View Full Version : When Saturday Comes magazine
There's a full page on Dundalk's exploits in Europe in the latest When Saturday Comes, for those interested in that sort of thing (Feb 2017 issue with Man City on the cover)
BonnieShels
20/01/2017, 3:43 PM
Good shout. I buy it all the time when I think to. Defo buying it now.
The article was written by a regular contributor on here ! In fairness its an excellent magazine, been getting it for years.
pineapple stu
21/01/2017, 10:07 PM
I suspect the OP is aware of that. :)
I see the letters page includes a letter describing Ryle Nugent as "a weapons-grade gob****e"
Slightly surprised that made it past the censors, but kudos to them for it.
Gather round
22/01/2017, 9:23 AM
Good article Sean. Looking forward to the letters page now ;)
Had to laugh at the quote they decided to put in a text box: "Dundalk is as close as you get to a soccer heartland in a country notorious for it's contemptuous attitude to its domestic league"
Ezeikial
24/01/2017, 7:57 AM
Sligo fans might disagree
EatYerGreens
24/01/2017, 11:06 AM
In fairness, there are a couple of places in the country that could be described as 'soccer' heartlands, where football has traditionally been the main sport = Dundalk, Sligo, Athlone, Cobh.
Plus anywhere in the north that isn't rural
oriel
26/01/2017, 10:00 AM
I suspect the OP is aware of that. :)
I see the letters page includes a letter describing Ryle Nugent as "a weapons-grade gob****e"
Slightly surprised that made it past the censors, but kudos to them for it.
Brilliant, I missed that bit and only read it last night, kudos to both the writer and the editors ! Anyone who missed it, the letter basically said Nugent wanted Rugby, Rugby and more Rugby on RTE, which is not a lie.
Cuyahoga
09/07/2017, 11:02 AM
This month's When Saturday Comes magazine (August issue) has an article on League of Ireland
in their 'Season in Brief' column.
It covers the season of 2006 . It is an interesting read and worth buying .
Great stuff, I have it already, get it by post, saving it for holidays at the end of the month. They are more than decent with LOI articles, at least 2 per year.
Just as well they didn't feature 2007 season, and Maxi's antics at Merrion Square !
Calcio Jack
09/07/2017, 6:24 PM
Oriel I think an article about Maxi, Tom and other LOI 'characters ' would go down a treat in WSC - go in you know you want to write it
Not a bad idea, and that's one thing certainly not missing from the LOI, 'characters'
ToberonaTornado
09/07/2017, 7:16 PM
Loose definition of the term "loi character" if you're including Maxi.
AND.... The only person who could write an article about him would be.......Maxi.
Yeah,i cant stand the guy and neither can a lot of DFC fans.
thebronze14
10/07/2017, 11:13 AM
I get it every month..Have read most of it but didn't look to the end yet so that's a nice bonus...LOI gets some good coverage in it, fair play to the lad that contributes
I was walking to work in Dublin this am, dreadful wet morning, saw a Rovers fan with training jacket and carrying a black umbrella. Reminded me of 'umbrella man' anyone remember him, the Rovers fan who ran at Pats fans in Richmond on the pitch at least 10 years ago, brandishing the said article?
The gentlemen's game !
oriel
14/04/2018, 11:00 PM
Always a magazine worth buying, this months (May edition) has a feature on countries that switched to summer, and LOI gets a good plug as a success comparing our friends in the north as the opposite. I thought it was strange though they used a photo of Rovers in EL action in 2011 (P6 L6) as opposed to Dundalk in 2016 (P6 W1 D1) but anyway.
On the IL link, I was amazed to hear today on BBC NI that the Crusaders guy interviewed talking about 'training on tuesday night and BOTH training sessions next week' (they have 2 games left to win the league) now I know its part time, but I was thinking, 2 games to win it, would you not go full prep for the final run in and train every night for the last few weeks?
Dundalk are staying over in a hotel in Limerick on Mon night and we are not even close to half way, yes finances make it easier for things like this, but I just don't understand the lack of planning with the NI teams and this is the same club (Crusaders) who's manager missed not one but two CL qualifying matches as he was on holiday last few years.
The appetite in NI appears to be not to switch to summer football, we share the exact same climate, I think its a massive opportunity lost.
Charlie Darwin
15/04/2018, 1:31 AM
On the IL link, I was amazed to hear today on BBC NI that the Crusaders guy interviewed talking about 'training on tuesday night and BOTH training sessions next week' (they have 2 games left to win the league) now I know its part time, but I was thinking, 2 games to win it, would you not go full prep for the final run in and train every night for the last few weeks?
It's an amateur league. You're not going to get that sort of commitment from a squad outside Linfield. Even if the club wanted to do it you'd imagine there'll be a handful of guys who work evenings they're not in training, so you'd be working with a split squad, and that's assuming the manager doesn't have his own commitments to be able to do it. I think if it was a club down here it'd get done but it's a different culture in that league.
Nesta99
15/04/2018, 4:47 AM
If they did it in England, NI would hot foot it after. Sadly things dont happen in NI for the betterment of things but to make sure that they are not doing things differently from the rest of the UK (when it suits them).
Yeah its hard to see them moving away from the 3pm on a Saturday slot too, just seems so backward playing at that time in this day and age with so many other things going on. I remember well the 3.30 Sunday kick offs in the LOI (2.15 in winter for those with no lights) but now Sunday's are a total family day.
On the actual article itself, there is no way the NI teams will ever improve in europe if they don't change their set up, no reason a few of them couldn't take the lead on this and trial even 'part full time' , but maybe they budget for one round only in europe, they bizarely all seem very happy with the current scene up there, and as I said in previous post, I dont see an appetite for them to change seasons anytime soon.
pineapple stu
26/04/2018, 12:13 PM
Thought the article was a bit selective in its matches to back up the switch!
Linfield struggled against Sammarinese opposition - but no mention of Drogheda doing the same with a summer season.
Ballymena and Coleraine were easily beaten by Scandics this year - but no mention of Derry losing 10-2.
No mention either of a penalty being all to separate Cork and Linfield recently. And Georgian clubs' worst Euro campaign in years is portrayed as a positive.
And the article was almost entirely about Europe, but the mess that is the First Division is due in part to the short-sighted decision to create split seasons in Irish football and further alternate junior/intermediate football. A summer switch should be for all clubs or none I think. Not four.
There's undoubtedly arguments to be made for a switch. I just don't think the article touched on any tbh.
El-Pietro
26/04/2018, 12:32 PM
A penalty was all that separated us on the score sheet but if you watched those games you will realise that we completely dominated Linfield and pulled two of the greatest ever performances seen in an Irish League goalkeeper.
Straightstory
26/04/2018, 1:04 PM
Thought the article was a bit selective in its matches to back up the switch!
Linfield struggled against Sammarinese opposition - but no mention of Drogheda doing the same with a summer season.
By 'Sammarinese' I presume you mean Drogheda v Libertas? That was a 4-1 aggregate victory. I was at both games - they could have won by a lot more and were never in any danger of being eliminated. How was that in any way a 'struggle'?
EatYerGreens
26/04/2018, 1:14 PM
Yeah its hard to see them moving away from the 3pm on a Saturday slot too, just seems so backward playing at that time in this day and age with so many other things going on. I remember well the 3.30 Sunday kick offs in the LOI (2.15 in winter for those with no lights) but now Sunday's are a total family day.
On the actual article itself, there is no way the NI teams will ever improve in europe if they don't change their set up, no reason a few of them couldn't take the lead on this and trial even 'part full time' , but maybe they budget for one round only in europe, they bizarely all seem very happy with the current scene up there, and as I said in previous post, I dont see an appetite for them to change seasons anytime soon.
Football in the north is dominated by unionist folk - both in its administration and its support - and they tend not to like change.
They often complain about having to travel all the way to Derry and Fermanagh for games form Belfast FFS. One of the (many) reasons often heard against an all-island league from northern fans is the travelling that would be involved.
They'd rather have teams playing each other 5 times a season in a de-facto Belfast and District League than see any change that might require trading off mild inconvenience for major opportunity.
Though with the demographics continuing to change in NI (particularly in Belfast) it'll be interesting to see what happens to a league where almost every team is closely associated with a protestant identity/fanbase.
gufcfan
26/04/2018, 2:13 PM
They often complain about having to travel all the way to Derry and Fermanagh for games form Belfast FFS. One of the (many) reasons often heard against an all-island league from northern fans is the travelling that would be involved.
The longest trips in the IL are still shorter than Galway to Sligo.
EatYerGreens
26/04/2018, 4:09 PM
The longest trips in the IL are still shorter than Galway to Sligo.
There are trips in the LOI which are both much shorter and much longer than Galway to Sligo, plus the two teams aren't even in the same division. So I'm afraid I'm not getting your point here (apologies) ?
Charlie Darwin
26/04/2018, 4:21 PM
There are trips in the LOI which are both much shorter and much longer than Galway to Sligo, plus the two teams aren't even in the same division. So I'm afraid I'm not getting your point here (apologies) ?
The longest trips in the IL are shorter than the trip for what would be considered the closest thing for a derby to Galway. Can't be that much to get.
pineapple stu
26/04/2018, 4:25 PM
A penalty was all that separated us on the score sheet but if you watched those games you will realise that we completely dominated Linfield and pulled two of the greatest ever performances seen in an Irish League goalkeeper.
True - but isn't that part of the game?
By 'Sammarinese' I presume you mean Drogheda v Libertas? That was a 4-1 aggregate victory. I was at both games - they could have won by a lot more and were never in any danger of being eliminated. How was that in any way a 'struggle'?
Because Drogheda drew the away game and even at half-time in the home game, it was only 2-1 on aggregate.
You could argue that Drogheda ultimately cantered to a win, and you may well be right, but in that case, you have to acknowledge that, for example, La Fiorita didn't manage a single shot on target in Belfast.
That would bring us into slightly tedious semantics - but I think the point still stands that overall, the examples in the article didn't really back up the point made once you drilled into them.
Ultimately, the North is one-third the size of the South population-wise. Have we got three times the league? That's obviously a very nebulous question, but I'd say it's hard to argue that we do. Attendances here are not three times as big. We have no pyramid structure at all, and are really starting to suffer because of it. We're still more miss than hit in Europe (Pat's in Luxembourg and Rovers in Finland in 2016; Cork in Iceland and Pat's in Latvia in 2015, etc). I don't think we're really in a position to look down on the Irish League and say "If only they had summer soccer".
brendy_éire
27/04/2018, 12:21 PM
Football in the north is dominated by unionist folk - both in its administration and its support - and they tend not to like change.
They often complain about having to travel all the way to Derry and Fermanagh for games form Belfast FFS. One of the (many) reasons often heard against an all-island league from northern fans is the travelling that would be involved.
Sums it up nicely. Most fans I know, even if it would suit them better to have Friday night matches, would still rather stick with the Saturday at 3 o'clock because "tradition".
The travelling issue isn't just related to football, TBF. I'm generalising, but most fans from the greater Belfast area simply will not contemplate going to Derry or Ballinamallard for a match, "it's a good hour and a half away". They look at you like you're a man possessed when you tell them you're going from Derry to Dublin and back in the one night.
By the same token though, many of these people will rarely travel any outside the greater Belfast area, full stop. Flying from Dublin airport is a big deal, for example. Going to Cork is just unimaginable.
An all-Ireland will have to be driven by the Belfast-based clubs themselves, the fans won't be the ones to push it.
marinobohs
03/05/2018, 12:24 PM
Sums it up nicely. Most fans I know, even if it would suit them better to have Friday night matches, would still rather stick with the Saturday at 3 o'clock because "tradition".
The travelling issue isn't just related to football, TBF. I'm generalising, but most fans from the greater Belfast area simply will not contemplate going to Derry or Ballinamallard for a match, "it's a good hour and a half away". They look at you like you're a man possessed when you tell them you're going from Derry to Dublin and back in the one night.
By the same token though, many of these people will rarely travel any outside the greater Belfast area, full stop. Flying from Dublin airport is a big deal, for example. Going to Cork is just unimaginable.
An all-Ireland will have to be driven by the Belfast-based clubs themselves, the fans won't be the ones to push it.
An all Ireland league will only happen when it is financially attractive enough to get the clubs off their narrow vested self interests and is worth while halving the number of self important blazers in both FAI and IFA. Don't hold your breath.
EatYerGreens
03/05/2018, 1:27 PM
An all Ireland league will only happen when it is financially attractive enough to get the clubs off their narrow vested self interests and is worth while halving the number of self important blazers in both FAI and IFA. Don't hold your breath.
As happened in England, it will come about because the money offered for it is too good to refuse (credible money, that is)
The blazers would have to roll with it whether they liked it or not - especially in the north - as the biggest clubs would call the shots once good money was at stake. Otherwise the blazers would risk increasing irrelevance (who'd want to be the head of a football association that lost its main clubs ?).
As an aside, I see that Sky have lost the right to Italian football now - to add to their dwindling stable of high profile sports rights. I'm surprised they haven't made serious overtures to have a bit of LOI to fill their Summer schedule. They've been daft enough to show a few Irish league games live, and we've a better all-round product to offer.
marinobohs
04/05/2018, 11:23 AM
As happened in England, it will come about because the money offered for it is too good to refuse (credible money, that is)
The blazers would have to roll with it whether they liked it or not - especially in the north - as the biggest clubs would call the shots once good money was at stake. Otherwise the blazers would risk increasing irrelevance (who'd want to be the head of a football association that lost its main clubs ?).
As an aside, I see that Sky have lost the right to Italian football now - to add to their dwindling stable of high profile sports rights. I'm surprised they haven't made serious overtures to have a bit of LOI to fill their Summer schedule. They've been daft enough to show a few Irish league games live, and we've a better all-round product to offer.
LOI would be a good fit with SKY Sports as it would cover the summer (non EPL) time when many subscribers give up their SKY Sports package (until EPL starts in August). world Cup this year means there would be little interest from SKY but might be an option next year.
Not suggesting that LOI would ever capture the kind of numbers that tune in to the EPL but might generate a bit of interest for UK (and others) football junkies during the EPL offseason. if SKY brought 10% of their professional expertise to showing LOI it would be an improvement on current coverage.
redobit
04/05/2018, 12:00 PM
I have no doubt that travel would be a big issue for the Nordie teams. But it wont be the main concern for them when thinking about joining an AIL ... How many of the IL teams would make a real impact in an AIL, maybe a couple. The rest will be mid table or first division clubs, which means no competing for trophies or european spots. They will never agree to that, in fairness why would they.
EatYerGreens
04/05/2018, 12:37 PM
I have no doubt that travel would be a big issue for the Nordie teams. But it wont be the main concern for them when thinking about joining an AIL ... How many of the IL teams would make a real impact in an AIL, maybe a couple. The rest will be mid table or first division clubs, which means no competing for trophies or european spots. They will never agree to that, in fairness why would they.
It doesn't matter if the likes of Warrenpoint and Ballinamallard don't agree to it. All it takes is for the main clubs to do so - i.e. Linfield, Glentoran, Crusaders, Cliftonville, possibly also a few of the provincial clubs (Ballymena, Coleraine, Glenavon) and then probably Newry as well (for a variety of reasons).
Once it looks like just a few of the main clubs want to go into an AIL, the IFA will be forced to go along with it. That's exactly what happened in England re the Premier League. Money shifts the balance of power away form a football association and towards its member clubs - so once money is on the table, some of the bigger northern clubs will want to make the leap.
Even if Linfield weren't up for it, the Irish League with them but no Glentoran, Cliftonville etc would just be sh!t. So you could see them forced along by the tide as well.
Leaving the EU will complicate things a little on the ability of Northern teams to force the IFA's hand on this though. Its much easier to change footballing jurisdiction within the EU than it is outside it, due to Competition and Restraint of Trade Laws, and also a previous legal case in the UK High Court re the Welsh FA.
marinobohs
09/05/2018, 12:13 PM
It doesn't matter if the likes of Warrenpoint and Ballinamallard don't agree to it. All it takes is for the main clubs to do so - i.e. Linfield, Glentoran, Crusaders, Cliftonville, possibly also a few of the provincial clubs (Ballymena, Coleraine, Glenavon) and then probably Newry as well (for a variety of reasons).
Once it looks like just a few of the main clubs want to go into an AIL, the IFA will be forced to go along with it. That's exactly what happened in England re the Premier League. Money shifts the balance of power away form a football association and towards its member clubs - so once money is on the table, some of the bigger northern clubs will want to make the leap.
Even if Linfield weren't up for it, the Irish League with them but no Glentoran, Cliftonville etc would just be sh!t. So you could see them forced along by the tide as well.
Leaving the EU will complicate things a little on the ability of Northern teams to force the IFA's hand on this though. Its much easier to change footballing jurisdiction within the EU than it is outside it, due to Competition and Restraint of Trade Laws, and also a previous legal case in the UK High Court re the Welsh FA.
..Cue Roddy Collins appearing 'hello Guys I have a few investors..........'
Even if by some miracle there was an epiphany within the Irish League and northern Ireland in general and they suddenly became cosmopolitan outward looking progressives it would still be hard to see why the IL clubs would want to throw their lot in with the LoI. Finances alone would rule it out- we'd go from 8 extremely lucrative Euro spots to 4, four major trophies to two. That's ignoring the "cultural" issues. Like a united Ireland, we simply couldn't afford to carry the North.
No chance that the IL clubs would want to throw their lot in with the Southern league in my view. They pulled out of the Setanta Cup when they began to get regular beatings, and that's before you take any political/religious aspects into consideration. The one thing that might that change their mind is money( and I only say might) as EYG says. It's hard to see where that money might materialise from though. Even if Sky did want to get involved, I don't see them offering game changing money.
EatYerGreens
09/05/2018, 10:27 PM
I'd agree that there's a lot of inertia amongst Irish League clubs. But then again - decent-sized clubs like Glentoran and Portadown are achieving little in the Irish League, so may well feel therefore that there's little to lose in an AIL, and potentially much to gain. But it would all require a generous sponsor to appear to make it a goer.
As an aside - fro the first time in living memory, there is a genuine likelihood of a border poll (i.e. vote on Irish unity) within the next decade or so. Brexit and shifting demographics are combining to create an atmosphere where a border poll is being openly discussed as a genuine possibility and perhaps even an inevitability. Who knows how such a vote would conclude, but it could be that politics forces the issue of an AIL at some point anyway.
pineapple stu
19/12/2021, 4:28 PM
Another LoI feature in this month's issue - a two-page photo spread from Waterford v St Pats last month
Thanks Stu, used to get this on subscription but got bored with so much PL articles, bought this copy online now.
pineapple stu
24/11/2022, 8:05 AM
Two foot.ie posters feature this month - one looking at the first LoI First Division season, the other at Loughborough FC for some reason!
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