2012 First Division structure?

[El-Pietro]

i dont see Salthill ever getting crowds. they play in the absolute middle of nowhere. its really hard to find and harder still to get to

[legendz]

There's a place for any club as long as they have their house on order. Surely if a club can't compete financially against other clubs in terms of attracting players, they can work in other areas like player development, and as long as they have their house in order as said, possibly even make money from some talent that might move on to other clubs. What's the population of Salthill? Less than Cobh? There's still no reason for these clubs not to be involved. League places aren't determined by population size, as good as it might be in some areas to see a region have a club in the league.

[El-Pietro]

There's a place for any club as long as they have their house on order. Surely if a club can't compete financially against other clubs in terms of attracting players, they can work in other areas like player development, and as long as they have their house in order as said, possibly even make money from some talent that might move on to other clubs. What's the population of Salthill? Less than Cobh? There's still no reason for these clubs not to be involved. League places aren't determined by population size, as good as it might be in some areas to see a region have a club in the league.
im not saying theyt shouldnt be involved, im saying they wont ever pull crowds, they arent ever going to make much progress. they have fantastic facilities, but they need at last something resembling a stand

its clear you havent been there, it is literally in the middle of nowhere. they dont even play in salthill - you cant understand how isolated they are until youve gotten lost on the country roads surrounding their ground

[El-Pietro]

also i never mentioned population, you brought that in.

[Lim till i die]

Looking more and more like a ten team division.

That FC Galway Foras thingy wont fly.

I just hope we get an inkling sometime before Febuary but if I was guessing I'd go:

Athlone
Carlow
Harps
Limerick
Longford
Mervue
Salthill
Tralee
Waterford
Wexford

And I'd expect us to be winning that by at least a dozen points.

Only question marks I'd have on that list would be are Wexford gonna be around and if Bray go tits up will the FAI put us up or fudge Waterford up.

[geezer]

[QUOTE=Lim till i die;1560363]Looking more and more like a ten team division.

That FC Galway Foras thingy wont fly.
thanks for the confidence boost,
If any others go tits up from the premier its Lims will go up if ready

btw Its Galway United Supporters Trust FC, We would happily take a further ten point punishment for the previous mess

There was more at tonights public meeting in the Claddagh hall that would attend a lot of first division games put together. The decision will be the fai,s at the end of the day, But great to see national, local politicians,the Mayor of County Galway no less, letters of support from major sponsors, letters from previous players, attendance of Morning Ireland reporter, TV cameras, and many faces from all over Galway, Junior clubs from the city and county and representatives from the Local FA.

Positive display and there are not many places where the League Of Ireland was being promoted on the streets as yesterday in the centre of Galway where nearly 1000 signatures were gathered in support of our licence application. We have stadia, investment (gust put in €107000 in ten months this season), training facilities, management team, Major support of previous sponsors, and commercial team in place and the support of Supporters Direct

It wont be easy but it will be fought for its all we can do

[culloty82]

Reported in Saturday's Evening Echo that Cobh have come to an agreement with the FAI which settles their outstanding debts - suddenly their First Division prospects look much brighter.

[adamd164]

Is it definite that Cobh have applied for a license though, where has this been confirmed? (Apologies if I've missed it).

A friend who supports them told me they weren't going to apply.

[culloty82]

In the same article, one of the Cobh officials said that their "future in senior football had been secured", and if they didn't apply for a licence, their only other option would have been the MSL, one would have thought.

[Lim till i die]

thanks for the confidence boost,

I wasn't having a pop as such.

It's just I'm sure you saw the bould Fran in the papers the other week questioning the viability of three Galway clubs at a time when I assume he would have known well the craic with United.

[born2bwild]

i dont see Salthill ever getting crowds. they play in the absolute middle of nowhere. its really hard to find and harder still to get to
It's pretty hard to get out of, too. Feckin pterodactyls ate all my breadcrumbs and I only got out by chance when I found a trans-dimensional portal back to Dublin through a Sile na Gig's gowl.

[passerrby]

Is gathering signatures a licensing requirement??

[Mr A]

Cobh pay off tax debt. (http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7177/) Does not explicitly say they have applied.

[blue til i die]

Cobh pay off tax debt. (http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7177/) Does not explicitly say they have applied.

They have applied for a first division licence.

[exiled_gufc_fan]

Is gathering signatures a licensing requirement??

It's the austerity version of a DVD :p

[Terry]

rumour has it that mervue (my local housing estate club) are having some financial diffculties. My nephews yearly membership has gone up to E150 from the E50 he had to pay last year.

[gufcfan]

rumour has it that mervue (my local housing estate club) are having some financial diffculties. My nephews yearly membership has gone up to E150 from the E50 he had to pay last year.
That's terrible. People were having problems paying the membership last year, as it had gone up from previous years. People with a few kids might find it very very hard to find that money.

Hard questions will have to be asked eventually. Maybe they'll trod on this year, but with this recession it will certainly become more of a problem as time goes by.

[Jofspring]

rumour has it that mervue (my local housing estate club) are having some financial diffculties. My nephews yearly membership has gone up to E150 from the E50 he had to pay last year.

Thought Mervue where looking to build a stand though. Maybe the higher membership was agreed on at the AGM to fund this.

Aisling Annacotty in Limerick upped their membership for 1 year to 200 euro as a once off as far as I know to help fund the new state of the art astro turf they got installed.

[geezer]

rumour has it that mervue (my local housing estate club) are having some financial diffculties. My nephews yearly membership has gone up to E150 from the E50 he had to pay last year.

Like any club they are looking at a different scenario than some years back, They have a strong lotto, work with parents re payments and are not hundreds of thousands in the red like us.

[gufcfan]

Thought Mervue where looking to build a stand though.
I have no more info than you, but I'll just say that it is not unknown for clubs to pretend they are going to do something for the sake of getting a license.

[passerrby]

I have no more info than you, but I'll just say that it is not unknown for clubs to
pretend they are going to do something for the sake of getting license. do ya reckon

[gufc2000]

Salthill Devon have appointed a new manager today, so it looks like they'll be hanging around for another while

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/7186/salthill-devon-appoint-new-head-coach/

[culloty82]

The First Division teams will be announced on January 19th, according to the latest Kerryman article on Tralee's application.

[gufc2000]

GUST are meeting the FAI again today, according to the Indo.

EDIT: Meeting deferred

[nigel-harps1954]

The First Division teams will be announced on January 19th, according to the latest Kerryman article on Tralee's application.

Hope you're right...else you'll be getting a slap.

[culloty82]

Hope you're right...else you'll be getting a slap.

Details here. (http://www.kerryman.ie/sport/soccer/dday-dawning-for-dynamos-2979337.html)

[Olander]

Details here. (http://www.kerryman.ie/sport/soccer/dday-dawning-for-dynamos-2979337.html)Just curious, I remember our licence application was rejected last season around the 14-15th of February. How can the FAI announce who is in the First Division on the 19th of January without teams knowing if they have been awarded a licence or not???

[bluewhitearmy]

Just curious, I remember our licence application was rejected last season around the 14-15th of February. How can the FAI announce who is in the First Division on the 19th of January without teams knowing if they have been awarded a licence or not???

Give out the licences earlier then last year like they should be doing.

[Olander]

Give out the licences earlier then last year like they should be doing.
Ah, so the only change is that they're awarding licences a month earlier basically?

[culloty82]

I'd imagine it's like the current Premier Division situation, the FAI saying "We recommend these clubs play in the First Division, subject to licencing approval next month".

[Trainee]

If rumors are true about GUST it must be a 10 team first div.

You have the 8 teams + looks like tralee will make it 9 teams, so it looks like its either Cobh or Carlow for the last spot

[CSFShels]

FAI have shown they've no problem going with the 11 team league.

[culloty82]

Cobh look to have clinched their place since before Christmas, Tralee and Carlow have ground issues, but both look more likely than not to make it at least 11 teams.

[gufcfan]

Cobh look to have clinched their place since before Christmas, Tralee and Carlow have ground issues, but both look more likely than not to make it 11 teams.
Tralee and Carlow have no ground issues if Mervue and Devon can use fields with wood fences around them.

[Jofspring]

And hopefully Carlow go ahead and use Buckley Park.

[citybone]

And hopefully Carlow go ahead and use Buckley Park.

not good for their support but it would be good to use that ground alright

[gormacha]

And hopefully Carlow go ahead and use Buckley Park.

Are there any Carlow peeps on here?

If so, do you think the move to Buckley Park will happen? And what do you think of the move?

[culloty82]

JC GUFC usually gives any updates on Carlow, haven't seen many more of their fans here, but maybe he'll know better.

[gufc2000]

gufc2000 usually gives any updates on Carlow, haven't seen many more of their fans here, but maybe he'll know better.
Do I? Think you may be mixing me up with someone else!

[culloty82]

Yeah, he'd a very similar name, hence the confusion, hasn't been around since the A Championship finished though.

[gormacha]

Yeah, he'd a very similar name, hence the confusion, hasn't been around since the A Championship finished though.

Perhaps the absence of any supporters on here suggests it doesn't matter where they play.

Said somewhat tongue-in-cheek of course. Given our attendances by the back end of last season, I shouldn't be throwing stones from my particular glass house. I swear I heard an echo in the home game against Mervue.

[ahmcd]

I'm hearing that Carlow have been granted a First Division licence on the condition that they play in Buckley Park.

[qwertyger]

Tralee and Carlow have no ground issues if Mervue and Devon can use fields with wood fences around them.

Funny how Galway Utd/Gust Utd fans keep insulting Mervue's and Salthill's ground when they have never even owed their own ground and only ever rented Terryland. Having visited Fahy's Field and Drom for underage games I know that their pitches are far from fields and are excellent playing surfaces.

[Mr A]

True. But in terms of spectator (and indeed press) facilities there is very, very little, and whether you own your ground or not does not impact on licensing to any great extent.

[Schumi]

Funny how Galway Utd/Gust Utd fans keep insulting Mervue's and Salthill's ground when they have never even owed their own ground and only ever rented Terryland. What's wrong with renting a ground? Of all the things to criticise Galway over, ground ownership is a long way down the list.

[gufcfan]

I'm hearing that Carlow have been granted a First Division licence on the condition that they play in Buckley Park.
If FC Carlow have a pitch and dressing rooms, I can't see how they should be treated differently to other clubs that don't satisfy ground requirements.


Funny how Galway Utd/Gust Utd fans keep insulting Mervue's and Salthill's ground when they have never even owed their own ground and only ever rented Terryland. Having visited Fahy's Field and Drom for underage games I know that their pitches are far from fields and are excellent playing surfaces.
A nice pitch won't stop you from getting pneumonia in the wind and rain.

Terryland Park is held in trust, for the benefit of football in Galway. The Galway FA have stated that GUST will always be welcome at Terryland Park. The rent paid on Terryland Park goes towards developing local football. No GUST FC / GUFC would mean that rental income and the % of ground advertising also paid to the local FA, would be lost. When Galway United were ignoring the Galway FA and not paying their rent, GUST were paying what they could to them and worked with them to clear arrears even before they took over the day-to-day running of the club last February.

There would be no Terryland Park without Galway United. The grants allocated to develop it into what it is now, unfinished as it is, would never have been given if the only people using it were junior clubs and representative teams.

Had Terryland been owned by GUFC it would have been sold years ago and if not, Nick Leeson would have found some way to... well I better not finish that sentence.

[culloty82]

Playing in Kilkenny will make it difficult for Carlow, but the area at least has a good soccer tradition, and if everything else is above board, they'll be very competitive in the First Division. The Just Follow The Floodlights page thinks Salthill may be pulling out?

[historynut]

Personally all for election of FC Carlow, but to play out of Kilkenny ? Might as well re-elect Kilkenny City.
If this condition goes ahead would it not be Carlow's interest to consider a name change to appeal to a wider audience ? South Leinster FC anyone.

[Sam_Heggy]

Fanad officials claiming they were accepted into the 1st Division but turned it down due to the amount of travel that will be involved.
Surely they would have known/had a fair idea of the sides that will be involved in the 1st Div this season?

[Jofspring]

Fanad officials claiming they were accepted into the 1st Division but turned it down due to the amount of travel that will be involved.
Surely they would have known/had a fair idea of the sides that will be involved in the 1st Div this season?

Ya its been clear since the start of November that most teams would be from the south of the country. They must have looked into costs since and not found it worth it.