"A" League

[dapman1]

This "A" league thingy has me intrigued:confused: as to who will be in it? I know that we are still awaiting an announcement on another possible entrant in Division 1 for next season, but there hasnt really been any focus on a possible ten new teams for the A League the following season. I see it as a logical stepping stone up to Div1 which should prevent some of the finacial and organisational mistakes which new teams ( like Kildare) can and have made in the past. But who will be willing to make the step up from the top of a regional structure to what will be a national league?

The only teams that I can see in the u21 leagues that dont currently have teams playing in Div 1/ Premier are:

Peake Villa - Thurles
University of Limerick
Trinity
Crumlin Utd
Mullingar ( both of them)
Mayo
Kerry
Salthill devons ( Arent these part owners of Galway Utd?)

I might have missed some teams,as the divisions arent easy to find. But still this dosnt really add up to a full division, so has anybody any ideas as to who will be in the "A" league.

[Poor Student]

It will be regionalised like the current Dr. O'Neill U-21 championship. It will contain the reserves of all the 10 Premier Division clubs (an obligation) and any Division 1 sides that want to (I doubt many will). If the concentration of reserve teams are too high it'll look really crap. What I'm not sure of is, will intermediate sides continue to play in the MSL, LSL etc. as well as the A Championship or will they have to widthdraw? Will this be a step up that intermediate sides will want to step up to? I think there's a €5k entry fee for it.

[Terry]

Salthill devons ( Arent these part owners of Galway Utd?)

.

No, they have nothing to do with united anymore.

[dapman1]

I agree with you poor student that it would look pretty crap if it was only made up of reserve teams. The league badly needs some new blood and it looks like the A league might be a way of letting those interested ease their way inrather then have to jump in head first.

Terry, thanks for the correction on Salthill Devons. I was wondering why they and Galway had seperate teams in our U21 divison. Do you think that they would put a team in to the A league?

[Terry]

Terry, thanks for the correction on Salthill Devons. I was wondering why they and Galway had seperate teams in our U21 divison. Do you think that they would put a team in to the A league?

I cant see why not? Although they will probably stay in the under 21's for another season seeing that most of there players are under 18 !!!!

[paudie]

Lifford play in the Southern section of the U21 league this year.

Despite the name they are from Clare - Ennis I think.

[dcfcsteve]

Fair question Dapman.

Interestingly, the furthest north any team on that list is from is Mayo/Mullingar !

I would hope they'd have a Donegal team, for example, in any A Division. Letterkenny Rovers beign the obvious choice.

[steno]

Would be interesting to see as well, if there was more than a single team applying for the place in the eircom league and they were unsucessful in their application if they would be offered a place in the A league as an alternative.

If they were interested in joining the Eircom league in the first place, they would surely consider going through the A league to get there.

Has any team actually come out yet and said that they would be applying for the eircom league or the A league or is it all still speculation on who will?

[Poor Student]

There will be no more applying for the eL after the 'A Championship' comes in. I think the highest placed non-reserve teams in the regional leagues (provided they finish in the top 4) will play off against each other to face the worst team in the First Division as long as they meet certain criteria. The 'A Championship' will become the only route into the eL.

[steno]

Sorry, I was talking about a team to take Dublin city's place.

If they are more than one applicant for it, would the FAI offer the losing applicants a place in the A league as an alternative?.

The losing applicants would surely have to consider it since they were interested in the 1st place

[Poor Student]

I suppose anyone who could be bothered to apply for the vacant place now would be the most likely to be interested in the 'A Championship' though it will leave them in limbo for a year. We've yet to see if anyone, let alone multiple parties will actually apply to join the league. I think the closing date for applications is soon.

[dcfcsteve]

Will be interesting indeed to see who wants to apply for the Dublin City slot, and a measure of sorts of our progress in 'public image' terms anyway.

I know Mullingar firmly nailed their colours to the mast back in 2003. Were Kildare's intentions openly acknowledged prior to their application back then as well ?

[steno]

I can't remember steve. But I think there was talk alright.

Reading a couple of sources they said that Newbridge Town were approached and it was decided to set up a club for the whole county, which I remember.

http://www.newbridgetownfc.com/index.php?id=16
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kildare_County_FC

But whether it was Newbridge town that applied and then decided on changing to Kildare County, I'm not really sure.

Remember Mullingar making a big push as well and that it was between kildare and themselves.

Will be interestng to see if Mullingar apply for the place in the eircom league or the A league this time around.

[dcfcsteve]

I'm worried that the rising costs of putting a team into senior Irish football may scare people off.

It wasn't too long ago that entry into the EL could've been treated as a bit of an adventure, and then if you found the going tough you could just walk away without major implications on yourselves and your club (Newcastle West, St James's Gate, St Francis).

Now, licensing means that the costs of entry will be very high for junor clubs (are at least, will be very high if it ever gets implemented properly...!). Also - to be truely competitive is getting more and more expensive with time - particularly if you want to get into and stay in the Premier. Conversely - the rewards in terms of prize money, attendance receipts, merchandise sales etc, aren't rising at the same rate, so the gap that needs to be plugged is continually growing.

Therefore - it's no longer poossible to join the league, and then just bail out a couple of years later relatively unscathed if you don't like it. That's not a bad thing to be honest - we've had too many clubs over the years who were just flashes in the pan like that. But it will make the task of attractign new members increasingly difficult.

Which is where, i believe, the A League will have it's biggest benefit. If a couple of teams find themselves consistently at the top of the A Division, the option of joining the senior ranks will be clear to them, enabling them to plan accordingly over time. At the moment, that clarity of option isn't there - and then when we do need new members, the option is sprung on junior teams out of the blue with no time for them to work towards making it a viable prospect.

[Dodge]

It wasn't too long ago that entry into the EL could've been treated as a bit of an adventure, and then if you found the going tough you could just walk away without major implications on yourselves and your club (Newcastle West, St James's Gate, St Francis).

Don't know about Newcastlewest but both St James Gate and St Francis both came very very close to folding (St Francis didn't operate for a year, soccerc can fill you in probably). And the LOI shouldn't be treated as an adveenture. If you can't make a realistic bid for success (define that yourself) then don't bother coming into the league. We need properly run clubs not ones having a laugh...

[Pretender]

Lifford play in the Southern section of the U21 league this year.

Despite the name they are from Clare - Ennis I think.

From Ennis alright... gained a lot of experience with mostly young players (18/19) this year. The team didn't attract much interest from players with other teams in the county. Played better away from home than at home and but for a few (I use the word few loosely) howlers from a Goalkeeper I know only too well :o might have done a lot better. Only Cork completely outplayed (played as good as them at home for 35 mins recently but got hit for 3 in 8 mins!!) us IMO despite what some results have suggested.

However the A league would be a bridge too far for our club... maybe in 5/10 years if we kept improving