New crossborder tournament: Unite the Union Champions Cup

[osarusan]

https://www.sseairtricityleague.ie/news/introducing-the-unite-the-union-champions-cup-/id-2602


The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and Irish Football Association (IFA) have announced the creation of a new cross-border tournament - the Unite the Union Champions Cup.

Sponsored by the trade union Unite, the competition will see the SSE Airtricity League Champions play the winners of the Danske Bank Premiership in a two-legged final.

The first edition of the competition will take place in November 2019 and will be formally launched at the Unite union’s Fifth Irish Policy Conference in Malahide on Monday May 13.

Unite have signed a three-year deal to sponsor the cross-border tournament with €50,000 set to go to the winners, €25,000 for the runners-up and a further €25,000 ring-fenced for community-based projects in the competing team’s local areas.

A kind of Setanta-lite I suppose. Weird name for it, and weird sponsor for it. I wonder how long it will last.

Not bad prize money for a one off tie though.

[El-Pietro]

That is the worst name for a tournament I've ever heard. What Union?

[brendy_éire]

That is the worst name for a tournament I've ever heard. What Union?

Sponsored by trade union Unite.
Dreadful name and horrible, amateurish branding.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Awkward name - why not just the "Unite Cup"? - but good to see some kind of cross-border competition return. Hopefully it becomes a solid tradition, and doesn't mutate out of control like the Setanta Sports Cup did. Maybe include the primary cup winners if it's an initial success, but let's avoid a return to the days when half the Premier Division was involved.

[Dalymountrower]

Awkward name - why not just the "Unite Cup"? - but good to see some kind of cross-border competition return. Hopefully it becomes a solid tradition, and doesn't mutate out of control like the Setanta Sports Cup did. Maybe include the primary cup winners if it's an initial success, but let's avoid a return to the days when half the Premier Division was involved.
Bizarre branding, using the words " Union" and "Unite" in a north/south context is beyond Waterford Whisper.
Pity that the Setanta model hasn`t been kept.

[ToberonaTornado]

Bizarre branding, using the words " Union" and "Unite" in a north/south context is beyond Waterford Whisper.
Pity that the Setanta model hasn`t been kept.
What part of the Setanta would you keep?
Teams playing 4/5/6 games for frigg all.
It's a poorly named comp is all.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

The rich get richer

[Dalymountrower]

What part of the Setanta would you keep?
Teams playing 4/5/6 games for frigg all.
It's a poorly named comp is all.
The building up relationships with northern clubs part. If they at least had top two in both leagues and then a final, it would give more opportunities for contact..

[Nesta99]

The rich get richer

Meh! 50k would barely pay for branded seats at some club with millionaire owners...

[EatYerGreens]

Bizarre branding, using the words " Union" and "Unite" in a north/south context is beyond Waterford Whisper.
Pity that the Setanta model hasn`t been kept.

It is a terrible name for a tournament. But the problem is that Unite's name is 'Unite - The Union'.

[ger121]

Meh! 50k would barely pay for branded seats at some club with millionaire owners...

Might pay for wet gear under seats in the away end?

[Nesta99]

Might pay for wet gear under seats in the away end?

Oh the home end! or bring yer own ;p

[pineapple stu]

Bit strange for a union to be engaged in sponsorship? What's in it for them and their members?

[NeverFeltBetter]

I'm struggling to think of one beyond "Good PR". Has Unite ever expressed a position on Irish reunification? Sponsoring cross-border competitions might be part of that.

[redarmyfaction]

Bit strange for a union to be engaged in sponsorship? What's in it for them and their members?

They are a UK Union but are organised in the ROI too, like any other business they are looking for customers and this allows them to emphasise their cross border nature.

The organisation is called Unite the Union not Unite so that is why the cup is called the name it is

[Park_Lane]

Mickey Mouse time of year to have it, season be over and all LOI players want to do is head off on holidays.

[Fester]

Nice money earner for whomever wins the league, terrible name for it...

[Nesta99]

Mickey Mouse time of year to have it, season be over and all LOI players want to do is head off on holidays.

Have you already forgotten playing in the group stages in Europe? Assuming thats a real ambition for clubs that get in to Europe this could be a handy fixture to have before the final group game.

[pineapple stu]

They are a UK Union but are organised in the ROI too, like any other business they are looking for customers and this allows them to emphasise their cross border nature.
Trade unions don't really advertise as such though - so they're not quite like any other business.

I know this is a bigger/more general union than most, but generally TU membership tends to be related to the sector you're in, and the shop steward sorts you out if you want. So advertising on this scale would be a bit of a waste I would have thought.

[marinobohs]

Trade unions don't really advertise as such though - so they're not quite like any other business.

I know this is a bigger/more general union than most, but generally TU membership tends to be related to the sector you're in, and the shop steward sorts you out if you want. So advertising on this scale would be a bit of a waste I would have thought.

UNITE the Union (the name was introduced when a couple of unions joined together some years back) is a UK union that also operates an Irish division (Irish division organizes north and south).The union has tended to be involved in a number of community (sometimes political) issues beyond the usual union activities.
Good to see any additional revenue coming into the game so credit where it is due, I believe the Irish head of UNITE may have a personal interest in LOI and one team in particular ;) Fair dues (no pun intended) to them for the investment but certainly needs a rethink on the name !

[Mr A]

Fair dues (no pun intended)

https://media.giphy.com/media/EouEzI5bBR8uk/giphy.gif

[wonder88]

This is good news for Irish soccer. The prize money is very impressive, with little travel costs involved. Fair play to Brendan to get his union involved in this.
Unions of course should play a bigger role in society outside the workplace. Some believe that unions should have a media presence to counter the neo-liberal agenda of the media today for example.

[Mr A]

I seem to recall the GMB sponsoring Fulham some years back, and another league club too but which one it was escapes me.

[pineapple stu]

UNITE the Union (the name was introduced when a couple of unions joined together some years back) is a UK union that also operates an Irish division (Irish division organizes north and south).The union has tended to be involved in a number of community (sometimes political) issues beyond the usual union activities.
Good to see any additional revenue coming into the game so credit where it is due, I believe the Irish head of UNITE may have a personal interest in LOI and one team in particular ;) Fair dues (no pun intended) to them for the investment but certainly needs a rethink on the name !
Absolutely - more money in the game means Dundalk can afford to pay us a few more quid when they rob our next promising player. No problems with that.

Just seems a weird deal is all. The head of the union might have a personal interest, but it's his members' money.

[Dalymountrower]

This is good news for Irish soccer. The prize money is very impressive, with little travel costs involved. Fair play to Brendan to get his union involved in this.
Unions of course should play a bigger role in society outside the workplace. Some believe that unions should have a media presence to counter the neo-liberal agenda of the media today for example.

Most large Trade Unions have Press/Communication Departments, how effective they are is another matter.

[wonder88]

I was thinking along the line of Daily/Sunday newspaper. With the advent of of online publishing, you would think that some unions would come together to underwrite such a project. The days of launching an actual physical paper are gone.
I feel it is a better idea to start off small, 2 teams, rather than the 8 that were involved in the Setanta, and then grow organically.

[marinobohs]

I was thinking along the line of Daily/Sunday newspaper. With the advent of of online publishing, you would think that some unions would come together to underwrite such a project. The days of launching an actual physical paper are gone.
I feel it is a better idea to start off small, 2 teams, rather than the 8 that were involved in the Setanta, and then grow organically.

Most bigger unions use mail shots, emails etc to connect with members. SIPTU have a periodical newspaper (Liberty ??) which is distributed to members, MANDATE also have a newspaper. I'm not sure about other unions.
Pretty much all unions have web sites that are professionally managed and most if not all have PR facilities (inhouse or outsourced).

On football, I would have liked a greater number of teams but hopefully this proposed game gets traction and can be expanded down the road.

[Park_Lane]

Have you already forgotten playing in the group stages in Europe? Assuming thats a real ambition for clubs that get in to Europe this could be a handy fixture to have before the final group game.

Fair enough, but look at Bohs last season in the irn bru the fixtures at the end of the season caused them issues with figuring out extending players contracts etc. I suppose that wouldnt be an issue for clubs with players on 52 week contracts.

[Nesta99]

UNITE the Union (the name was introduced when a couple of unions joined together some years back) is a UK union that also operates an Irish division (Irish division organizes north and south).The union has tended to be involved in a number of community (sometimes political) issues beyond the usual union activities.
Good to see any additional revenue coming into the game so credit where it is due, I believe the Irish head of UNITE may have a personal interest in LOI and one team in particular ;) Fair dues (no pun intended) to them for the investment but certainly needs a rethink on the name !

Brendan Ogle is a lifelong Dundalk fan, union activist, founder member of the now defunct railway union ILDA, seems to crop up now and again on media focused issues. A like him or loathe him character imo. I would have preferred if they had used their full island of Ireland title of 'Unite the Union Ireland' but it is what it is and i'm sure some IFA blazers will take some pride in the competition title. Such things like the name of a football competition and any touch of symbolism involved wont make too many waves here.

[redarmyfaction]

The history of the trade union movent is like the Popular Front of Judea in reverse. Instead of fragmenting, tiny specialist unions like the Allied Copper Boiler Pluugers Accociation morph into large corporate entities.

The thing is that partition survives to this day in the movement, some unions though less now than before still pledge to the UK rather than Liberty Hall. Janey, even the solid Sinn Fein building workers used to be in UCATT and would die for independence except......

I thought this place was about the working man's sport in a middle class world, but maybe not.

[redarmyfaction]

The history of the trade union movent is like the Popular Front of Judea in reverse. Instead of fragmenting, tiny specialist unions like the Allied Copper Boiler Pluugers Accociation morph into large corporate entities.

The thing is that partition survives to this day in the movement, some unions though less now than before still pledge to the UK rather than Liberty Hall. Janey, even the solid Sinn Fein building workers used to be in UCATT and would die for independence except......

I thought this place was about the working man's sport in a middle class world, but maybe not.

I used to know this stuff, we were taught it at school but the labyrinth ways of the Labour movement does tend to confuse, but simply the success of Larkin's ITGWU in the seminal Sligo Dock workers strike of 1913, the action which he used for a model for the great lockout in Dublin lead to the split between the ATGWU(Unite) and Siptu(ITGWU) which so puzzleth posters here.

[marinobohs]

Brendan Ogle is a lifelong Dundalk fan, union activist, founder member of the now defunct railway union ILDA, seems to crop up now and again on media focused issues. A like him or loathe him character imo. I would have preferred if they had used their full island of Ireland title of 'Unite the Union Ireland' but it is what it is and i'm sure some IFA blazers will take some pride in the competition title. Such things like the name of a football competition and any touch of symbolism involved wont make too many waves here.

Yep. Brendan is a long time Dundalk supporter (even before they were successful 😁). He is also the Irish head of UNITE. To be fair the union have been involved in a number of community projects/campaigns. I think it's a great idea that hopefully develops.

[Johnnie C]

Second leg live on RTÉ 2 next Monday.

[EatYerGreens]

Any online streams for this tonight?

[TonyD]

The history of the trade union movent is like the Popular Front of Judea in reverse

People's Front of Judea. Splitter. :D

[EatYerGreens]

The history of the trade union movent is like the Popular Front of Judea in reverse.

The Popular Back of Judea ?

[D24Saint]

Any online streams for this tonight?

Modbro has premier sports on it.

[Nesta99]

Not working though.

[Mr_Parker]

hesgoal.com

[Johnnie C]

Try hesgoals.

[Nesta99]

Enjoyable game, disappointing crowd but that was expected. Much better 2nd half by Dundalk and the sort of passing tempo that was missing last Sunday. Whather that was down to opposition, form, or having Shields back in the side its hard to know. The FT/PT training stuff didnt seem to make a difference. Its still hard to firgure out how Linfield were so effective v Qarbag compared to our own performances against the same opposition looking at the teams tonight. If Hery was a little less sloppy with his pasing he would be playing elsewhere, he does some great stuff and then just switches off or something. All in all there is potential for this champions fixture to grow.

[marinobohs]

The history of the trade union movent is like the Popular Front of Judea in reverse. Instead of fragmenting, tiny specialist unions like the Allied Copper Boiler Pluugers Accociation morph into large corporate entities.

The thing is that partition survives to this day in the movement, some unions though less now than before still pledge to the UK rather than Liberty Hall. Janey, even the solid Sinn Fein building workers used to be in UCATT and would die for independence except......

I thought this place was about the working man's sport in a middle class world, but maybe not.

It was Government policy to minimise the number of trade unions as it was felt the myriad of different unions led to the ridiculously high level of industrial action in the 1970s. I seem to recall the State made funding available for the legal costs of unions merging. Merges often led to name changes ITGWU merged to form SIPTU the biggest union in Ireland - same applies to FORSA and MANDATE.
UNITE was similarly a new entity formed on a merger.

[marinobohs]

Anyhow, back to football, disappointing to see the small crowd at the game. Decent game and Dubdalk looked stronger so would expect them to finish the job at Oriel Park.
While the security overkill may have deterred people attending it's still a very disappointing crowd.

[Ezeikial]

Anyhow, back to football, disappointing to see the small crowd at the game. Decent game and Dubdalk looked stronger so would expect them to finish the job at Oriel Park.
While the security overkill may have deterred people attending it's still a very disappointing crowd.

Some 300 over the average Linfield attendance, according to media reports.

[Yossarian]

Apart from most people having to travel to the game by bus, the security was no more intrusive than a trip to Tallaght and to be honest it was well organised. Some of the chants from our crowd were ridiculous but to be expected unfortunately. There were plenty of Dundalk fans roaring at the group singing certain chants. We couldn’t hear the Linfield fans that much but I gather there were some poorly advised chants from there though I did see them continually hold up a Paratroop regiment flag. It’s a pity but this game was always going to attract that type and I think Monday will be worse.
On the game itself, I think we left it behind. We had a lot of possess without really threatening but when we increased the pace and tempo we were much better. I thought the ref was good and let plenty go for both sides, that our own refs would be falling over themselves to punish.

[Kingswood Rover]

Some 300 over the average Linfield attendance, according to media reports.

The guts of 3 k was a good crowd for this game and more than i thought. And its the muppets on both sides not too bothered about watching whats on the pitch preferring to sing nice love ditties to each other that perpetuate the neanderthal attitudes that hold this island back.

[Mr_Parker]

Some 300 over the average Linfield attendance, according to media reports.

A poor, and somewhat irrelevant measure of the interest in the competition.

[Ezeikial]

A poor, and somewhat irrelevant measure of the interest in the competition.

For someone who professes to be interested primarilt in 'facts', I thought this might appeal to you.

Obviously not, instead you offer ambiguous negative opinion - why do you think that the average Linfield attendance is a poor or irrelevant measure?

[Ezeikial]

Apart from most people having to travel to the game by bus, the security was no more intrusive than a trip to Tallaght and to be honest it was well organised. Some of the chants from our crowd were ridiculous but to be expected unfortunately. There were plenty of Dundalk fans roaring at the group singing certain chants. We couldn’t hear the Linfield fans that much but I gather there were some poorly advised chants from there though I did see them continually hold up a Paratroop regiment flag. It’s a pity but this game was always going to attract that type and I think Monday will be worse.
On the game itself, I think we left it behind. We had a lot of possess without really threatening but when we increased the pace and tempo we were much better. I thought the ref was good and let plenty go for both sides, that our own refs would be falling over themselves to punish.

The stewarding and policing was excellent - friendly, professional, efficient. There were more 'welcome' and 'safe home' good wishes offered by police and security staff last night than what I would expect in an full season of loi away trips

The spontaneous negative reaction from a large proportion of Dundalk fans to the more inflammatory IRA chants was encouraging

I expect Dundalk to finish to tie off in Oriel Park on Monday

[dundalkfc10]

A poor, and somewhat irrelevant measure of the interest in the competition.

Their was more there than last time they played Cliftonville so its relevant.