Too many Dublin Clubs?

[Slash/ED]

The way to reduce the amount of Dublin clubs is for other clubs to produce better teams and pass them out.

[A face]

The way to reduce the amount of Dublin clubs is for other clubs to produce better teams and pass them out.

You said it in one sir !! :)

That is about the size of it .... it is up to the other clubs to get it together and pass them out.

[Da Real Rover]

. Then there's Galway to serve the West.
I don't know why you are putting Galway in for the west, cause i know its a way bigger town but the team, club and stadium are way behind Rovers. Is the population about 60000 are so (correct me if im wrong) and yet they only attract crowds up to 550. We pull nearly 3 times that crowd, so i think we all know who has the fanbase and pedigree to serve Connaught. Dont take it personnally Galway fans because if you look at the facts we have the greatest amount of honours (have ye ever even won the league), ye are second bottom of the first division while were 3rd from top and we bet ye 2-0 in Terryland.

[dancinpants]

I don't know why you are putting Galway in for the west, cause i know its a way bigger town but the team, club and stadium are way behind Rovers. Is the population about 60000 are so (correct me if im wrong) and yet they only attract crowds up to 550. We pull nearly 3 times that crowd, so i think we all know who has the fanbase and pedigree to serve Connaught. Dont take it personnally Galway fans because if you look at the facts we have the greatest amount of honours (have ye ever even won the league), ye are second bottom of the first division while were 3rd from top and we bet ye 2-0 in Terryland.

Sligo:
Premier Division: 2 1936-37, 1976-77
FAI Cup 2 1983, 1994
League Cup 1 1997-98
First Division: 1 1993-94

6 honours in 77 years - Woooweee :rolleyes:
Galway have 4 in 28 BTW

[CollegeTillIDie]

What about Serbia!!! :eek: . 7 of the 16 team top division based in Belgrade :eek:

Partizan Beograd
C. Zvezda Beograd
Zeta Golubovci
OFK Beograd
Zemun
Buducnost Podgorica
Radnicki N. Beograd
Hajduk Kula
Smederevo
Obilic Beograd
Zeleznik
Vojvodina Novi Sad
Borac Cacak
Cukaricki Beograd
Sutjeska Niksic
Hajduk Beograd

Great example dancin pants..
But for the record Zeleznik is also a Belgrade club and Zemun is a small town just north of Belgrade a lot like Bray is next to Dublin kinda sorta thing! So you're looking at 9 out of 16 in the current season. Although Hajduk and Cukaricki look set for the drop!

P.S. looks like Crvena Zvezda have blown the League this season. Well done Partizan :(

[dcfcsteve]

Tiktok ...Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Palace, Fulham, Charlton, West Ham, Millwall, QPR, Orient, Brentford .. that's 11


I would definitely add AFC Wimbledon in as a London team, as their crowds are very similar to the Cheery O's - even if AFC have no away fans at games. Their stated aim is to be a league team again within the next 7 years, and they're on-track to do so (back-to-back promotion and second double in a row this year. 3 more promotions and they're back !).

As someone else mentioned before, Barnet have been promoted for next season, and are a London club (on the tube).



and Watford, Luton Town, Wycombe, Rushden&Diamonds and Barnet make 16, and I'm sure there's probably more ;)

Hang on Tiktok - London's big, but it ain't Tokyo ! :D Rushden and Diamonds are a Northamptonshire club. That's in the Midlands - not even in the Home Counties, let alone London ! Their ground is 85 miles away from London !! Watford you can just about claim as London, as it's the last stop on a tube line. Wycombe ever-so-vaguely, but again just about. No chance with Luton - it just ain't part of London (no matter what they try and tell you about the airport... :) )

I don't know how to define where a city technically starts and stops, but to me it's where there's large gaps between the sprawl of development. Bray is therefore essentially part of Dublin as, unless I'm wrong here, it is physically connected to Dublin by continuous buildings/development.

As for the suggestion that Gillingham can be called a London club....??? No feckin chance. There's miles of open countryside between that town and the outer reaches of London. Same for Luton.

Anyways - we're kidding ourselve sif we think chopping and changing the distribution of clubs in the EL is suddenly going to unshackle the masses from their armchairs and see them storming the turnstiles at our grounds. As has been pointed out previosuly - the low attendances in our league are a result of a lack of interest, not geographical saturation. Chopping and changing the number of teams in certain areas as an act in isolation would be as effective as rearranging the seats on the Titanic....

[dcfcsteve]

Short answer, yes. Dublin is about as big , very roughly, as Manchester of Liverpool

Dublkin is waaaaaaay bigger than Liverpool - population c.450,000. The likes of Hull and Sheffield are bigger than Scouseland.

Manchester is c.1m, - much closer to the size of Dublin, but that's only if you include the big sprawl that surrounds Manc (i.e. Bolton, Oldham etc).

[sonofstan]

Dublkin is waaaaaaay bigger than Liverpool - population c.450,000. The likes of Hull and Sheffield are bigger than Scouseland.

Manchester is c.1m, - much closer to the size of Dublin, but that's only if you include the big sprawl that surrounds Manc (i.e. Bolton, Oldham etc).

Liverpool city is about 450, 000 . greater merseyside about 1.5m - manchester city council area has only 350,000 or thereabouts but greater manc. has nearly 2m - equally, I would guess Dublin as defined by the city council area would be about half a million, whereas the 4 local authority areas would give the 1.2 m that everyone quotes - there's really no accurate way of doing this; people who work in Dublin, are from Dublin and so on but go to Clonee to sleep are Dubliners in my book, whereas Bolton isn't Manchester the way Longsight is .... anyway I only said roughly the same size, in a 'bigger than Cork but smaller than Paris or Rome' sort of way

[Ringo]

I think there are not too much in Dublin given the fact that those teams all (maybe apart from Dublin City) made their way to the top flight on a fair way: on the pitch.

We won the first division title & got promoted :confused: . This year two teams came second & third & got promoted :rolleyes: . get your facts right or STFU

[tiktok]

TikTok
Along time since you have been in Cork! 450,000 in the county of whom 300,000 live within 10 miles of the Kinsale Rd Roundabout in the city.


I wasn't holding City's attendance's up as some Holy Grail for Dub clubs to achieve, we could be doing better too. The figure I got was from the last census, if there really are 300,000 within 11 miles of the cross then we too are only getting about 1-2% out for home games.

The point though was that there are enough people in the country to support the league and fill every stadium every week, but they're not interested, it's the profile of the league that's the problem, not the number of clubs.

[Derek]

Let the football talk and the bullsh*t walk.
If you get promoted you deserve it, simple!

[Schumi]

Rovers have the SouthWest
Shels are going to have the entire North..
Bohs will have the CityCenter
Pats will have the West/CityCenter
UCD will have the SouthEast
And eh, dublin city/home farm can just... eh... yea..
:D
Dublin City will have Ronan Seery's house. :D

[monkey magic]

Prague (Slavia Prague, Sparta Prague, Bohemians Prague, plus some smaller ones)


didnt they get kicked outta de league for finincial irregularities(splet wrong i think)
wonder if its an omen... ;) :eek:

[Da Real Rover]

Sligo:
Premier Division: 2 1936-37, 1976-77
FAI Cup 2 1983, 1994
League Cup 1 1997-98
First Division: 1 1993-94

6 honours in 77 years - Woooweee :rolleyes:
Galway have 4 in 28 BTW
You forgot
Dublin City Cup-1937
AND
First Division Shield-1994
Oh ya and Galway have actually got 6 trophies to there name. Don't forget we've still won more and won the league twice.

[Schumi]

Dublin City Cup-1937
Definitely too many Dublin clubs. :D

[1 9 2 8]

Sligo:
Premier Division: 2 1936-37, 1976-77
FAI Cup 2 1983, 1994
League Cup 1 1997-98
First Division: 1 1993-94

6 honours in 77 years - Woooweee :rolleyes:
Galway have 4 in 28 BTW
Ya but Rovers kept LOI football alive in the northwest and Connacht when Derry where playing with the Brits and long before Harps and Galway joint the LOI

[GavinZac]

its all well and good stating population percentages but you've got to segment the market.

heres where it gets controversial, think before you reply :p


50% of the population wont go to games: because they are women.

im not saying no women go to games, 51% of the population are women and about 1% would go.

20 % of the population have firmly closed minds. for various reasons: they express their rebelious republican side by joining celtic supporters clubs and the like. or the gaa fanatic who wont even watch soccer because been knocked into them by their AllSports tracksuit wearing coaches that "its crap".

that leaves 30% of the population as our market base. the vast majority of these people still have yet to be converted, and for most, only entry to the league stages of the champions league will convert them.


for people wishing to see some dublin clubs merge or drop out, just wait til a dublin team gets to the CL groups: it'll doom the future support of several other clubs. dublin city would go (unless its them, and i dont think anyone can see that happening except their chairman). rovers might go. its all well and good that they've a core of excellent supporters, but if the club isnt viable it'll fold.

[NY Hoop]

5 is enough. Chuck out CHF. They bring nothing to the league. No fans, no club. Replace them with a Kerry club.

KOH

[Ringo]

5 is enough. Chuck out CHF. They bring nothing to the league. No fans, no club. Replace them with a Kerry club.

KOH
:rolleyes: we have fans & a club, get over yourselve. maybe we could borrow a few million & be as big as rovers :p

[BohDiddley]

get over yourselve. (sic)
Is it just me, or does every body who follows EL have this as their favourite saying?

My position on this question is the same expressed above by a CHF fan, i.e. that it should be settled on the pitch, although he put it much more eloquently.
I agree with that as a basic principle, because it's eminently fair. But I wouldn't go so far as to apply it to 'Dublin City'.
Sometimes, you've just gotta get rid of the runt. People from (down) the country, where I think this thread started, will understand that. :p

[A face]

5 is enough. Chuck out CHF. They bring nothing to the league. No fans, no club. Replace them with a Kerry club.

KOH

When Seery was setting up that club .... did he consider investing in one of the existing clubs .... you know, instead of spliting the market kinda thing ??

I mean ... starting Kildare county around the same time was a great idea imo .... totally new area, new fanbase etc. .... Why didn't Seery think of something like that or going in with an existing club ??

[Schumi]

[QUOTE=A face]When Seery was setting up that club .... did he consider investing in one of the existing clubs .... you know, instead of spliting the market kinda thing ?/QUOTE]
Some people would say that he did invest in an existing club. :)

[dcfcsteve]

[QUOTE=A face]When Seery was setting up that club .... did he consider investing in one of the existing clubs .... you know, instead of spliting the market kinda thing ?/QUOTE]
Some people would say that he did invest in an existing club. :)

He certainly didn't invest in an existing club, but he definitely took-over the place of one.....

[Gerrit]

We won the first division title & got promoted :confused: . This year two teams came second & third & got promoted :rolleyes: . get your facts right or STFU

what I mean is that Shels, Pats, Bohs, Rovers and UCD are there since ages and worked their way up from nothing. Whereas DCFC kinda took over what remained of an existing club and didn't start from zero, they used the previous work to get themselves started at a semi-professional level.

Kildare County: good idea, but WTF did that stadium in Newbridge ever pass the license commission ?? Oh yeah right, that's just for next year... Anyway, if Kildare wants a semi-professional club, fair enough, but they should take care of having a decent stadium as well. The stadium in Newbridge is a joke ; very well for the amateur league purposes of Newbridge Town FC, but for Eircom League the stadium is way too small.

[Poor Student]

what I mean is that Shels, Pats, Bohs, Rovers and UCD are there since ages and worked their way up from nothing. Whereas DCFC kinda took over what remained of an existing club and didn't start from zero, they used the previous work to get themselves started at a semi-professional level.


Ok whatever about the debates on whether DCFC is a new entity or Home Farm in a different form or whatever, they are now here and certainly deserve to be on footballing merit having never finished lower than 7th in 1st Division. They are winning the 1st Division while we have a club like Kilkenny City who despite being well run are doing little else but propping up the 1st Division for nearly the fourth season in a row. I am not questioing Kilkenny's place but merely saying how can we attack a team doing well on playing merit and even for a second suggest removing them when they are doing better than other clubs?

[Colie]

I rekon 3 dublin teams.. It's time for the shams dublin city and ucd to go away and die. They are just a drain on the rest. They need to be taken over by the big 3 shels boos and pats .

I saw your team last nite. They are crap. So are Rovers. UCD & shels are probably the only 2 Dublin teams that play football. You can't deny me that. Even at 3-0 down College still played football against youes. None of this hit & hope crap. Pass & move. Another 10 minutes & we woulda had youes 4-3. Pats are only there coz some teams are even worse. Lucky for yee.

[Anto McC]

There is easily room for five clubs!
Rovers have the SouthWest
Shels are going to have the entire North..
Bohs will have the CityCenter
Pats will have the West/CityCenter
UCD will have the SouthEast
And eh, dublin city/home farm can just... eh... yea..
:D

Sounds about right to me,even let Dublin City go on a tour of the Dublin grounds.Play 2 matches in a ground then move on. :D

[Colie]

Sounds about right to me,even let Dublin City go on a tour of the Dublin grounds.Play 2 matches in a ground then move on. :D

Thats already happening.

They've changed their home tie in the League cup against us (College) to an away one. Like travelling I guess.

[CollegeTillIDie]

didnt they get kicked outta de league for finincial irregularities(splet wrong i think)
wonder if its an omen... ;) :eek:

Bohs Prague have been kicked out of the League and in mid season I might add. The fans have rallied around and a rescue looks likely. However they will be forced to play in Division 3 next season and I believe they may be going amateur for a couple of years too in order to prevent the club going under again.

[CollegeTillIDie]

what I mean is that Shels, Pats, Bohs, Rovers and UCD are there since ages and worked their way up from nothing. Whereas DCFC kinda took over what remained of an existing club and didn't start from zero, they used the previous work to get themselves started at a semi-professional level.

Kildare County: good idea, but WTF did that stadium in Newbridge ever pass the license commission ?? Oh yeah right, that's just for next year... Anyway, if Kildare wants a semi-professional club, fair enough, but they should take care of having a decent stadium as well. The stadium in Newbridge is a joke ; very well for the amateur league purposes of Newbridge Town FC, but for Eircom League the stadium is way too small.

Gerrit
I wouldn't be so sure about that in the short term after all as they average somewhere in the 300 bracket Station Road is fine for their purposes.
What you are trying to say is if they ever get promoted it will be too small and you have a point on that issue.

[Éanna]

The way to reduce the amount of Dublin clubs is for other clubs to produce better teams and pass them out.
exactly. I'd love to see a better spread of teams, if only to be able to not drive to dublin all the ****in time, but its up to other clubs to sort themsleves out

[crc]

I think there are too many Dublin clubs in the Premier (even if you don't count Bray), but you can't argue with them being there because they've all produced the goods on the pitch. Teams from outside the capital (they are NOT rural - they are almost all based in towns) need to get their own act together rather than complain about Dublin clubs. However I do think the tide has turned - a few years ago all the top five spots in the league were held by Dublin clubs and Cork City. But last season Shels and Bohs, and this season Shels, have been the only Dublin clubs in the top five.

I do think there should be expansion of the league into parts of the country where there is currently no eL team (like Kerry, Mayo) but this doesn't need to be at the expense of current clubs. The potential support base for a club in Tralee or Castlebar is not going to be affected in the slightest by whether Dublin City are in the league or not. Recently Longford and Drogheda (and previously Sligo, Dundalk and Athlone) have proven that provincial towns can support a successful LoI club if they are well run.

I also agree that the major problem the eL has is its low profile, and the low esteem which many people hold for it. The only way this will change IMO is through success in Europe. We saw it with Cork and Shels last year, but it needs to be sustained.

[Edit: spelling]

[Stevo Da Gull]

I have only read the first page of this post but still feel it's necessary to post this........ We are not a Dublin club!!!!! Some of our fan base is from Co Dublin of course and we are very glad of this, being on the DART line is a huge bonus and it's nice to see people in Co Dublin coming to Bray to support Bray Wanderers and Eircom League football. On the map we are in Wicklow with a lot of Dublin based support , on the map Liverpool FC are in Liverpool with a lot of Irish support- I suppose this make BWAFC Dubliners and Liverpool Irish.


Come on out to the Carlisle....... help keep Premier League football in County Wicklow!

(If anything that I said has been made irrelevant by previous posts I apologise for jumping the gun :) )


On the matter itself, there are 22 lge clubs and those in the Premier deserve to be there on merrit.

[Schumi]

UCD & shels are probably the only 2 Dublin teams that play football. You can't deny me that.
Pity we didn't on Saturday. :rolleyes:

[NY Hoop]

[QUOTE=Ringo]:rolleyes: we have fans & a club, get over yourselve.

Funniest thing I've read in months. Has your fan base got into double figures yet? My point still stands. There is no point in having a club if there are a dozen fans.


KOH