Kick the league

[BohDiddley]

The vultures are out.
There's been a spot of negative news about the league, so it's time to kick it some more.
David Kelly sounds pleased, and anyone interested enough in football to support an Irish team is, we are asked to believe, a member of a fanatical cult.
Penning a piece like this seems to be a rite of passage for a generation of sports hacks.
Domestic game has been lying comatose for a generation

[dcfcsteve]

There is a strong grain of truth running throughout that article, but it has been sensationalised and tabloided-up to the hilt.

Are any players in the league really on €7k a week ?

His conclusion is correct though- domestic football is the only institution in Ireland not to have been benefitted from the Celtic Tiger (every other sport has). The responsibility for this, in my view, rests largely with the FAI. Firstly, they squandered the large sums of money generated in the Charlton era - leaving no enduring legacy for the game here. And secondly - by being run as a discredited bucket outfit, they were constantly excluded from the top table for the distribution of government grants.

I firmly believe that history will point a stifF finger in the direction of Merrion Square* when apportioning blame for the league not benefitting from our unprecedented economic boom.

* I know the FAi are no longer there.

[sullanefc]

Are any players in the league really on €7k a week ?

To be fair, I believe he said 7k a fortnight.

[McShels]

A 2 page spread in the back on the Indo written by a bloke who is now the Indo's rugby correspondent (was writing on football before that).

IMO its not a big deal that the LOI will need a new sponsor from next season, was there such an air of doom when the GAA where changing their sponsorhsip or when Vodafone pulled out of sponsoring Man Utd the anser is No!!

There will be a new sponsor and in all honesty they cant be much worse than the current one......

[BohDiddley]

There is some truth in the piece. Most of all, it is fair to say that players are getting paid too much, and clubs are auctioning themselves out of existence.

The problem, as with so much of this level of coverage of the domestic game in Irish media, is that it offers nothing more than the worn-out league as basket case message. Does it have a single constructive suggestion, or even recognition of people with ideas to improve matters?

The giveaway in this venting of lazy negativity is that it wheels out the laughably under-researched Genesis Report.

If you look at most areas of coverage, in sport and in the arts, of Irish endeavours, you will find it either positive (to the point of hype in the case of GAA and rugby) or at least trying to put things in context, and certainly not cheerleading for its extinction, which this article is very close to doing.

[Partizan]

I must say that there is alot of truth in that article. I have been watching LOI for over 20 years and while the standards have got much better, unfortunatley the same old story is that the League is dying on its feet. Clubs being run in reckless financial manner like Pats is simply unsustainable. Other clubs like Sligo are being forced into bankruptcy in order to keep up with the big boys. Coupled with poor marketing, poor administration from the FAI and clubs themselves and poor attendances indictate that something the league is terminally ill.

Pointing out the recent moderate European sucesses as come as a huge cost with clubs overspending in order to survive in the top flight or to chase the impossible in Europe. To bury our heads under the sand is simply not the answer. What this article does is that its simply highlighting in the cold light of day the slow moving car crash that we are heading to.

I have never seen the League as unequal as it is. Paying 3k a week to a has been is frankly put, absolute madness.

[pineapple stu]

Only place E7k is mentioned is in the weekly cost of Waterford United.

[Partizan]

Only place E7k is mentioned is in the weekly cost of Waterford United.

Exactly, thats how much it costs to run Waterford on a weekly basis.

€7000 x 52 = €364,000 p.a.

[paudie]

There is some truth in the article but when he talk about euthanasia he gives a hint as to his thinking:ie would the League of Ireland ever just go away and stop annoying us. As if the league didn't have over 80 years of history

Everyone here knows that the league has a multitude of problems but to describe it as comatose is just wrong. He was obviously not around in the 80's.

It's amazing the number of people in the media eg Off the Ball on Newstalk who seem to see the existence of the LOI as a personal affront.
I think they are secretly guilty about their obsession with the Premiersip and SPL and are afraid that someone will ask the obvious question: Why do you spend so much time on foreign leagues and treat your domestic league with contempt?

Therefore every negative story relating to the league is hyped up and good news is buried.

[Fivesilver]

It's amazing the number of people in the media eg Off the Ball on Newstalk who seem to see the existence of the LOI as a personal affront.
I think they are secretly guilty about their obsession with the Premiersip and SPL and are afraid that someone will ask the obvious question: Why do you spend so much time on foreign leagues and treat your domestic league with contempt?

Therefore every negative story relating to the league is hyped up and good news is buried.

Dowtcha paudie - couldn't have put it better myself. Methinks a letter to that effect to the main media outlets would be a good idea, although it probably wouldn't see the light of day.

[Straightstory]

These journos love slinging these kind of insults: 'the hopelessly average, never-made-it-in-England professionals who are banking a cool €2,000 or €3,000 or €4,000 per week'.
The lack of respect they have for the league is always notable.
Personally I don't blame the FAI - it's the Irish mentality: unimaginative, cynical, docile, and easily manipulated by the media. Everything has to be Man United or Liverpool. Anything else is 'sh**e'. That's the reason why there aren't fans at games.

[gustavo]

These journos love slinging these kind of insults: 'the hopelessly average, never-made-it-in-England professionals who are banking a cool €2,000 or €3,000 or €4,000 per week'.
The lack of respect they have for the league is always notable.
Personally I don't blame the FAI - it's the Irish mentality: unimaginative, cynical, docile, and easily manipulated by the media. Everything has to be Man United or Liverpool. Anything else is 'sh**e'. That's the reason why there aren't fans at games.

Notice he doesnt define "making it in England" presumably he thinks some Irish guy playing in their fourth or fifth tier earning less money than he would here has "made it"

[mypost]

It's amazing the number of people in the media eg Off the Ball on Newstalk who seem to see the existence of the LOI as a personal affront.
I think they are secretly guilty about their obsession with the Premiersip and SPL and are afraid that someone will ask the obvious question:

They're not obsessed with those leagues. They're obsessed with Liverpool, United, Celtic and Rangers. That's it.

[BohDiddley]

It's amazing the number of people in the media eg Off the Ball on Newstalk who seem to see the existence of the LOI as a personal affront.
I think they are secretly guilty about their obsession with the Premiersip and SPL and are afraid that someone will ask the obvious question: Why do you spend so much time on foreign leagues and treat your domestic league with contempt?

I think you've nailed it there.

[A face]

These journos love slinging these kind of insults: 'the hopelessly average, never-made-it-in-England professionals who are banking a cool €2,000 or €3,000 or €4,000 per week'.

It says more about the journalist slinging phrase like that around

The lack of respect they have for the league is always notable.

Its unreal, completely irresponsible, and they are answerable to nobody. Is the times just a filthy rag?

Personally I don't blame the FAI

I dont, not just Delaney but all the guys that went before him. Maybe not further back than 50 years but definitely all other after that should cop some of the blame.

it's the Irish mentality: unimaginative, cynical, docile, and easily manipulated by the media.

Yup, thats about the size of it.

It's amazing the number of people in the media eg Off the Ball on Newstalk who seem to see the existence of the LOI as a personal affront.
I think they are secretly guilty about their obsession with the Premiersip and SPL and are afraid that someone will ask the obvious question: Why do you spend so much time on foreign leagues and treat your domestic league with contempt?

You can see that guilt in alot of people, and it tears them apart in certain cases.

[Spoons]

With respect to those who host those radio programmes, they haven't a clue whether its the League of Ireland of Premiership....its that bad I have stopped listening as it made me cringe so much!!

[pete]

A 2 page spread in the back on the Indo written by a bloke who is now the Indo's rugby correspondent (was writing on football before that).

Standard practice for the Indo when hatchet job is required. It would be difficult to get Daniel McDonnell to do as he has to actually attend LOI games & talk to people. Much easier to do this when you never report on the LOI. I was surprised they did not get Vincent Hogan to do as they have used him in the past.

I love the claim that "Attendances have dropped alarmingly" without any proof. The figures don't should this at all. There have always been clubs in financial difficulty. Waterford are in trouble because they expected the same revenue from 1st division they had in the Premier.

Interestingly there are quotes in local Evening Echo from City new CEO saying our owners have no plans to cut their loses & in the league for the long run. Any chance the Indo will print that?

The real crime is that David Kelly gets paid to E100 a week to write that junk.

[Rovers Maniac]

Good Story in the press True, bad Story in the press false

[dublinred]

If you look at most areas of coverage, in sport and in the arts, of Irish endeavours, you will find it either positive (to the point of hype in the case of GAA and rugby) or at least trying to put things in context, and certainly not cheerleading for its extinction, which this article is very close to doing.

Still not a mention of the GAA racism incident on RTE.ie a government minister has just commmented on it now on http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...breaking65.htm

Will this still be kept off RTE now?

[Student Mullet]

Interestingly there are quotes in local Evening Echo from City new CEO saying our owners have no plans to cut their loses & in the league for the long run. Any chance the Indo will print that?

BREAKING NEWS: LoI Club not on the Brink of Extinction

The fact that you expect a paper to publish this headline says a lot about the league.