Why so few supporting Limerick in premier lge.

[sweeper]

With only 900 odd going through the turnstiles in the first home match off the season,aside from the markets field mess the question has to be asked why is there little appetite for premier soccer in Limerick,Limerick were years and years trying to get up there and fair play to Pat OSullivan he put his money where his mouth was and invested to get the team there,now that they are there people seem to be luke-warm in there support for them and with the budget cut for this year and the bad start looking like certin relegation,what does the future hold for limerick senior soccer and why are the supporters at the home of sport staying away.
I will throw my twopence worth into the mix and say Limericks push for underage silverware has made them enemy no.1 in the District schoolboy league,why dont they just put teams into the u19 league of Ireland and the upcoming u17s.A lot of senior teams dont put any underage teams into there local leagues and get great support from local clubs but Limerick has invested heavily in this area which has maddened the true Limerick soccer head and all involved in the local clubs,you will get the Sky Sports export on here saying his piece that they are entitled to enter bla bla bla,but you need the support of the whole soccer community to survive(bums on seats etc.)
I knew relations were a bit strained but talking to a few Club managers from the District lge lately i didnt realise how much clubs hate limerick fc.and would never support them,throw in the mix of Desmond lge clubs(which im involved) and Limerick County lge clubs and there outrage at the poaching of there players to the distruction of these leagues and ask why would these soccer heads ever support Limerick fc.I for one was a regular supporter of Limerick fc for years but cant bring myself to go in this year or last year for that matter,when will Pat OSullivan(who i have great time for)abandon the notion of underage triumph and get back to funding only league of Ireland teams(senior u17 u19) and let us all throw our support together for the better of senior soccer in the City.

[Lim till i die]

Crowds are crap because the team is crap.

[delboyderis]

If people came out in their numbers the team wouldnt be crap.you need people through the gates to get in the better players.no reason why limerick couldnt get a few thousand at home games.lame excuses all the time.

[delboyderis]

Cant see Limerick fc getting rid of their underage set up.why dont all the vested interests in soccer just sit around the table and sort it out once and for all.typical pig headed irish.

[Lim till i die]

I was simplifying cos the schoolboy thing is a red herring.

We'd nearly twice as many schoolboy teams the first year in thomond and crowds were a great success.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Alright, I've been guilty of this too, but I'm getting a little tired of this sort of thing on this forum. We all know what the problems are, most are fairly obvious and go far beyond underage teams, and we hardly need a another thread to list them all out again do we?

[delboyderis]

A lot of the threads to be honest are the same thing all the time and never result in anything concrete.its like this trust thing?i have been mentioning this for weeks and nobody seems to be willing to take the plunge.

[no17 fan]

Junior clubs take schoolboy soccer seriously often times more seriously than they take the junior sides within the club. This imo has very little to do with poor attendances, little to no advertising for games and the continued MF delays are bigger issues. The quality of football isn't a big draw either.

[ped_ped]

If people came out in their numbers the team wouldnt be crap.you need people through the gates to get in the better players.

Genius! Why did we never think of it before?

[delboyderis]

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit!:rolleyes:

[The Donie Forde]

Seems to me Limerick FC were essentially off the radar for about 20 years during which time Munster Rugby just exploded.
You can't expect that to change just because the team is back in the Premier Division.
Rugby became way more popular in Cork in the same period, but clearly not to the same degree.
Limerick is Rugbyland.

Plus, then, the hurling rises up sporadically. Tough job, trying to put the auld soccer on a firm footing on Shannonside.
Much like anywhere else.

[CraftyToePoke]

I will throw my twopence worth into the mix and say Limericks push for underage silverware has made them enemy no.1 in the District schoolboy league,why dont they just put teams into the u19 league of Ireland and the upcoming u17s.A lot of senior teams dont put any underage teams into there local leagues and get great support from local clubs but Limerick has invested heavily in this area which has maddened the true Limerick soccer head and all involved in the local clubs,you will get the Sky Sports export on here saying his piece that they are entitled to enter bla bla bla,but you need the support of the whole soccer community to survive(bums on seats etc.)
I knew relations were a bit strained but talking to a few Club managers from the District lge lately i didnt realise how much clubs hate limerick fc.and would never support them,throw in the mix of Desmond lge clubs(which im involved) and Limerick County lge clubs and there outrage at the poaching of there players to the distruction of these leagues and ask why would these soccer heads ever support Limerick fc.I for one was a regular supporter of Limerick fc for years but cant bring myself to go in this year or last year for that matter,when will Pat OSullivan(who i have great time for)abandon the notion of underage triumph and get back to funding only league of Ireland teams(senior u17 u19) and let us all throw our support together for the better of senior soccer in the City.

Well whatever criticisms can be leveled at the club of late, I cant see how offering the best youth of the region a pathway for progression if they are good enough can be one. And I do not see why anyone in their right mind, would stay away over them doing so. The local LOI side should be the first port of call for the better players around and if Limerick are offering better coaching from the ground up, which they seem to be, the earlier these lads are on board, surely the better. If people think a lad is better served playing Desmond underage if he is showing promise, than trying to improve himself & maybe earn a contract to play, then they are no supporters of anyone, just begrudgers.

This is not the reason, this is like saying people won't support until they are better, but despise the attempts to improve. To improve by harnessing the undoubted local talent around at that.

The reasons are all covered here, but the best cure would be a side competing and winning games regularly, the odd cup final, an eye on Europe now and again, with a sprinkling, ironically, of these local players having graduated into the first team. But in order for that to happen, they first have to play for the club.

[gael353]

Limericks push for underage silverware has made them enemy no.1 in the District schoolboy league,why dont they just put teams into the u19 league of Ireland and the upcoming u17s.A lot of senior teams dont put any underage teams into there local leagues and get great support from local clubs but Limerick has invested heavily in this area which has maddened the true Limerick soccer head and all involved in the local clubs,you will get the Sky Sports.

Sweeper, limerick did not want to go into schoolboy football. They made countless attempts at doing what other LOI clubs do and affiliate with schoolboy leagues but were rejected at every effort. Limerick have not invested heavily in their underage. 7s to 16s are financed by parents. So take that on board and repost with informed corrections

[NeverFeltBetter]

I think that the idea of eliminating the clubs entire underage structure to try and get a few more people in the gate - and it would just be a few - is not all that viable a suggestion. But this has all been said before.

[osarusan]

People now using the schoolboy excuse had another excuse before that one.

[Treaty Gooner]

The schoolboy stuff is crap, Limerick FC's bridges were burned years ago and unfortunately Limerick people have long memories... The next generation will only support the team if they're winning and the bandwagonners will follow. That said, I think the club are attracting better players to the underage setup, for whatever reason, there just hasn't been a knock on effect with attendances. 800-odd to a LOI game featuring the best side in the country and whatever pittance showed up last week when Pats came to town is shameful. Ger Finnan never really did it for me, but I got an email most weeks with an update and a poster for the next game and they were stuck up all over the county. Wouldn't cost a bean either.

[bluewhitearmy]

The schoolboy stuff is crap, Limerick FC's bridges were burned years ago and unfortunately Limerick people have long memories... The next generation will only support the team if they're winning and the bandwagonners will follow. That said, I think the club are attracting better players to the underage setup, for whatever reason, there just hasn't been a knock on effect with attendances. 800-odd to a LOI game featuring the best side in the country and whatever pittance showed up last week when Pats came to town is shameful. Ger Finnan never really did it for me, but I got an email most weeks with an update and a poster for the next game and they were stuck up all over the county. Wouldn't cost a bean either.


Only cost was that of printing the posters I remember for ages I used to call to club be given a huge pile of the posters and id spend a day or 2 driving all around the city out to Ennis, Newcastlewest and off in other directions and throw them up all over the place.

[Treaty Gooner]

Is it worth any of you 'in the knows' to say it to the club or to the many supporters clubs to send out a mailshot with a poster so at least there'd be some kind of marketing when there's a match?

[JosephMcSweeney]

I know at City, we're reaping the rewards now for a long-term policy of school/youth club/schoolboy-football engagement with tickets, etc. Having players playing for the youth teams and having all the team play against you know the club name is of more benefit than any withdrawal long-term. Throwing out free school-boy/girl tickets sometimes can be very helpful too even if at the time it might not feel like it. It's important people do the little bits they can, LOI has always and will always be a battle to survive but it can and will get better.

[sweeper]

Only cost was that of printing the posters I remember for ages I used to call to club be given a huge pile of the posters and id spend a day or 2 driving all around the city out to Ennis, Newcastlewest and off in other directions and throw them up all over the place.

Great man.