League of Ireland in Europe 2016

[fionnsci]

Hope tickets are sold logically. Poles based here should be able to buy tickets for the away section rather than have pockets of them everywhere among the Dundalk/LOI Alliance. I think the small end in the Aviva holds 5,000, surely they wouldn't need more than that? I assume tickets will be available online and not just in Dundalk and on the door. Looking forward to it anyway.

It's better off that it isn't Celtic. We'd be having "Celtic are British v Celtic are Irish" arguments for the next two weeks.

[GCdfc]

It's better off that it isn't Celtic. We'd be having "Celtic are British v Celtic are Irish" arguments for the next two weeks.

I was ready to hit the order button for my banner. :(

[Nugget]

Remembering the absolute hammerings they gave Pats and Celtic a couple of years back I'd expect Legia are decent favourites for this. Still a performance like the last day and Dundalk have a chance.

[Insidetherock]

Hope tickets are sold logically. Poles based here should be able to buy tickets for the away section rather than have pockets of them everywhere among the Dundalk/LOI Alliance. I think the small end in the Aviva holds 5,000, surely they wouldn't need more than that? I assume tickets will be available online and not just in Dundalk and on the door. Looking forward to it anyway.

It's better off that it isn't Celtic. We'd be having "Celtic are British v Celtic are Irish" arguments for the next two weeks.

They could segregate the way I seen it done back in Sweden in 1996..

I was working over there in Gothenburg, and Newcastle United were drawn to play Halmstad in the UEFA Cup, about an hour and a half away.. a pile of us Irish guys who were working there, went down to watch and on the approaches to the ground.. the stewards asked us in Swedish.. who you were supporting.. if you couldn't answer in Swedish, and we were English speaking of course, you were just directed into the Newcastle end away from the Swedish fans.. so we spent the game with about 3000 Geordies.. was great craic to be honest.

Only trouble we had, was over one of our lads wearing a red scarf peeping out over the top of his jacket.. a mad Geordie thought he was a Sunderland fan taking the ****.. turned out it was his Nottingham Forest scarf.. he was told take it off and hide it, before other Geordies got drunk.. and didn't bother to check

By feck did they hate Sunderland :)

Also went to see IFK Gothenburg beat AC Milan that year in the Ullevi.. that was a great IFK team.. was some athmosphere.

But the Swedes were funny.. me and the guy with the Forest scarf went alone to that.. and ended up with the IFK fans in the "quiet" section. Apparently they had the Ultras, who they called the Angelarna i.e. the Angels.. who made all the noise.. and the quiet fans who enjoyed watching the game and politely clapping.. me and Marcus were half drunk and cheering like maniacs.. the quiet fans thought we were a hoot.. we delighted to see us cheering their team on.. and brought us off drinking with them for nothing after the game..

Great nights we had in Sweden I tell you.

I'm just a small time a small time junior soccer fan here in Tipperary.. but I think I'll head up to the Aviva Wednesday week and cheer for Dundalk.. would be great to see Champions League soccer in Ireland

[nigel-harps1954]

Am not all that convinced it'll improve Galway's gate on Friday to be honest.

2,578 there tonight.

[El-Pietro]

Sounded very loud for the half hour I watched as well.

[Yossarian]

2,578 there tonight.

Good crowd there tonight alright, though it was helped by a lot of kids football teams. Is there a tournament on in Galway at the minute? Seemed to be clubs from all over the place.

[geysir]

Hope tickets are sold logically. Poles based here should be able to buy tickets for the away section rather than have pockets of them everywhere among the Dundalk/LOI Alliance. I think the small end in the Aviva holds 5,000, surely they wouldn't need more than that? I assume tickets will be available online and not just in Dundalk and on the door. Looking forward to it anyway.

It's better off that it isn't Celtic. We'd be having "Celtic are British v Celtic are Irish" arguments for the next two weeks.
Personally I couldn't care less about such discussions.
From a Dundalk perspective I think Celtic would have been much more preferable to Legia Warsaw, from a football perspective Celtic would have been a much less difficult opponent. The Dundalk players would have thrived in such a tie. I think Celtic are at a low ebb, in the beginning stages of a fundamental transition period, necessary because the 2015/16 celtic team were by far their poorest in modern times.

It's Legia Warsaw and I think it might well be favorable that the first game is at 'home'. By rights Bate should have scored one or two more in the first leg, Dundalk got out of that first leg lightly but now LW will be out of their comfort zone in the first leg and Dundalk with a huge crowd behind them might just gain an advantage.
There are reasons to be hopeful.

[Insidetherock]

Good crowd there tonight alright, though it was helped by a lot of kids football teams. Is there a tournament on in Galway at the minute? Seemed to be clubs from all over the place.

The Galway Cup is on ..

http://galway-cup.squarespace.com/#aboutthegalwaycup

[wonder88]

500 tickets were given to the kids teams I think. However the european story added about 800/900 to the gate tonight I say.

[gufcfan]

500 tickets were given to the kids teams I think. However the european story added about 800/900 to the gate tonight I say.

Teams were sold tickets, not given.

[RathfarnhamHoop]

500 tickets were given to the kids teams I think. However the european story added about 800/900 to the gate tonight I say.

They were offered a reduced price not free tickets as far as I know. Don't know how many took up the offer of the 40/50 teams there but i'd say 500 is about right

[Olander]

They were offered a reduced price not free tickets as far as I know. Don't know how many took up the offer of the 40/50 teams there but i'd say 500 is about right
I heard around 400+. Good initiative by the club and everybody seemed to enjoy their night, except for the healthy Dundalk travelling support.

[TheBoss]

When you look at the 5 possible opponents there is not a huge gulf between them. Some say its a good draw and others say bad draw but I think all 5 can be considered good and bad draws when actually analyzing them. For me, Dundalk would have a chance against all of the them. Before Wednesday's games, I was thinking if they avoid Olympiakos, then that would be a successful draw and since they were eliminated altogether gives me hope that Dundalk can actually do it but they need to at their very very best, which is a tough ask for a LOI team to do on a regular basis in European football.

If Dundalk do end up in the Europa League, you would want to hope that they avoid clashing with Manchester United's games, you would like the so called 'neutral fans' to have some reason to watch Dundalk's games and if that clash does happen it would obviously not help.

[Battery Rover]

Any word on when tickets go on sale and where online. Have a few people here in Limerick asking me looking to get on the bandwagon.

[paul_oshea]

How are dundalk only 5000/1 to win the champions league :D

[legendz]

I know it's not related but I found it interesting that Dundalk were getting good coverage after making the playoffs and then the GAA out of the blue announce an idea about a top 8 group stage.

Dundalk's and Cork's progress in Europe has been far more interesting than the GAA championships to date.

[disgruntled]

I know it's not related but I found it interesting that Dundalk were getting good coverage after making the playoffs and then the GAA out of the blue announce an idea about a top 8 group stage.

Dundalk's and Cork's progress in Europe has been far more interesting than the GAA championships to date.

Yes but the GAA always react quickly.
During the recent European Championships the GAA had their adverts showing during the ad breaks.
The GAA are always thinking ahead while the FAI just stand still.

[ger121]

Yes but the GAA always react quickly.
During the recent European Championships the GAA had their adverts showing during the ad breaks.
The GAA are always thinking ahead while the FAI just stand still.

They need to. The Championship is in decline yoy. The Provincials are a joke. Attendances are down, particularly in the Hurling. The GAA have been living off their reputation for too long and presuming the All Ireland takes care of itself. It does to an extent but that should never be taken for granted. They are lucky that the Association responsible for the most popular Sport in this Country are the real amateurs.

[legendz]

They need to. The Championship is in decline yoy. The Provincials are a joke. Attendances are down, particularly in the Hurling. The GAA have been living off their reputation for too long and presuming the All Ireland takes care of itself. It does to an extent but that should never be taken for granted. They are lucky that the Association responsible for the most popular Sport in this Country are the real amateurs.

The GAA championship has a poor format. Over 2 months of action before it gets interesting for 6 weeks.

The majority on here within LoI circles probably can't relate to the fact that the LoI lacks a national vibrancy. An intermediary league is the solution. Some within the league have called for a reserve league. Enough said.

[sadloserkid]

An intermediary league is the solution. Some within the league have called for a reserve league. Enough said.

Enough said as in there will be no need to say it again? :D

[legendz]

Enough said as in there will be no need to say it again? :D
Ah no! I will keep banging on about it. ;)

[Nesta99]

They need to. The Championship is in decline yoy. The Provincials are a joke. Attendances are down, particularly in the Hurling. The GAA have been living off their reputation for too long and presuming the All Ireland takes care of itself. It does to an extent but that should never be taken for granted. They are lucky that the Association responsible for the most popular Sport in this Country are the real amateurs.

Nearly snorted my mouthful of tea reading that:D

It is true though that Gaelic Games is suffering at the moment. I used to take a passive interest every summer and even go to the odd game in Dublin/Navan or the like. I have no idea what stage the competitions are at currently other than to guess that Dublin, Kerry, Donegal, Mayo are probably the last 4 in football and Kilkenny, Tipperary, Galway and one of the others of Clare, Wexfford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick are left in the Hurling. It's about as interesting as the SPL....

[wonder88]

The GAA managed to get 120k to go to Croker this weekend, and there will be 70-80k attendance at the two hurling semi-finals next week. The Gaelic championships, and games in general have their problems but lets keep it a bit realistic here folks.

[legendz]

The GAA managed to get 120k to go to Croker this weekend, and there will be 70-80k attendance at the two hurling semi-finals next week. The Gaelic championships, and games in general have their problems but lets keep it a bit realistic here folks.

Dublin were in Croke Park yesterday. The double header led to the first full house. 35k for today's hurling semi-final was low for that stage. The replay and other semi-final will help a bigger crowd. You're right to bring that realism though. It's a relative decline in GAA terms but still decent attendances.

[Pablo Escobar]

They need to. The Championship is in decline yoy. The Provincials are a joke. Attendances are down, particularly in the Hurling. The GAA have been living off their reputation for too long and presuming the All Ireland takes care of itself. It does to an extent but that should never be taken for granted. They are lucky that the Association responsible for the most popular Sport in this Country are the real amateurs.
Cork GAA are doing a fine job at aiding this decline. Allied with Munster Rugby basically being a Limerick thing now, we have a huge catchment of people with nobody to support......except us......which is great tbh!

[White Horse]

What is this "Gaelic Football" you are talking about.

The next time they have a world cup for it, I'll check it out.

[ger121]

What is this "Gaelic Football" you are talking about.

The next time they have a world cup for it, I'll check it out.

I always find it ironic that the media (and many non Football people) refer to the game played far less with your feet as Football and the game played predominantly with your feet as Soccer. Growing up it was Football and Gaelic Football. Somewhere in the mid to late 90s that abomination of a word started to be the De Facto name for Football. When did we decide to be like the Yanks and the Aussies? I blame USA 94 personally.

[Yossarian]

I always find it ironic that the media (and many non Football people) refer to the game played far less with your feet as Football and the game played predominantly with your feet as Soccer. Growing up it was Football and Gaelic Football. Somewhere in the mid to late 90s that abomination of a word started to be the De Facto name for Football. When did we decide to be like the Yanks and the Aussies? I blame USA 94 personally.

I'm not a fan of the word soccer but it was originally used in the late 19th century as an abbreviation for Association Football. I call it football anyway, and just Gaelic for the other.

[ger121]

I'm not a fan of the word soccer but it was originally used in the late 19th century as an abbreviation for Association Football. I call it football anyway, and just Gaelic for the other.

I know of the origins of the word but how it became to be so widely used, so quickly in modern lexicon is a strange one.

[TonyD]

How are dundalk only 5000/1 to win the champions league :D

Weren't they Leicesters odds to win the Premier league in England last season ?

[legendz]

Are Dundalk paying a fee for the use of the Aviva Stadium? If so roughly how much? Is there any indication on ticket sales on the crowd they are expecting?

[colonelwest]

FAI said they're facilitating the match at Landsdowne at no cost to the club so presumably they're getting it for nowt which is fantastic. Sometimes they do look after the clubs, rare as it may be. Interesting to know what the attendance would have to be to break even, it's usually about 35-40% of capacity. As for ticket sales I've not heard anything about them even going on sale yet, I'd expect to get 15k if not more there given our support/ other LOI fans/ bandwagon hoppers and the local Polish contingent heading as well, there's been a lot of interest/ enquiries from them.

[Yossarian]

FAI said they're facilitating the match at Landsdowne at no cost to the club so presumably they're getting it for nowt which is fantastic.

What they said was the FAI will not benefit financially not that it won't cost the club anything. I have heard it is a six figure sum and that will cover the running of the whole event.

[White Horse]

What they said was the FAI will not benefit financially not that it won't cost the club anything. I have heard it is a six figure sum and that will cover the running of the whole event.

Yeah, apparently we're getting it at "cost". The FAI will not lose a penny on this, you can be sure of that.

[gufcfan]

Yeah, apparently we're getting it at "cost".

When asked about their costs, the FAI will of course provide details of that.

They're basically trying to get a pat on the back for something they should be doing already at an absolute minimum.

[White Horse]

When asked about their costs, the FAI will of course provide details of that.

Oh yeah, we'll get a full itemised and costed analysis ;)

They have us over a barrel. We need their help. We have to use the Aviva, and there is no way we could organise such a large event in a big stadium.

[jinxy lilywhite]

Is that not what they are there for? We don't and no league of Ireland club have the capability of hosting these types of matches in their current standing. No game in the country has had such a wide media audience even such a stringent list of terms and conditions. Per commercial deals even international matches arent up to suvh stringent guidelines.
The administration staff in dfc don't have the previous experience of this. The fai do with internationals and that.
If they werent in a position to assist us the. UEFA would penalise the Fai or not look to favourable to honest John when he is looking for some help.

Afaik dfc haven't been told of the cost yet one of the main delays is pricing of the match. According to the suits it needs to be in various categories which is CL criteria

[KianD]

Hope tickets are sold logically. Poles based here should be able to buy tickets for the away section rather than have pockets of them everywhere among the Dundalk/LOI Alliance. I think the small end in the Aviva holds 5,000, surely they wouldn't need more than that? I assume tickets will be available online and not just in Dundalk and on the door. Looking forward to it anyway.

It's better off that it isn't Celtic. We'd be having "Celtic are British v Celtic are Irish" arguments for the next two weeks.

There are plenty of Poles here that are Anyone But Legia - ended up watching the Pats Tallaght game with a few of them in Tom Taveys in Inchicore!

[fionnsci]

By all means let them in with the masses! Don't want to segregate on basis of nationality but in terms of team they're up for. Any word on tickets yet?

[colonelwest]

Announced this afternoon Eir Sports are covering both legs of the Dundalk/ Legia game, fair play to them.

Yet again the national broadcaster couldn't give a fiddlers about the domestic game bar what they are begrudgingly contractually obliged to do. I'm sure their head of sport will ensure the ladies under 12s rugby sevens will all be shown though.

[Philosophizer]

Fair play to Eir though. I hope they keep it up and become the unofficial home of the LOI on telly.

[nigel-harps1954]

Fair play to Eir though. I hope they keep it up and become the unofficial home of the LOI on telly.

Personally, I hope they become free to air on Saorview.

[oriel]

Announced this afternoon Eir Sports are covering both legs of the Dundalk/ Legia game, fair play to them.

Yet again the national broadcaster couldn't give a fiddlers about the domestic game bar what they are begrudgingly contractually obliged to do. I'm sure their head of sport will ensure the ladies under 12s rugby sevens will all be shown though.


Pretty sure it was confirmed on Soccer Republic last night that rte are showing the first leg, and also heard that tv3 are showing the away leg.

[gufcfan]

Eir Sport are actually showing them (https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/763021061780807680)

[colonelwest]

Pretty sure it was confirmed on Soccer Republic last night that rte are showing the first leg, and also heard that tv3 are showing the away leg.

I heard that myself but haven't watched this weeks episode bar the Kerr/ Gavin spot. Far as is known from the playoff round the proper UEFA tv deal kicks in and they're obliged to show the team from their nation unless another broadcaster picks it up which might have happened here. I can't see Eir paying for the rights only for RTE/ TV3 to show it as well on free to air tv, although it did say BT Sport 3 for the channel so unless they're advertising the UK coverage and RTE/ TV3 are showing the Weds/ Tues.

[oriel]

Eir Sport are actually showing them (https://twitter.com/eirSport/status/763021061780807680)

I see that now, and that's clear on that link. I wonder why soccer rep mentioned rte would be showing it, why would both want to show it live?

[pineapple stu]

Do eir want to show it but RTÉ have to show it?

That's all I can think of - though it doesn't make much sense.

[TheBoss]

Just for clarification, the matches for the Play-off Round are all shown live on BT Sport as they have the exclusive rights for the Champions League from that stage onwards, so these 2 matches against Legia were always going to shown by them whatever, either via the Red Button or shown on one of their channels. Hence the wording, "Delighted to confirm".

[ToberonaTornado]

Dundalk announce tix details for v Legia

http://www.dundalkfc.com/dundalk-fc-v-legia-warsaw-ticket-details/

Ticketmaster:
http://www.ticketmaster.ie/event/18005108C3E03741?tmid=18005108C3E03741&tmid=18005108C3E03741