Irish Sea FC

[Philosophizer]

Creating a new thread for this since it's cropped up in a few different threads so far.

[Philosophizer]

So they've said they won't be based in Dublin after Morton Stadium pulled out on them last year. In the interview on YouTube Lukens said he's applied to lease 2 grounds in counties where there is currently no LOI club. Anyone know what grounds he's referring to?

The only suitable grounds that come to my mind are:
Newbridge
Kilkenny
Monaghan

Are there any others? Anything suitable in Carlow, Mayo or elsewhere?

[nigel-harps1954]

Would imagine Kildare is one. Suggestion in the other thread Limerick is one as well.

Regardless, I'd imagine they'll be told by FAI to wait for the third tier.

[Philosophizer]

He said it's a county where there isn't already a club so that would discount Limerick as one of the 2 grounds he's talking about. Maybe he was scoping out Limerick earlier on though.

I'd imagine Kildare would be the most suitable location. Big population, nice little ground in a good location, underage LOI structures already in place.

Kilkenny would be the next best location I'd guess because of Buckley park. I've no idea what kind of condition it's in though.

[Kiki Balboa]

Best case scenario is that when they fold, it wont be mid-season....

[Bucket]

I've heard Mayo mentioned too, underage LOI members and decent setup in Milebush.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Regardless of where this group is planing to pitch up, there's nothing in their various proposals that inspires confidence they can form a viable club.

It's hard because we need more clubs, to make a third tier work and to expand the higher tiers in time and just for plain simple growth. One of the biggest flaws of the FAI when it comes to the league is how they have failed so spectacularly in making it an attractive prospect for clubs to join. But you also don't want to take that feeling to the point where you are allowing anybody to join in, because it'll just make the league weaker when it all falls apart.

[Buller]

Buckley park in Kilkenny is ideal and unused, near a big and untapped population centre. Not far on the motorway to Dublin for players.

I'd say from the outside looking in that would be the most attractive location.

Always forget there's a really nice unused stadium down there!

https://pogmogoal.com/wp-content/uploads/319325_10150362439264993_7749268_n.jpg

[pineapple stu]

Regardless of where this group is planing to pitch up, there's nothing in their various proposals that inspires confidence they can form a viable club.
Yup.

If your starting point is "Let's stick a pin in a map at random and see where we end up", then that's not a viable club.

It reflects really badly on the LoI that a club like this have a chance of getting into the second tier.

[joey B]

Do people really believe that there’s untapped potential for a viable club in some random location in Ireland that no one has thought about for the last 100 years? I have my doubts if I’m honest……

[Buller]

Yup.

If your starting point is "Let's stick a pin in a map at random and see where we end up", then that's not a viable club.

It reflects really badly on the LoI that a club like this have a chance of getting into the second tier.

That's pretty much how every MLS franchise has been setup; doubt David Beckham's Miami Florida roots are very deep!

If he has money to burn, let him go ahead and burn it. LOI reputation doesn't have much to lose.

[pineapple stu]

Well Beckham/Miami were given a licence in 2018 to enter the league in 2020, so they had two years to lay the groundwork. Plus Miami has a population of 6m, which was a bit part of giving Miami a franchise; it's not quite the same thing as dropping a club into Kilkenny with two months' notice.

[Nesta99]

So they've said they won't be based in Dublin after Morton Stadium pulled out on them last year. In the interview on YouTube Lukens said he's applied to lease 2 grounds in counties where there is currently no LOI club. Anyone know what grounds he's referring to?

The only suitable grounds that come to my mind are:
Newbridge
Kilkenny
Monaghan

Are there any others? Anything suitable in Carlow, Mayo or elsewhere?

Was Treaty forgotten or did P'OS convince him that they dont really exist. We could be scratching our heads in 10 years time if they are still around and viable, but it feels like a house of cards even more than Dublin City or a Sporting Fingal vanity project.

[EatYerGreens]

It is irrelevant where these clowns alight on as their preferred place. I can't see them getting accepted into the league. And if they do, they won't last - so can then be added to the pile of crash and burn clubs that have plagued the league over the last century.

You'd sware that the Forgotten clubs kid who's involved in this was leading them all on a merry dance just so he could get another blog page out of it all. Except he doesn't seem to be bright enough for that.

[Martinho II]

I had no idea that Buckley Park is lying idle. Last time I was there in that ground was when we were knocked out by Kilkenny City in 05. Havent being in Kilkenny since! Wot bout Tipperary could he be referring to possibly Thurles Town who were in the loi in the 70s?

[nigel-harps1954]

Did people forget how far out of town Buckley Park is? How awkward it is to get to, and how dreadfully difficult it is to get into?

Lovely little ground, but there'd be little to no appetite for LOI football in Kilkenny again.

[EatYerGreens]

I had no idea that Buckley Park is lying idle. Last time I was there in that ground was when we were knocked out by Kilkenny City in 05. Havent being in Kilkenny since! Wot bout Tipperary could he be referring to possibly Thurles Town who were in the loi in the 70s?

Thurles didn;t hav etheir ow ground, and just used the Greyhound Stadium.

It's very much a GAA strongold, and they struggled to attract crowds last time. You would hope that these guys understand that there is a huge variation in the level of active interest in 'soccer' across Ireland (certainly versus other sports anyway).

[sadloserkid]

The thing with every single one of these charlatans who have descended upon the league over the years is that they all possess boundless self-belief, an ego of incredible proportions and a misguided certainty that they've uncovered the magic formula that nobody before them came close to.

[nigel-harps1954]

Thurles didn;t hav etheir ow ground, and just used the Greyhound Stadium.

It's very much a GAA strongold, and they struggled to attract crowds last time. You would hope that these guys understand that there is a huge variation in the level of active interest in 'soccer' across Ireland (certainly versus other sports anyway).

There'd be a decent chance of attracting a bit of support for a Carlow or Kilkenny side in the right location. Buckley Park is unfortunately just too far out of town to attract a regular casual support there.

There's a decent junior league in Carlow and another decent one in Kilkenny.

I've long said that a side playing out of Carlow IT could work if they got permission to use the facilities there.

[Philosophizer]

Have they built a stand in IT Carlow or something? I was in college there 10 years ago but they had no stands or fan facilities whatsoever...

[ForzaForth]

Good all-weather pitch in IT Carlow with floodlights, I'm pretty sure, but no stand. The stand that is there is beside the GAA pitch.

[nigel-harps1954]

Yeah, a good all weather pitch there, and an impressive stand at the GAA pitch, which would be more than capable of being used as a football pitch as well if needed.

[Nesta99]

'Good all-weather pitch'? I didnt think they existed! If the stand was in any way funded by Croke Park, even if CIT have a say it is unlikely to happen - as ridiculous as it would be CIT would need 2 stands to host 2 sports!! That said I think regulations in general could be modernised to allow more 'temporary' type stands that would suffice like behind the goal in Richmond Park.

[Philosophizer]

'Good If the stand was in any way funded by Croke Park, even if CIT have a say it is unlikely to happen - as ridiculous as it would be CIT would need 2 stands to host 2 sports!!
I was thinking the same. There would probably be uproar if anyone proposed to play "the garrison game" on the hallowed gaa turf.

[samhaydenjr]

First I heard of this company and plan, so did a very quick wikipedia search on them for a little more info and my inner conspiracy theorist came across a questionable pattern:
Alex and Sibrena Geraldino are currently co-owners of the New Jersey Teamsterz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Teamsterz_FC), who compete in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Independent_Soccer_Association), the third tier of U.S soccer. They spoke on the BSMA podcast on how their Irish project intended to be used as a pathway to Europe for their U.S players, while also facilitating Irish-based players to head in the opposite direction.[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_County_F.C.#cite_note-3) They recruited Dennis Lukens to oversee operations in Ireland as they began the application process with the FAI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Association_of_Ireland). It was also their intention to allow Lukens to manage the side, with previous experience managing teams in the United States and Ukraine. In 2021, Lukens began to recruit players primarily from Armenian First League (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_First_League) side, Noravank SC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noravank_SC).

So then I went to the Wikipedia page of Noravank SC and found some curious information about them - they were only founded in 2020 themselves and have seven African players in their squad - now it isn't actually unusual for Armenian teams to have African players, but five of their players are listed as "on loan" from a single Ghanaian club, Cheetah FC, which was only founded in 2009 and had this interesting tidbit on its Wikipedia page:


In 2021, the club was named on the top 10 clubs in Africa with the most outgoing transfers of players in FIFA’s 2020 Global Transfer Market Report

Now I work in banking and if I heard about a newly-established company in New Jersey exchanging a significant portion of money from a newly-established subsidiary in Ireland, who were receiving most of their money from a newly-established company in Armenia, who were receiving a significant amount of their revenue from a recently established company in Ghana, then my money laundering alarm bells would be ringing loud. What this means for movement of humans is not yet clear but I think this team should be monitored closely

[Longfordian]

It's unlikely they'll ever become a real team over here anyway. The New Jersey Teamsterz sound like something Tony Soprano would be involved in.

[sidewayspasser]

Now I work in banking and if I heard about a newly-established company in New Jersey exchanging a significant portion of money from a newly-established subsidiary in Ireland, who were receiving most of their money from a newly-established company in Armenia, who were receiving a significant amount of their revenue from a recently established company in Ghana, then my money laundering alarm bells would be ringing loud. What this means for movement of humans is not yet clear but I think this team should be monitored closely
It certainly looks a bit suspicious. Some sort of human trafficking scheme?

[Nesta99]

I'm sure the FAI's doing due diligence with their fit and proper persons test....if Delaney was still about he'd love a club called Cheetah FC!

I'm not willing to jump so quickly to concerns on human trafficking schemes, 0 to 60 there in few seconds! Routes to loan players to ease the way for work permits in the EU is possible as is maybe building a more direct route for players to go to America from Africa via LoI. Its seems like a strange and complex plan for 3 clubs on 3 continents so yeah the money trail would need keeping an eye on but beyond the FAI's remit. They could report suspicions to Na Gardaí but Ive no idea if there needs to be a reason to investigate beyond that it sounds suss, if or when it happens.