New Clubs for 2010 ? [Archive]

culloty82

19/10/2009, 11:45 AM

Last year the deadline for clubs to apply for an A licence was the end of October, so wondering if any new clubs were showing an interest ? Portlaoise seemed to pull out at the last minute last year, and I'm sure the success of this year's clubs will encourage more teams to join.

fionnsci

21/10/2009, 9:16 PM

culloty82

22/10/2009, 3:15 PM

Don't see how three Galway teams will all survive, so agree Mervue will probably drop down eventually as Salthill have the better youth set-up. The FAI also need to balance the sections, it's a major advantage to the Northern teams not to play any Dublin clubs.

gufc2000

22/10/2009, 10:18 PM

I'd imagine Portlaosie will be, they were all set for it last year and then opted out. Don't really know who else might be interested

peadar1987

23/10/2009, 12:04 AM

Any plans for either of the Mullingar sides to enter?

gael353

23/10/2009, 8:13 AM

I sincerly hope that Mervue United are back in there somehow....not really any room for them in the LOI.

Ennis

dont think an Ennis or a co clare side would do much in the A div. Lifford are the biggest junior club in the county and entered the under 21 league for some years,but it wasnt supported by clare ppl. The county football is a joke at the moment with possibly the strongest team (Shannon Hibs) playing in the Limerick div 1a (div 2)

any really good players tend to play for Galway or Limerick,

id favour an under 20s team from clare there is some although limited numbers of players in the county

Raheen

23/10/2009, 8:27 AM

I sincerly hope that Mervue United are back in there somehow....not really any room for them in the LOI.

They should try and get teams from Navan, Portlaoise, Kilkenny and Ennis in and have N/S divisions of 12 each.

No great football tradition in Navan. Anyone that has a modicum of talent plays in Drogheda or Dublin. Of the stronger sides in the county, Dunboyne and Ratoath, both of whom hae fantastic facilities, play in the LSL along with Navan's Parkvilla. Overall, the standard in Meath is low compared to elsewhere, at least that's my experience.

christo

08/11/2009, 5:45 PM

No great football tradition in Navan. Anyone that has a modicum of talent plays in Drogheda or Dublin. Of the stronger sides in the county, Dunboyne and Ratoath, both of whom hae fantastic facilities, play in the LSL along with Navan's Parkvilla. Overall, the standard in Meath is low compared to elsewhere, at least that's my experience.

Spot on, I don't really get everyones made desire to get a team from Navan into the league

Predator

08/11/2009, 8:00 PM

Not sure how it works, but would Letterkenny Rovers be a good addition?

JC_GUFC

11/11/2009, 1:52 PM

With the success of Mervue and Salthill in recent seasons apparently Galway Hibs, Corrib Rangers and West United are all talking about joining the A Championship - the aim is that in a few seasons there will be the League of Ireland Premier Division and the division below will be the Galway Superleague. There will be a game played in Terryland every game of the week with some double headers.

Riddickcule

11/11/2009, 3:10 PM

Not sure how it works, but would Letterkenny Rovers be a good addition?

Good choice you would think, but Finn Harps !!

One club (Harps) in Donegal should be enough imo

Dillonman

11/11/2009, 8:42 PM

I actually like that idea of a North/South division split! It would probably give teams alot ,more interest as some dont really show much commitment when it comes to travelling from one end of the country to the next!

1882

11/11/2009, 9:36 PM

Dillonman

12/11/2009, 5:40 PM

The divide has been in for the past 2 seasons.

Would it not be closer for the likes of Carlow to travel to Dublin/Louth than going to Tralee/Cork and Dundalk/Drogheda going to Castlebar/Galway etc etc

1882

12/11/2009, 6:54 PM

Would it not be closer for the likes of Carlow to travel to Dublin/Louth than going to Tralee/Cork and Dundalk/Drogheda going to Castlebar/Galway etc etcIt has to be divided somewere, I know its unfair on certain teams, but the divide has to be made.

Riddickcule

13/11/2009, 11:22 PM

So we have Tralee, Castlebar, Carlow, and Tullamore...

Would love to see those towns with a Loi club, good spread aswell, decently sized towns also.
So who else to add to that list? I'd say Mullingar, Portlaoise, Clonmel, i'd also like to see a new Kilkenny come back into the fold.

A face

15/11/2009, 8:40 AM

Dillonman

16/11/2009, 10:46 PM

Bring back Tipperary Town. I think its aboutm time Meath get their own team in there and stop trying to rob Drogheda!

Only thing about getting these sort of clubs in is the whole Kildare thing, it didnt work there, was a long hard struggle and alot of these towns mentioned are strong with the GAA so it would be very hard for them to get themselves going strongly!

Bluebeard

19/11/2009, 2:31 PM

Bring back Tipperary Town.
Do you mean Thurles Town?

Riddickcule

19/11/2009, 4:22 PM

If anyone in Tipp. is to have a team it should be Clonmel

Thurles = major Gaah teritory

peadar1987

19/11/2009, 6:49 PM

What about Nenagh? And I think North County Cork could support a team in the Mallow/Mitchelstown area

Riddickcule

19/11/2009, 9:19 PM

Nenaghs too small, plus already 2 clubs in county cork, the aim should be to get every county represented

peadar1987

19/11/2009, 11:58 PM

Nenaghs too small, plus already 2 clubs in county cork, the aim should be to get every county represented

Nenagh's about the size of Monaghan, and Roscrea's nearby, and a big enough town.

Ennis could be a location for a Clare team, but other than that, I'm not sure how many teams we can have.

I can't really see Leitrim, Roscommon and Cavan supporting teams, so existing clubs like Longford, Monaghan and Sligo could try to tap into those fan bases.

Maybe a Meath team could be based in Navan, and I'd like to see Kilkenny and Kildare back in the league as soon as possible. The only other real possibilities who don't already have A League teams would be Portlaoise and Ennis

culloty82

20/11/2009, 7:23 AM

Clonmel would be excellent representatives for Tipp, and though it's disappointing to hear from Portlaoise, the League needs a Co. Laois team and resurrected Kildare and Kilkenny clubs. Agree with Riddicule about Leitrim, Cavan and Roscommon, so if Navan and Ennis clubs are too weak, then Meath County and Clare County clubs run by the local leagues would see most counties included.

bennocelt

20/11/2009, 3:37 PM

Any plans for either of the Mullingar sides to enter?

Dont think so.
Mullingar Town applied twice a few years back - unlucky and were very close to getting accepted. Reckon we would get a good crowd for games. it would be brilliant to have some derby games with Longford and Athlone - jesus!!:)

BUT now the two teams are playing in a muck league and i dont think there are any plans for the future at all

Thunderblaster

21/11/2009, 1:16 PM

If Westport United had a more advanced set up from their current facilities, then they could well have entered.

Riddickcule

21/11/2009, 7:43 PM

Are they any football clubs in Ennis? not on the wikipedia page.

peadar1987

22/11/2009, 12:13 PM

If Westport United had a more advanced set up from their current facilities, then they could well have entered.

That would surely affect support for Castlebar though.

Are they any football clubs in Ennis? not on the wikipedia page.

I think there's a Clare League though.

I think in order to get the maximum support, there should be clubs like "Clare Celtic" formed, instead of simply elevating a club from the local amateur setup to the league. Fair enough, you'd have to attract a new fanbase, but it's like the Tralee Dynamos situation, there's not really enough room in Kerry for two LOI clubs to be well-supported, but people from Killarney won't support Dynamos because the bear the name of a different town. An All-Kerry side would, in my opinion, attract more support.

holidaysong

22/11/2009, 4:26 PM

I think in order to get the maximum support, there should be clubs like "Clare Celtic" formed, instead of simply elevating a club from the local amateur setup to the league. Fair enough, you'd have to attract a new fanbase, but it's like the Tralee Dynamos situation, there's not really enough room in Kerry for two LOI clubs to be well-supported, but people from Killarney won't support Dynamos because the bear the name of a different town. An All-Kerry side would, in my opinion, attract more support.

It didn't work for Kildare County though. Indeed, I'd say Newbridge Town could have made a better go of the LOI than KCFC did.

Having said that, Kerry is probably one county where it could work due to the county identity there associated with the GAA team. Wexford would be another example of this.

Not all counties have this though. For example if there was no LOI teams in Louth, I don't think the county identity here would be strong enough to sustain support for a 'Louth United FC'..

Sam_Heggy

23/11/2009, 10:21 AM

It didn't work for Kildare County though. Indeed, I'd say Newbridge Town could have made a better go of the LOI than KCFC did.
Having said that, Kerry is probably one county where it could work due to the county identity there associated with the GAA team. Wexford would be another example of this.

Not all counties have this though. For example if there was no LOI teams in Louth, I don't think the county identity here would be strong enough to sustain support for a 'Louth United FC'..

Were Kildare County not just Newbridge Town under a different name?
Im pretty sure it was Newbride that entered and they named KC to try and draw in the whole county.

culloty82

23/11/2009, 11:06 AM

I think most people in Kerry would have preferred the county option, the KDL were good to go in '08, but the FAI only wanted club teams in the U-20 league, that said they'd only have needed to called themselves Kerry FC or something similar to get around that rule. That's why Dynamos went it alone, and in fairness, they could well go up next year without needing any new league format.

christo

23/11/2009, 12:20 PM

Lads can we put the Navan team to bed, just because it's a big town doesn't mean it will be good for the club, Newbridge and Naas would have the biggest population in Kildare and it didn't help KCFC, the teams in Navan don't even play in that high of a league

chimpster

24/11/2009, 5:37 PM

I don't think there are many individual clubs with the appetite and resources to go for the A league at the moment.

Personally, I would let the current A-league sides into LOI and then split the first division into two 8-team divisions north/south (much cheaper on travel). Below this, the FAI should ramp up the Oscar Trayor (inter-league) from a knockout cup to a league system. That way we get a true 'pyramid' system up to the Oscar Traynor, with the best players picked off by the LOI clubs.

culloty82

25/11/2009, 7:24 AM

I don't think there are many individual clubs with the appetite and resources to go for the A league at the moment.

Agreed, most probably think there's no point going senior if 2010's the last year of the current format. Only the teams currently involved would be able to play First Division in 12 months time, though that shouldn't stop new teams joining in later years.

GUFCghost

28/11/2009, 6:29 PM

We have 2 and next year possibly 3 teams in Galway and we can't support 1.The FAI should be looking at county's that don't have teams and are big enough to support LOI.

Riddickcule

29/11/2009, 10:46 PM

Agreed but the FAI can't just kick Mervue and Salthill out, or can we ?

holidaysong

29/11/2009, 11:17 PM

Were Kildare County not just Newbridge Town under a different name?
Im pretty sure it was Newbride that entered and they named KC to try and draw in the whole county.

That was my point. In my opinion, they should have just stuck the existing club Newbridge Town into the league rather than create Kildare County FC. Football is an urban game and I think it would have been wiser to attract support in the town based on the Newbridge name rather than the county name, which is associated more with the GAA.

As a Finn Harps fan, you might argue that a county based thing is a good idea - Harps always promote themselves as a Donegal team rather than a Ballybofey / Stranolar team. But then as a Dundalk fan, I'd argue that a Louth United team would never attract as much support as Dundalk and Drogheda United do on their own.

1882

30/11/2009, 12:07 AM

Agreed but the FAI can't just kick Mervue and Salthill out, or can we ?Salthill aren't going up to the 1st Divison, out of their own choice.

culloty82

30/11/2009, 4:11 PM

Strange - gufc2000 posted a long article saying Salthill were accepting a place in the FD and that Drom should be up to standard, but the club could have changed their minds since then. If it is true, would all five clubs submit new applications? Based on results, either yourselves or Tralee would have strong cases, while on infrastructure, Cobh would be ahead.

GUFCghost

01/12/2009, 5:46 PM

Agreed but the FAI can't just kick Mervue and Salthill out, or can we ?

They are getting crowds of around 80 most of whom just live near Terryland,no one will care if we kick them out.

Riddickcule

01/12/2009, 9:32 PM

I say we get a petition going to kick Mervue out.

GUFCghost

02/12/2009, 8:54 AM

I say we get a petition going to kick Mervue out.

I like where your goin with this,we should set up a face book group.

Riddickcule

03/12/2009, 9:22 PM

Not on facebook sorry, i'm one not to go with the flow.And i'm proud of that.

theboy

04/12/2009, 8:15 AM

Anyone have the final list of teams set for the A-League next season? When is the start date for it??

Larks

04/12/2009, 9:52 AM

I like where your goin with this,we should set up a face book group.
Ya, because that worked so well after the France game. Blatter must be on facebook :)
What are ye on about lads, haha! a petition to get Mervue kicked out. While we're at it let's get a petition going to get wigan kicked out of the Premiership and bring Newcastle back up, after all, they have a far greater average attendance.......:confused:

GUFCghost

04/12/2009, 9:58 AM

Ya, because that worked so well after the France game. Blatter must be on facebook :)
What are ye on about lads, haha! a petition to get Mervue kicked out. While we're at it let's get a petition going to get wigan kicked out of the Premiership and bring Newcastle back up, after all, they have a far greater average attendance.......:confused:

to be fair im just going to wait for someone ells set it up,cough.

culloty82

04/12/2009, 2:03 PM

Anyone have the final list of teams set for the A-League next season? When is the start date for it??

Presume the current five first teams (Carlow, Castlebar, Cobh, Tralee, Tullamore) are all staying, will be joined by the B sides of the ten Premier teams (depending on what happens Cork) and probably Derry and Harps reserves also. It'll be a while before we know about new clubs joining, Tralee didn't get their licence until just before last Christmas, so will be much the same this year. Like last year, it should re-start the first weekend in April.

Sam_Heggy

04/12/2009, 3:22 PM

Licences will be handed out on 31st March 2010.

Fixtures will be released 1st April with a few curve balls thrown in there as it's April fools (Delaney and Gavin included)

Amended list out on 2nd April

Season will then Start Saturday 4th April.

Normal service resumed.

Harps will be entering the League. Hopefully it runs smoothly this season with regular games.

theboy

04/12/2009, 3:32 PM

Thanks for the up date.

I assume clubs will find out if they are in the A-League before the 31st of March, days before the league starts..

Riddickcule

04/12/2009, 11:24 PM

Ya, because that worked so well after the France game. Blatter must be on facebook :)
What are ye on about lads, haha! a petition to get Mervue kicked out. While we're at it let's get a petition going to get wigan kicked out of the Premiership and bring Newcastle back up, after all, they have a far greater average attendance.......:confused:
Get the boat will ya, the circumstances are different :p