What can be done to improve the League of Ireland?

[Strongbow10]

First off I want this to be a serious thread with real ideas from real LOI fans. Don't want to see EPL fans post and add riveting ideas like "nowt can be done its crap"

You can guarantee that clubs will more than likely receive patched up licences again before the new season starts next year. Only to find themselves on the brink again half way into the season.

So if you were to find yourself in the position where you could decide what to do with the league of Ireland what would you do? How would you change things? be it on the field, in the media from a marketing perspective or whatever.

Whatever ideas you have let us know.

Heres my 2 cents worth.

We have far too many clubs. Amalgamating certain clubs obviously is not an option due to rivalries etc. However we do have some big towns with good schoolboy leagues that really should have no problem sustaining a LOI club.

1) We need qualified coaches at all levels from u-10 up to senior. If you are not qualified with the minimum UEFA licence then you ain't coaching a team. Fair enough it may take away the community feel for things but its about standards. I'm sure everyone has stories of coaches when they were that age who had not got a clue.
With the amount of people out of work now also surely some money can be put aside by the FAI to finance or part finance these courses for people with an interest. Incentives should also be there to go as far as possible in relation to coaching badges.

2) A national centre of excellence also needs to be set up. The best players from the 4 corners of Ireland need to be brought together from the age of 14 upwards for sessions throughout the year. Encourage youngsters to stay in Ireland and work their way into the new improved league. Regional teams should also compete in an all ireland cup competition once a year giving players a sense of pride of where they come from also.

3) Like Major league soccer in the US, i'd like to see a central contracting system in the LOI. All players in the LOI would be under contract to the FAI. Players wages would be paid by the FAI with clubs effectively run by the association with all revenue the clubs make being put back into the association. Let this be the way forward for the forseeable future until the profile of the domestic game rises and crowds start coming back in their droves. And maybe when clubs show signs of being able to stand on their own 2 feet then they can manage some of their own affairs.

4) Tie more of the clubs in with Colleges, I.T's and Universities. Like UCD, offer good players the chance to stay at home, study and play for their LOI side.
Alot of the clubs in the premier and first division have a corresponding third level facility within their town or county. give these players a sense of professionalism that makes them feel important by way of facilities that alot of the third level colleges can provide.

5) Finally and probably most controversialy, relax the work permit requirements in relation to sporting potential and achievement. Attract some of the worlds most talented kids/teenagers with scholarships in our universities. This is a very grey area, and I do understand some of the best in the world won;t have english or even an interest in education at that. However even if we are choosing from the second tier of talent in that respect, well at least we are still attracting outside talent that will make our domestic game more rounded. It can only help our domestic talent by playing with those from another playing culture altogether.

Overall I feel that this would give us somewhat of a better hotbed of irish talent. And knowing that the cream of irish talent was playing and playing regular first team football in Ireland having had top class coaching from a young age along with talented foreign nationals, would have the scouts flocking. And this could also net the FAI and windfall when the time comes for some players to move abroad. And encouraged to move further afield than the UK in some instances.

My views are somewhat rough around the edges as you can probably tell. But its a start.
Tell me what your own plans would be.

[jebus]

- Set up a new 18 team league
- close off relegation for three seasons and tell the clubs they have that time to balance the books or they are out
- during those three seasons set up a pyramid structure under the LoI Premier consisting of three provincial leagues with the county leagues underneath that
- make it a requirement that LoI clubs have underage sides entered in their local leagues up to u-18s
- give clubs time to do so but implement your coaching idea (i've looked into getting a licence for training kids myself, it just takes time)
- during those three years provide grants for improving facilities, and/or work more closely with clubs when they have to deal with their local councils (case in point is trying to get Limerick council on board for a move back to the Market's Field, having the FAI back you to the hilt would be a help)
- I'd agree with trying to tie clubs into colleges and the FAI setting up a national centre of excellence
- I don't agree with relaxing work permits so we can nick kids from abroad 9if they were any good they'd go to England ahead of us anyway and am unsure about centralised contracts as I haven't read fully into how that works in the MLS
- Keep summer football but scrap Friday nights bar one live game on RTE a week and set the fixtures for 3pm as there are rarely live English games on at this time, the 3pm slot would be good for families on a Saturday afternoon and by having only one game on Friday it might encourage more of us to watch RTE2 and get ratings up

I don't think drastic changes are needed though, improve the facilities and enforce your laws would be the advice I'd give the FAI

[Razors left peg]

Jebus, totally agree with your last point about scraping the friday night games.Have thought that for ages.Friday night games make it far too difficult for away fans to travel in numbers.Even for home fans it can be be a pain in the arse to get in from work after 6, grab some quick dinner and rush back out the door again, plus alot of people are knackered from a weeks work on a friday night. I was raised on LOI from when I was a kid, going up to the old Terryland with the father on a sunday and there were regularly hundreds of away fans travelling to each game.Its perfect for families looking for something to do on a sunday.

I also think the point of having central contracts like the MLS is worth looking in to

[paul_oshea]

Standard liege got me thinking about this tonight.

Surely without being completely naive, but there must be some very good players in unkown places where if all possible contacts were exhausted some gems could be found and paid the same/less than currently done. These players could make a huge difference in terms of progress in europe and i think that is the key to improving viewing figures and attendances of the LOI as people start believing that its "not sh1te". Thos clubs could in turn sell on some of these players to bigger clubs throughout europe but mainly england and earn some extra cash.

I really think that progress in Europe is the key, and thats from the outside looking in. BUt if a loi team made the group stages of CL, it could really set the ball rolling. Facilities are also a key factor but without substantial investment these aren't going to change overnight, again money from Europe could make a huge difference to this.

18 clubs for the size of ireland is far too many, there just isn't the population and money to keep that many going. I would see the bigger cities being the only possible places where football can survive and then thrive. Thats about 8 teams then give or take.

[elroy]

It will take a well concentrated effort to keep people who currently just watch football on the tv to actually get off their ass and out to watch their local team regularly.

1. Better facilities. An often used example is greyhound racing. 20 years ago the facilities were crap and attendances much less than now but with a bit of effort, improvement of facilities, many people who normally would never have gone near a greyhound track regularly attend. Let at the success of the Tallaght stadium as another example.

2. Competition. Lets face it, the EPL and CL are going to be of more interest to the standard couch potato football fan in Ireland. Having league and cup games on big CL nights or clashing with big EPL games are non sensical. I know some people may not like this, but with relatively simple effort or co-ordination this kind of clash could easily be avoided.

3. Community. Again some people may not like this, but a gaa style community bond/effort is required. Look at the success of Fingal. Coordination with local councils to create a club that has strong roots in the community and for example is affiliated with local schools to get kids in for free etc.

[roinuj]

start by making the prem bigger to 16 teams,
the 10 team league is a load of bull and playing the same teams 4 times a season is boring.
id also get rid of clubs like mervue, fingal and ucd who bring nothing to the league with little to none supporters.

[Sicuani]

Not allow "bar men" and "coaches" to play football.

Every club should have their very own Tom.

[bishbash]

15 teams max with just one division. the teams should come from areas that have an above average population the likes of dublin, galway, limerick, cork, waterford and derry. Theoretically these clubs should be able to draw on greater numbers in terms of support and attendances. I dont believe the league will ever see attendances of 20-25 thousand. if the league could attract 10 to 12 thousand at home games it would be absolutely brilliant. facilities are a big draw back. if you look at some of the norweigan clubs their grounds hold between 10 and 15 thousand at some of them are fabulous. Financing them here would be next to impossible. However when you look at munster rugby and the revenue they have generated through concerts it must be worth looking at. From a football side of things all clubs should have schoolboy teams up to u21 with proper coaching structures. clubs should be limited to 22 pros to start off with so as to help bring through local talent. better tv and media coverage with at leat one live league game per weekend shown on tv. Government funding of some sort.

[Ciaran W]

I dont think sunday afternoon matches would work because you would have many of the lads going to the pub to watch the arsenal-united matches etc instead. .some clubs need to to lower their prices because its a bit much askin people to pay ?20 for an adults ticket in the middle of a recession

[Réiteoir]

start by making the prem bigger to 16 teams,
the 10 team league is a load of bull and playing the same teams 4 times a season is boring.
id also get rid of clubs like mervue, fingal and ucd who bring nothing to the league with little to none supporters.

I'd personally would like to get rid of Waterford and it's soulless Athletics Stadium

[Splurge]

I definitely think one league is the way to go, with the top clubs struggling and becoming more parttime the gap is bound to be smaller. Ok so there would be occasional trashings but would the gap between bohs and the youths be bigger than Spurs & Wigan, or Utd & Hull, Portsmouth etc?

[brianw82]

All clubs should be obliged to have ticket scanners and provide official, un-fudge-able attendance figures. No we do/we don't include season ticket holders. The FAI should either provide the facilities to do this or else incentivise it somehow.

This will prevent clubs saying they're getting 2,000 people through the gates when in reality they're only getting 1,500. They'll then be forced to budget accordingly for gate receipts.

[dong]

Marketing is a powerful tool which the FAI/Clubs have singularly failed to use properly in the last few years. People need to be bombarded with advertising to have any chance of getting bigger crowds, especially in this country where you have non stop EPL everywhere you look these days.

The miserable attempts at promoting the league are doing us no favours.

[gufcfan]

1) We need qualified coaches at all levels from u-10 up to senior. If you are not qualified with the minimum UEFA licence then you ain't coaching a team.That's reasonable.

2) A national centre of excellence also needs to be set up. The best players from the 4 corners of Ireland need to be brought together from the age of 14 upwards for sessions throughout the year.That's reasonable also. The best players need to be playing with their peers, in regards ability, much younger than what is the norm currently. God forgive me for mentioning "them" but he French have an excellent set-up.

3) Like Major league soccer in the US, i'd like to see a central contracting system in the LOI. All players in the LOI would be under contract to the FAI.I don't see clubs ever backing that to be honest.

4) Tie more of the clubs in with Colleges, I.T's and Universities. Like UCD, offer good players the chance to stay at home, study and play for their LOI side.I think this should be done with the best players in secondary education also. Having players tied to a club, but also having education make up a large part of it. Although, having thought about it a bit more, a national full-time centre of excellence is the only viable way of going about doing this really.

5) Finally and probably most controversialy, relax the work permit requirements in relation to sporting potential and achievement. Attract some of the worlds most talented kids/teenagers with scholarships in our universities.This is not a great time to be talking about investing in such scholarships, with cutbacks in education, left, right and centre. You won't find any politicians willing to support it anyway.

[gufcfan]

- Set up a new 18 team league
- close off relegation for three seasons and tell the clubs they have that time to balance the books or they are outAnyone outside of the top 7 or 8 realistically able to challenge for Europe would suffer tremendously from terrible attendance figures. No threat of relegation would mean no reason to win any games really, apart from minuscule differences in prize money offered for different league placings. Not to mention what the likes of Bohs would have done to Kildare County if they were in the same division this year.
- during those three seasons set up a pyramid structure under the LoI Premier consisting of three provincial leagues with the county leagues underneath thatYou stated that you wished the league would be closed to relegation for 3 seasons? How would having a pyramid structure beneath that for them 3 seasons make any difference? Notwithstanding the fact that these leagues already exist. If they wanted to enter the league, they would have applied already, as far as I'm concerned.
- make it a requirement that LoI clubs have under-age sides entered in their local leagues up to u-18sI agree wholeheartedly with this. None of this nonsense allowing clubs to have sham "partnerships" with Junior teams should be allowed either. Galway United used to have a strong under-age structure, that produced local talent whose first choice was to play for Galway United. We have a situation now where kids in Galway City and County usually have no aspirations to play for us. In the 90's and early 00's I would have considered United to have been THE under-age club to play for in the province. I have match programmes from the turn of the century with reports from under-age teams winning every competition they entered at some age-groups. (Local, provincial and national)
- Keep summer football but scrap Friday nights bar one live game on RTE a week and set the fixtures for 3pm as there are rarely live English games on at this time, the 3pm slot would be good for families on a Saturday afternoon and by having only one game on Friday it might encourage more of us to watch RTE2 and get ratings upI'm not saying that you are right or wrong, but there would be huge resistance to this. I wouldn't mind having a 3pm kick-off at all. I don't watch the Premiership so that isn't an issue for me. Clashes with GAA might be a problem though. I would be easier for people to attend away games though, but again, not for me. I like the idea of a daytime trip across the country. It might encourage more of a family vibe to away trips also.

[Hairy Bowsie]

I'm not saying nothing can be done but as long as we have ridiculous scandals that we've had the previous few years (Cork bus incident, Derry duel contracts etc) you could have the marketing you want and it won't make a blind bit of differnce because these are the incidents people will remember. Very easy to say but first and foremost we need to eradicate stuff like that, and only then should they try market the league, it's just ****ing in the wind otherwise

[bennocelt]

Marketing is a powerful tool which the FAI/Clubs have singularly failed to use properly in the last few years. People need to be bombarded with advertising to have any chance of getting bigger crowds, especially in this country where you have non stop EPL everywhere you look these days.

The miserable attempts at promoting the league are doing us no favours.

I agree with this, the FAI don't really bother with the league at all - it always seems like a halfhearted attempt

[razor]

Getting rid of Tom Coughlan would be a huge step forward for the league.

[endabob1]

I see 3 basic options
1 - Accept it for what it is and get on with it
or
2 - Continue tinkering in the hope of getting it right possibly/probably furthering damaging its already shot to pieces reputation safe in the knowledge that it can't really get much worse.
or
3 - Accept that it is beyond repair, scrap it and start from scratch with a clean(ish) slate, possibly as part of an AIL.

[kd16]

Re attendances, advertising will only work to a certain extent. If someone has never been to a LOI game before then some flashy poster in his local Spar isn't going to convince him, and annoying junk mail through his door certainly won't do it.

As far as I'm concerned, its up to us who go to games to increase the attendance. I've brought many friends and family to games over the years, and its taken weeks of pestering to get them to go the first time. Most of them have been back and go to around 5 or 6 games a season, some of them even have season tickets now, and the ones who never came back again are in the minority.

Its the way to do it, if everyone brings a mate then your attendance has doubled. Granted it doesn't solve the wider licensing/structure issues but it must be accepted that the heart of all the wider problems lie in the fact that people don't go to matches.

[Scram]

32 counties – 32 teams – 2 divisions

Shamrock Rovers would be the Dublin team, St.Pats can go to Kildare and Bohs to Meath.

[peadar1987]

32 counties – 32 teams – 2 divisions

Shamrock Rovers would be the Dublin team, St.Pats can go to Kildare and Bohs to Meath.

I hope you're not being serious! How exactly are Leitrim Celtic or Roscommon United supposed to compete with a Shamrock Rovers side with a supporter base of over a million?!

As for the other ideas:

Any league structure needs some sort of relegation system. People are going to get bored if every season is just a complicated test to see whether you finish either 15th or 16th. Relegation is crap, (I should know, Bray have already been relegated twice this season!), but you need it to keep the interest up and stop the league from stagnating. I'd agree that playing the same teams 4 times gets a bit boring, so the challenge is to find a system that has each team playing the others twice, but still allows for a second tier. Other than that, the exact number doesn't really matter

Getting rid of clubs isn't going to attract new supporters (I had to laugh at roinuj. Sporting Fingal have had a higher average attendance than Waterford this season, and UCD won the first division playing some great football. Hardly contributing nothing to the league!)

Other than that, I think the two key things about improving the league are as follows:

-Stability: The FAI have to work outa credible system of financial regulation, and enforce it strictly. Once clubs are no longer staggering from crisis to crisis, we can concentrate on building a support base

-Promotion: The league is not going to grow if we don't promote it. We need saturation advertising of it. Everyone should know who their local team is, when and where they are playing, and how they are doing. There should be posters up everywhere, and the clubs should be a visible presence in the community. A decent advertising campaign shouldn't cost more than a few hundred euro a week, and will definitely pull in more punters than an extra "barman"

[bishbash]

I think there can only be one division. to be honest the interest in the premier division was low so what chance has a division below it. The idea of an all Ireland league is really an intriguing one. the likes of a cork v linfield fixture in a league basis is an attrctive one or a glentoran v shamrock rovers. this type of league with with extensive media coverage could be an exciting prospect. the division itself could come under a different governing body, for example, the spl or the premier league.

[bennocelt]

.

As far as I'm concerned, its up to us who go to games to increase the attendance. I've brought many friends and family to games over the years, and its taken weeks of pestering to get them to go the first time. Most of them have been back and go to around 5 or 6 games a season, some of them even have season tickets now, and the ones who never came back again are in the minority.

Its the way to do it, if everyone brings a mate then your attendance has doubled. Granted it doesn't solve the wider licensing/structure issues but it must be accepted that the heart of all the wider problems lie in the fact that people don't go to matches.


yeah thats what I have done as well - brought at least 3 different people to LOI games this year and out of that 2 are now regular LOI fans, one getting a season ticket for next year as well!!(every little helps!)
When people experience the live game and the fun and the singing it def does give you a bug for more

[blackholesun]

Nice to see some good ideas on this thread.

But talk of games on Saturday or Sunday afternoons is crazy-talk. Saturday nights @ 7 has worked really well in Tallaght. It easy for people nearby to bring their kids along and its not too late getting home. Plus for older people, the game is over at 9, so still plenty of time to get back to the local or head out into town for the night. Plus Saturdays means its easy for away fans to come to the games which means a better atmosphere at the games.

I also think the league should consider a wildcard system where one club a year gets bumped up from the first division. This could not be given to teams just relegated so e.g. a club like Athlone who have done great work on the new ground should get bumped up for a year to give them a chance in the Premier in the new ground. Such a system would help ease the misery of being stuck in div1 for years and help reward clubs who are getting their acts together.

bhs

[Doomofman]

Definitely think the Saturday night matches would be a good idea... Although it could encourage drinking before game which could lead to increased crowd trouble but it would certainly help for away games.

[pineapple stu]

I like Friday matches; something to look forward to at the end of the working week. Also like taking half-days for away games; builds them up a little bit.

[kd16]

I agree about Friday games, I love looking forward to them all day, flying home from work, lashing is some dinner, grabbing the scraf and back out the door.

Having said I can't see that feeling being shared by the people we want to entice to the games.

[peadar1987]

I agree about Friday games, I love looking forward to them all day, flying home from work, lashing is some dinner, grabbing the scraf and back out the door.

Having said I can't see that feeling being shared by the people we want to entice to the games.

I like Friday games as well. Before I left Ireland, my dad worked evenings, and I was in college all day, so I'd rarely see him from Monday to Thursday. It was great to come home on a Friday, walk down to the Carlisle, order an Indian on the way there, and pick it up on the way back home. I'd look forward to it all week, quite apart from the pleasure of watching Bray play.

Anyway, sentimentality aside, I would have been to a lot less games had they been on Saturday afternoons, as I was playing my own sport every Saturday, often trekking half way across Leinster to do so. I'd say a lot of potential LOI fans would be in the same situation.

[BohDiddley]

Shamrock Rovers would be the Dublin team, St.Pats can go to Kildare and Bohs to Meath.

Cough.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs081.snc3/14835_1239801949043_1049102868_783961_1345037_n.jp g

[Riddickcule]

We have two seasons left with the current participation agreement, let that run it's course, if we nearly implode so be it.I'd rather have a league with history than starting afresh with franchises.
We can make it work, i might be going mad but the more i hear bad news the better it makes me feel, as long as the club doesn't bust i'm happy because i think we are slowly reaching the tip of the iceberg.

The next two seasons should be all about getting financial stability.The more we hear of Derry, Cork, Bohs etc. the bigger kick up the arse the clubs (should) be given.Most clubs are playing by the rules, Bray, Rovers, Sligo, St Pats to name but a few, i'd agree with Fran Gavin in saying that it's only a handful of folk that are bringing the league into disrepute.

In terms of a revised league format, i'd go for a 16 team PD, for 2010 and 2011.(the last two years of the Participation agreement)
It works a charm in Norway, which has relatively the same population.Next i would scrap the A Championship, bring the non-league clubs, Tralee, Carlow, Tullamore and Castlebar, Cobh and Kildare into the mix of the FD.
Heres the most unrealistic bit, i'd chuck Mervue and Salthill out of the Loi altogether, it's just not viable having 3 clubs in Galway.

2012 imo brings us to a crossroads, AIL or not? Platinum one AIL or FAI/IFA AIL? OR no AIL at all??

Sorry for being negative but in my view i don't like the idea of an AIL with seperate national teams.So if in the unlikely event that the FAI and the IFA were to merge, an AIL would be inevitable.

Pending we don't go AIL, i'd negotiate a new Participation Agreement with the FAI in 2012, the clubs can't run themselves, no argument there.
Most successful european leagues which we should look up to (Denmark, Norway, Sweden etc.) are all run by the respective national associations.

It would be like a clean slate, Hopefully by then the clubs will have copped on and we can move forward.I'd still have the 16 team PD with a 16 team FD bringing Portlaoise, Kilkenny, Clonmel and Mullingar into the fold.
I would switch back to a winter format (awaiting confrontation) with similar timeframe to England, Scotland etc.
However, my renewed k.o time would be 7.00pm, Saturday.With live games held on Sundays.
If the league is stable and transparent and hopefully the aul' economy will be back on track, clubs can be fit to apply for grants to improve Stadia/Training Facilities.
A new Marketing plan will have to be upheld, the one area which is a farce under FAI control.
A reasonable marketing budget eg. 1,000,000 euro, will be required to market this product properly.

As we are on a clean slate, a new and improved Broadcasting deal should be organised, by the Fai with consultation of the clubs.
The current tv fee's are paltry imo.



Theres only so much i can write, but this might only be the begining...

[Strongbow10]

Nice to see some good ideas on this thread.

But talk of games on Saturday or Sunday afternoons is crazy-talk. Saturday nights @ 7 has worked really well in Tallaght. It easy for people nearby to bring their kids along and its not too late getting home. Plus for older people, the game is over at 9, so still plenty of time to get back to the local or head out into town for the night. Plus Saturdays means its easy for away fans to come to the games which means a better atmosphere at the games.

I also think the league should consider a wildcard system where one club a year gets bumped up from the first division. This could not be given to teams just relegated so e.g. a club like Athlone who have done great work on the new ground should get bumped up for a year to give them a chance in the Premier in the new ground. Such a system would help ease the misery of being stuck in div1 for years and help reward clubs who are getting their acts together.

bhs

Ya wouldn't be from Athlone by any chance ?? :D

Athlone is a club with potential though, nice stadium and its a soccer town at heart. Premier division football would really attract big crowds in a town like Athlone.

[roinuj]

All clubs should be obliged to have ticket scanners and provide official, un-fudge-able attendance figures. No we do/we don't include season ticket holders. The FAI should either provide the facilities to do this or else incentivise it somehow.

This will prevent clubs saying they're getting 2,000 people through the gates when in reality they're only getting 1,500. They'll then be forced to budget accordingly for gate receipts.

just like sligo done against waterford.
saying there was only 4000 at the match when the dogs on the street knew there was at least 6000

[roinuj]

32 counties – 32 teams – 2 divisions

Shamrock Rovers would be the Dublin team, St.Pats can go to Kildare and Bohs to Meath.

rovers bohs and shels to merge as one and pats go to meath

[jebus]

2012 imo brings us to a crossroads, AIL or not? Platinum one AIL or FAI/IFA AIL? OR no AIL at all??


Maybe that's what the Mayans were on about :eek::eek:

[forza rovers]

get rid of the shower that run attempt to run it would be a start

[Scram]

I hope you're not being serious! How exactly are Leitrim Celtic or Roscommon United supposed to compete with a Shamrock Rovers side with a supporter base of over a million?!

As for the other ideas:

Any league structure needs some sort of relegation system. People are going to get bored if every season is just a complicated test to see whether you finish either 15th or 16th. Relegation is crap, (I should know, Bray have already been relegated twice this season!), but you need it to keep the interest up and stop the league from stagnating. I'd agree that playing the same teams 4 times gets a bit boring, so the challenge is to find a system that has each team playing the others twice, but still allows for a second tier. Other than that, the exact number doesn't really matter

Getting rid of clubs isn't going to attract new supporters (I had to laugh at roinuj. Sporting Fingal have had a higher average attendance than Waterford this season, and UCD won the first division playing some great football. Hardly contributing nothing to the league!)

Other than that, I think the two key things about improving the league are as follows:

-Stability: The FAI have to work outa credible system of financial regulation, and enforce it strictly. Once clubs are no longer staggering from crisis to crisis, we can concentrate on building a support base

-Promotion: The league is not going to grow if we don't promote it. We need saturation advertising of it. Everyone should know who their local team is, when and where they are playing, and how they are doing. There should be posters up everywhere, and the clubs should be a visible presence in the community. A decent advertising campaign shouldn't cost more than a few hundred euro a week, and will definitely pull in more punters than an extra "barman"

Not totally serious! :)

But you can see where I am coming from as regards support etc.

Much easier to get motivated if it was your county against another county as in the GAA. If you look at the EPL, Portsmouth, Hull etc. small enough places as far as I know but good lot of support and mainly from home grown fans i.e. as opposed to Man U whose Fans are from Essex and Dublin etc.!

I’m surprised actually that Cork City struggle because Cork people are fairly fanatic about anything with Cork in it.

[culloty82]

Any improvements have to be done by individual clubs in their own towns, one thing the English and Scottish clubs share with the GAA is that the teams are firmly rooted in the community. Set up club academies from U-6 to senior, the aim being that up to six players in the first XI would be from the area, with links to the local junior league also bringing in fresh talent. Players would coach in local schools, promote local companies, making clubs highly visible in return for strips being advertised in sports shops, help from councils and enterprise in developing grounds, etc. Nationally, the FAI need to do a high-profile TV ad campaign for the League, broadcasting deals with Setanta and Newstalk, maybe free entry to your local LoI ground when you buy an Ireland ticket. I'll admit half these ideas mightn't be realistic, just thought I'd add to the debate.

[peadar1987]

Not totally serious! :)

But you can see where I am coming from as regards support etc.

Much easier to get motivated if it was your county against another county as in the GAA. If you look at the EPL, Portsmouth, Hull etc. small enough places as far as I know but good lot of support and mainly from home grown fans i.e. as opposed to Man U whose Fans are from Essex and Dublin etc.!

I’m surprised actually that Cork City struggle because Cork people are fairly fanatic about anything with Cork in it.

You have a good point, but I can't see the rivalry between say, Clare and Louth being anywhere near as bitter as the rivalry between Northside and Southside Dublin, or the rivalry between Sporting Fingal and a real club! ;)

There's no need for Cork to struggle. AFAIK, they were getting great attendances until the series of financial crises destroyed their confidence in their club. I don't think it's really sold to them that much, either. If home games were all marketed as the chance to **** off Dublin people, there'd be far higher attendances!



Any improvements have to be done by individual clubs in their own towns, one thing the English and Scottish clubs share with the GAA is that the teams are firmly rooted in the community. Set up club academies from U-6 to senior, the aim being that up to six players in the first XI would be from the area, with links to the local junior league also bringing in fresh talent. Players would coach in local schools, promote local companies, making clubs highly visible in return for strips being advertised in sports shops, help from councils and enterprise in developing grounds, etc. Nationally, the FAI need to do a high-profile TV ad campaign for the League, broadcasting deals with Setanta and Newstalk, maybe free entry to your local LoI ground when you buy an Ireland ticket. I'll admit half these ideas mightn't be realistic, just thought I'd add to the debate.

All great ideas! I'd say send this to the FAI.

I'd love to see a really professional national advertising campaign along the lines of:

Dramatic or inspiring music
<<Celebrating crowd>>

Derry fan: "It's about waiting 4 months for the first game of the season"

<<Footage of a goal at the Brandywell>>

Bohs fan: "It's about 2 titles in a row"

<<Title celebrations>>

Shams fan: "It's about finally being home"

<<Shot of TCS looking not-at-all crap>>

Cork fan: "It's about sending them back to Dublin empty handed, boy"

<<Footage of Turners Cross crowd having a grand auld time>>

Voice-over: "The League of Ireland. It's about football"

Caption: To find your local club, visit www.loi.ie

You could get a little "It's about..." section from about 10 or 15 clubs, and chop them around, making different combinations, just to keep things more interesting. I think it'd be really good, and help out attendances a lot.

[dong]

I see some great ideas on here as always when this discussion comes up (every two weeks!)
The thing is, the FAI have neither the will nor the initiative to implement any of these. Guaranteed if you get on to the FAI about promotion of the league they will send you a nice polite e mail back, outlining what they are doing in this area and basically claiming that they can do no more.
Bowsie's point about eradicating all the balls ups in the first instance is a perfectly good one but the fact is the promotion of the league is way behind what it needs to be. Very frustrating.

[placid casual]

Cough.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs081.snc3/14835_1239801949043_1049102868_783961_1345037_n.jp g

You'd want to get something for that cough.
Can I suggest some sort of buy out for the last few bits of that ground of yours.
or you could get some benylin. special offer on in tesco's at the moment.;)

[irishultra]

great advertisement for bohs and bray there :D

well done lewis.

[brianw82]

Another thing that I feel needs to be brought in is points deductions for teams failing to pay players on a consistent basis. Maybe some sort of 3 strikes policy could be brought in here - it is the LOI after all, and 1 cancelled home game due to bad weather can leave clubs struggling for cash.
In a case like that, I wouldn't expect or demand points deductions, but in the cases of Cork and Derry this year, they deserve it for treating their players (and employees) like crap. Most teams were only playing players too much in order to get on-field success, so if the chances of that are scuppered by possible points deductions, it should theoretically prevent them from paying the stupid wages in the first place.

[hoops1]

Cough.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs081.snc3/14835_1239801949043_1049102868_783961_1345037_n.jp g

What city is that Chernobyl?

[galwayjames]

Cough.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs081.snc3/14835_1239801949043_1049102868_783961_1345037_n.jp g

Ok Liberty Hall and the Spire, but what is everything else? :confused:

[CSFShels]

One of the major things that can be done to improve the League of Ireland is stopping coming up with stupid reasons for the problems that have nothing to do with the problem. Going from 12 Premier teams to 10 didn't solve the problem, and you can bet your ass 10 to 16 won't solve the problem. The format of the league has nothing to do with the problem.

The country is in recession at the moment, and football clubs are being hit just like businesses throughout the country are being hit, companies going in to administration and liquidation everywhere, and a few clubs going the same way, very hard to maintain a decent cashflow at the moment.

On the plus side, what clubs everywhere should be doing, and I think in a large number of cases are doing, is getting their house in order, putting in systems in place to run a club in an efficient, cost-efficient manner, not blowing money chasing pipedreams, and investing in youth, both as players and fans.

Personally I believe that the LOI post-recession, will be a more stable 1 than pre-recession, thanks largely to the amount of work clubs have had to do to keep themselves above water during the recession.

[brianw82]

One of the major things that can be done to improve the League of Ireland is stopping coming up with stupid reasons for the problems that have nothing to do with the problem. Going from 12 Premier teams to 10 didn't solve the problem, and you can bet your ass 10 to 16 won't solve the problem. The format of the league has nothing to do with the problem.

The country is in recession at the moment, and football clubs are being hit just like businesses throughout the country are being hit, companies going in to administration and liquidation everywhere, and a few clubs going the same way, very hard to maintain a decent cashflow at the moment.

On the plus side, what clubs everywhere should be doing, and I think in a large number of cases are doing, is getting their house in order, putting in systems in place to run a club in an efficient, cost-efficient manner, not blowing money chasing pipedreams, and investing in youth, both as players and fans.

Personally I believe that the LOI post-recession, will be a more stable 1 than pre-recession, thanks largely to the amount of work clubs have had to do to keep themselves above water during the recession.

Fully agree. So many small things need to be fixed and tightened up first, before we talk about mass marketing campaigns and 16-team leagues.

I'm surprised that nobody saw fit to comment on my ticket scanning suggestion? (apart from a still annoyed roinuj, but he doesn't count)

[GUFCghost]

The smaller the league the better IMO,more competition.

[irishultra]

yeah for the players, makes no difference if your a fan and your seeing bohs vs bray 4 times a season.

[fionnsci]

One massive league would ruin football in this country imo. 7 games in it will become clear that only half the teams have anything left to play for. The gaps between top and bottom would be huge and would make it very hard for the bottom teams to drum up support. Luckily, the FAI know all this so this will not be done.

Basically we need to invest in facilities and then try and get a bandwagon effect going at the start of the season. Large marketing campaign, tv, radio, shopfronts, flags and banners in the towns, special deals on the first few games. It's then up to the club to make sure the crowds have a good time. Mascott and crap for the yougens, general good atmosphere around the ground (large, committed singing section) and entertaining football (a big ask I know).....

We have to get people in and do whatever we van to keep them coming back.