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Was agreed a while but needed crumlin to move a game. Very short notice for any Harps fans travelling
Terrible short notice altogether. Can't imagine many more than 20-30 Harps fans down on Tuesday night.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Its a shame on everyone that we still seem to have a "make it up as you go along system"
Its no way to run football but I suppose we all should be used to it by now
Yeah but the FAI know every year about the europa league game on Thursdays in July and still schedule games for the day after.
These games on July 1 have been/will be moved
Cork v Sligo
Galway v Rovers
Pats v Harps
These games on July 8 have been/will be moved
Rovers v Derry
Wexford v Cork
Sligo v Pats on July 9th is more than likely moved too. This stuff has been known about since before the fixtures were released
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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What I don't get is why can't the European teams be scheduled to play each other at start of July. I know you can't vouch for later rounds - but minimise impact on the other teams at the first/second round. That way Galway, for example don't have to move what would be a big away crowd for Rovers, and same for Wexford for Cork to mid week and suffer financially.
Sligo-Derry down for 29th July has been moved to 28th, not sure why.
What it means though is that we can now move the our home LC game against Limerick back to Monday 1st August.
Why did Pats want the game moved so far forward though? Why couldn't the game be played on the Sunday between the two European games? Why do LOI clubs consistently want a free week between two European games. Pats could have played the European game on the Thursday night 30th June, played the Harps game on Sunday 3rd July and the second leg of the european game on Thursday 7th July. And why haven't the Cork / Sligo and Galway / Rovers game been moved to this midweek too?
Up the Harps!!
Because they want to be rested in order o give themselves a better chance of winning those games? Isn't that obvious?
Factor in the chance of possibly travelling to the fringes of Eurasia, the travel and logistics and the Thursday-Sunday-Thursday turnaround is not that easy. Heaven forbid but if Dundalk were to draw Astana the distance would probably be damn close to a European record for competitive competition at 6000km or so. Not quite Cork to Derry midweek!
I would have thought so tbh take last year for example the team left Dublin on the Tuesday & flew to London then stayed the night for the connecting flight to Riga on Wednesday morning then on the Thursday played in 25 degree heat, then home on the Friday all of that takes it out of part time players the more rest time the better.
I know that. But every club would like to have a full week's rest between games. St. Pat's will have played one game in almost a month before the European fixture - hardly an excusting run of fixtures up to the game. The more successful a club is, the more games they have to play. Midweek games are part and parcel of what successful clubs have to do. However, I still don't get this changing domestic games in order to have a week's rest between European games. it doesn't happen anywhere else in Europe. Absolutely no reason why a domestic fixture should be postponed because of a midweek European game - it should be treated the same as a League Cup or FAI Cup replay as another fixture than has to be fitted into the calendar.
It works the other way too. Harps have to cram 4 games into an 11 day period, but then will play just one game in a fortnight in order to give Pats a rest between their European games. As it now stands, Harps will play ONE game between 4th June and 7th July - away to Longford because of the Pats fixture change and the mid-season break. It's not just because it's Harps that I'm mentioning this - it's the same for other clubs who are playing European games too.
Harps had also offered alternative dates to tonight to Pat's, but Pat's and the FAI refused the alternative dates. Also, Pat's didn't need Harps' approval to change the game tonight - they just needed the FAI to agree.
While it would be great to give all European teams free weeks between their European games, the FAI should have done this when the fixtures were been drawn up. The dates for the European games were know last year - before the FAI even released their fixtures. Surely they could have had the European teams playing each other on these dates - instead of maybe postponing three or four fixtures in one weekend.
Up the Harps!!
It is really only in England that domestic fixtures dont get moved for European ties and yet it has happened there on an occasion. You may have a point if it were Wales, Scotland, Finland even. Teams representing the league should be given the opportunity to maximise their chances in Europe. If knocked out on a Tuesday then Friday may not be a major ask depending on travel.
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