Which towns could use LOI teams?

[dcfcsteve]

Yes, but you can move an established club on the basis that the town down the road is bigger. Makes perfect sense.

Hell yeah ! :D

Err - Rovers and Tallaght ? Shels and Drumcondra ? Drogs and wherever they manage to get a site for a new stadium (if ever...) ? The league has seen existing clubs moving around for years.

And as you said anyway - Harps is the County's team. So why not put it in the largest centre of county population...... :D

[Schumi]

Err - Rovers and Tallaght ? Shels and DrumcondraThey're still in Dublin, just different suburbs.


The league has seen existing clubs moving around for years.Have there been any that didn't just involve clubs moving to a different part of the same town/city.

[dcfcsteve]

They're still in Dublin, just different suburbs.

Stranorlar isn't in Ballbofey....

And as Harps fans are fond of telling us - they're a county team. So Letterkenny is still in Donegal.


Have there been any that didn't just involve clubs moving to a different part of the same town/city.

Tallaght was a fairly big move for Rovers, even if it is technically still in Dublin (where isn't in Dublin within the Pale these days anyway ! :) ).

Sure City moved footballing jurisdiction as well ! :)

[jinxy lilywhite]

Tallaght was a fairly big move for Rovers, even if it is technically still in Dublin (where isn't in Dublin within the Pale these days anyway ! :) ).



The parts of the pale that aren't in Dublin.


Seriously though i think thought should be given to the allowing of extra teams play and compete in the senior league. Whether this means that 6 new sides be cherry picked by the powers that be from specific locations or that attempts are made for progrsseion from regional leagues to the A Championship. The loi is missing out on representing alot of areas in the country and thought/attempt should I think be put in for those areas to be represented.
Some formats of the league have been tried and failed, ie a 10 team premier, a 12 team premier, a dublin district league along with Dundalk, Derry & Cork has been tried to no avail and then the next step is toi revert to what it used to be.
Allowing extra teams into the league will not solve its problems but it will not worsen its problems either.
Only 22 clubs in our senior league and that is a very low number

[brendy_éire]

Only 22 clubs in our senior league and that is a very low number

Really? I think it's too many. We've not that densely populated a country.

[MeathDrog]

Navan has a lot of people with a HUGE interest in soccer.
However sadly the main club Parkvilla is seen by many to be somewhat elitist, ie nless you know people involved you are not welcome.
I never found this to be the case myself but it appears others feel that way.
The Meath and District League has an excellent set up on the Trim Road from Navan and maybe they should consider getting a team involved in the under 21 section.
The only way I can really judge interest would ne to go back quite a few years and recollect that when Parkvilla played Home Farm in the FAI Cup they packed the ground out whether they could do that week in week out I am not sure.
I just don't think that you can spontaneously get a town to support a LOI team out of nothing, especially in Navan.

The MDL did have an U21 team, but many top clubs didn't want to allow their players to play for it, so it didn't work out.

[dcfcsteve]

The parts of the pale that aren't in Dublin.

Yeah - like Leixlip, Bray etc.... :D


Only 22 clubs in our senior league and that is a very low number

England consistently has the best attended football leagues in the world. Football is also by far and away that country's number one spectator sport.

Yet they have 92 league clubs - with a population over 10 times that of the ROI/Derry combined.

So how many clubs do you think an area with a population of 4.1m people should have ? If 22 is very low, what would you suggest : 44 ? 66 ? :confused:

[Mr A]

Really? I think it's too many. We've not that densely populated a country.

Really really? :confused:

I think a country that repeatedly returns Fianna Fail to government is pretty densely populated in all fairness.

;)

[dcfcsteve]

I just don't think that you can spontaneously get a town to support a LOI team out of nothing, especially in Navan.


There-in lies the problem in this debate.

Too many people on here think that all that's stopping the good people of Navan from getting off their bar stools and supporting an Irish team is the lack of one in their own town.

Having LOI teams in other towns - many much bigger - hasn't got the masses to support Irish football there. And if someone living in Navan can identify themselves tenuously with a club like Sunderland, then finding a link to existing Irish clubs like Bohs or Drogheda shouldn't be that difficult for them.

[BohDiddley]

if someone living in Navan can identify themselves tenuously with a club like Sunderland, then finding a link to existing Irish clubs like Bohs or Drogheda shouldn't be that difficult for them.

If things were that simple there'd be no need for this discussion in the first place! They don't have tenuous links to Sunderland (or, more likely, Yunirah); they positively love them -- if fact, they <are> them, as in we, us, etc, -- precisely because they are far enough away.

[dcfcsteve]

If things were that simple there'd be no need for this discussion in the first place! They don't have tenuous links to Sunderland (or, more likely, Yunirah); they positively love them -- if fact, they <are> them, as in we, us, etc, -- precisely because they are far enough away.

They have tenuous links at best to clubs like Sunderland - and most probably no links. Whetehr they love them or not isn't the issue.

Look up the word tenuous if you don't believe me... ;)

[MeathDrog]

There-in lies the problem in this debate.

Too many people on here think that all that's stopping the good people of Navan from getting off their bar stools and supporting an Irish team is the lack of one in their own town.

Having LOI teams in other towns - many much bigger - hasn't got the masses to support Irish football there. And if someone living in Navan can identify themselves tenuously with a club like Sunderland, then finding a link to existing Irish clubs like Bohs or Drogheda shouldn't be a problem for them.
It wasn't a problem for me anyway, but yeah, there is a lot of interest in soccer in Navan, but it's all talk and no action I'm afraid, as is the case with a lot of towns across Ireland.

[davidatrb]

And if someone living in Navan can identify themselves tenuously with a club like Sunderland, then finding a link to existing Irish clubs like Bohs or Drogheda shouldn't be that difficult for them.

.. or Kildare County :)

[First]

What about this for a crazy idea?
You all know how that hotel which hosted Real Madrid went out of their way with investment ,best practice etc.What if the government,in these days of unemployment decided to introduce a new industry into Ireland.This industry could create jobs at admin,advertising and player level.Would bring in many tourists in winter or summer,put Ireland back on the tourist map and give RTE and other Irish tv stations something to do,and attract self financing advertising revenue?Would the government be willing to grant aid this industry to the same extent they did overseas manufacturing investors?

THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE

INVEST IN IRISH FOOTBALL?

PS How about a team from Shannon to add to your list

Try getting a decent junior side first :p

[dcfcsteve]

There's a town in Russia that could do without an LOI team at the moment..... :D