QuoteNext week: "Fenlon advocates reunification of Korea". Complete soundbites from Frodo.
For my thoughts see http://foot.ie/blog/all-ireland-league-bullet-dodged/
What are your views on this now? There are a lot of questions in my mind. Mainly:
1. would it really improve attendances?
2. what teams would be involved?
Next week: "Fenlon advocates reunification of Korea". Complete soundbites from Frodo.
For my thoughts see http://foot.ie/blog/all-ireland-league-bullet-dodged/
1. I cant see that it would really. The odd game like Derry v some of the northern sides might have a larger crowd but they are almost as apathetic in the Irish League as they are here to going to games. So I dont think it will make a difference.Originally Posted by dong2008
2. Not us anyway. That has been made clear by the discussions over the past few years. I dont expect many of you to mourn that if it happens though as I fear alot of fans would like to see us go the way of Cobh.
Depends on what your goals are. If you are a Dublin or Belfast based club, an All-Ireland League or a Celtic Premier League could offer a more prosperous future. If you are Sligo Rovers or Bray Wanderers, the current setup is probably superior as in a bigger league those clubs would be stuck in the first division without dreams of European competition.
Really there are only a few cities on the island of Ireland that could support clubs that could be big enough to make group stages in Europe on a regular basis and be financially successful, Dublin, Belfast and maybe Cork and Derry.
The path forward that would be most effective in generating better European showings and greater public interest would probably be a merger better not only the leagues of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but also a merger with the Welsh league and a Scottish league that has lost Celtic and Rangers to the English Premier League. Basically the Celtic League model. Obviously leagues below the Celtic Premier League would be national.
Short of that, an All-Ireland league is the next most viable way to go to generate better European fortunes and public interest for the Dublin and Belfast clubs. The Platinum One approach was one of the better ones I've seen, in that it stopped promotion and relegation for a few years and attempted to let the clubs gain traction, and then limited Premier division participation to clubs that could meet certain standards.
If you are a fan of a Dublin or Belfast club, the All-Ireland (or All-Celtic) setups would produce better days but supporters of clubs in the smaller areas probably would not benefit.
It would improve attendences for the teams involved. There would be a novelty factor that would provide a temporary boost at least. It would be fairly devastating for premier teams not involved.
I would expect it to to be a ten team league, with the top 6 LOI teams invited.
1. Very short term, because...
2. They'd do it as an 8 or 10 team league
I believe if you did it as 16-18 team league, you'd retain the interest for longer, especially of the big games. The visit of Linfield/ Glens/ Rovers/ Bohs would be more of an event if it was only once a season.
Without proper licencing and control of clubs, and a sustainable model of sponsorship of the new league, it would only be a short term gain though. Clubs would be better working within the constraints they have now, showing they can go a season without one of the big clubs being in financial trouble, before it should be considered.
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
There's a lot of extraneous stuff confusing this discussion, and there are strong vested interests in the status quo. If someone suggested running rugby or GAA on a partitioned basis tomorrow, their suggestion rightly would be dismissed. Yet here we are rehearsing all sorts of excuses for keeping the game divided.
I would suggest that if you are demanding a cast-iron guarantee that attendances would increase in a merged league, then you already have your mind made up. An all-Ireland league automatically would have a much bigger supporter base, would comprise more clubs that are viable, and would have a much improved geographical balance. (That this has to be spelt out is in itself a measure of how obtuse the debate has become.) While there might be some sectarian resistance, such a league also would benefit from much public goodwill -- something distinctly lacking in Irish football right now -- and from institutional support.
Somehow, we have to get past the blockage in this discussion where we are willing to sacrifice an all-island league and all of its advantages for the sake of individual outfits (of course a bigger league will favour bigger clubs -- that's the idea!), for the sake of incumbent bureaucracies in the FAI and IFA, and for a meaningless few extra trips in Europe.
Why would clubs be more viable - if a clubs overspending in the LoI or IL, why wouldn't it in an AIL?
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
And let's now forget how crowds have soared in the Setanta Cup.
These threads help me imagine what a Derry City AGM is like. People loudly and arrogantly dismiss others' opinions as nonsense, without any real back-up other than to say they're holding the league back, when in actuality those who shout loudest generall have utterly groundless opinions easily refuted with the briefest of consideration. But they promise improvement, and we want improvement, so people will still listen. What a world we live in.
Bohs ones are, of course, entirely different. Socratic, almost.
A patriot is someone who knows how to hate his country properly.
There would be more clubs with bigger support. Linfield have more supporters than Bray. And the overall market would be bigger.
I don't know about overspending in the IL. But a pre-existing problem in the LoI is no reason to dismiss an all-Ireland league. Overspending is not an inherent part of the proposal.if a clubs overspending in the LoI or IL, why wouldn't it in an AIL?
What are UCD AGMs like?
Heard a very good comment on the AIL by a N.I. league fan. Basically he said:
'At the moment my furthest away game is a short distance. Why would we want an AIL that would mean I'd have to travel to somewhere like Limerick, to see my team play in the second tier of a league that would have a worse standard of football that we have now.'
Manager: Fergal, have you your boots with ya?
Fergal: Ya, I have them here.
Manager: Ah good stuff, well give them to this man so, he forgot his!
The best option in terms of football quality and crowds would be the current LoI premier plus Linfield/ Glens. Un-sellable though.
A patriot is someone who knows how to hate his country properly.
That presumes we hold ones.......
Fair comment.
How would that fan get to the match in Limerick?
Is there a train from Belfast to Limerick/Cork/Galway etc?
Unless you live in Dublin, its almost impossible to get to games without long bus journeys.
Three men walk into a bar...
I don't think anyone wants cast-iron guarantees, they just want some sort of logical basis for the presumption that an AIL is going to carry any benefits whatsoever. On the face of it, the idea of merging two poorly-supported leagues with very little relevance to one another doesn't provide that basis. SSC proves that there's no particular appetite for cross-border competition.
The only possible boon would be in the huge marketing and promotion push which would have to accompany the league's launch. But if the will was there, couldn't we do that for the league we have anyway?
A leading authority on League of Ireland football since 2003. You're probably wrong.
What does that have to do with anything?
But thanks for backing up the part of my post where I accused others of groundlessly dismissing others' opinions.
I probably shouldn't be, but I'm amazed that people can still think the AIL is a panacea for the league, or state that "The Platinum One approach was one of the better ones I've seen". I think the inability to learn or to think ideas through rationally shown here is a microcosm of the league in general.
It's relevance is roughly equivalent to your reference to Derry AGMs, which was sort of the point.
But humour me. What are they like anyway?
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