League Farce

[geezer]

the whole league is descending into farce now, between no refs showing up early in the season at ucd, to pat kelly runnin the referees with his 2 sons getting all the big television fixtures even despite the fact that one of them alan (a utd hater) awarded a goal kick for a clear goal in a game this season,
to now the situation where the league may not even finish because of a 3 pronged court threat that big fat ollie byrne from shels has issued. its no coincidence that 2 galway men are at the top running the eircom league that lleft massive damage at utd some years back. how limerick and athlone pass uefa standards is laughable. is the league really dead or on its last legs. and all of a sudden john delaney declares "its nothing to do with the fai" .

its time for supporters to rise up across the country

[eamo1]

they dont listen to fans and dont care,unless some mass protest was organised between fans so that at all games theres some kind of protest.

[Conor H]

Sure when you have joke's of clubs like Limerick,Kilkenny and Kildare in the league it's not going to get better either.The FAI must implement what they've said they will before it's too late.

[Tir Oilean]

excuse my ignorance on this one but would it have been at all possible to implement the Genesis Report without letting the FAI takeover the League. How difficult can it be to run it properly. There are so many average business people in this country that could run it better its a shame to see clowns at the top table of the circus.

Its gone so far now that the clubs are not even going to be able to sit around a table in the near future with all the shenanigans of points deduction inconsistencies etc.

Leaves me thinking it was a big boo boo letting these idiots talk us into signing up for the new regime. What would the Genesis people think of whats going on!:confused: :eek: :(

[gufct]

kilkenny are far from a joke Conor maybe because they run the club within thir means and OWN one of the finest grounds in the Country other big clubs who spend all their money chasing crazy dreams laugh at them but I certainly admire Jim Rhattigan and his club.

[Tir Oilean]

It's only a matter of time before we see who the jokes of clubs are imo. With Cork City going back to part time and some of the "bigger" clubs owing massive sums to Banks and the Taxman it could all end in tears for the big boys.

[John83]

kilkenny are far from a joke Conor maybe because they run the club within thir means and OWN one of the finest grounds in the Country other big clubs who spend all their money chasing crazy dreams laugh at them but I certainly admire Jim Rhattigan and his club.
Agreed. A lot of people look at them and sneer, but we need financially stable clubs to round out the league - hell, we need financially stable clubs throughout the league - and if progress is made at the top, the rising tide will lift all boats.

Buckley Park is unfortunately hidden, but it's a fine little ground and the club does no harm to the rest of us, unlike clubs who overspend, driving up wages - which forces other clubs to divert resources from elsewhere - and causing chaos when they are forced to face reality.

[geezer]

it was called on radio 1 last saturday afternoon,

[corbyeire]

good one!

[JW.]

At least in Italy, they deduct points for noble matters such as match-fixing and peddling with referee appointments. All we ever deduct points for is ineligible players.

[Tir Oilean]

At least in Italy, they deduct points for noble matters such as match-fixing and peddling with referee appointments. All we ever deduct points for is ineligible players.

What are you implying JW!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

[Paddyfield]

kilkenny are far from a joke Conor maybe because they run the club within thir means and OWN one of the finest grounds in the Country other big clubs who spend all their money chasing crazy dreams laugh at them but I certainly admire Jim Rhattigan and his club.


Agreed. If this League had more Jim Rhatigans, then it would be a finer place. Kilkenny are not one of the CRISIS clubs. AS gufct says, KCFC own their ground which is more than Shamrock Rovers, Cork City, Waterford, Limerick or Galway United can say.

I bet $hel$ would swop overdrafts with Kilkenny like a shot.

[GUISAUltra]

ya but if ya offered kilkenny shels position in the league they'd snap your hand off

[GuisaSaigon]

Surely it wouldn't be too much to ask teams to provide the referee with a team sheet 20 minutes before kick off.Referees could be given a list of suspended players and if one of these suspended players was on a team sheet the manager could be asked to replace the suspended player with an eligible one.
This would be very simple to implement and would save us all the embarrassment that happens every season.Who knows maybe after a few fiasco free seasons some serious businesspeople might see the LOI as a worthwhile investment.

[Magicme]

That makes sense Guisasaigon but I was at a meeting for League Reps & Officials (refs etc) and this was suggested but the FAI said it was not up to the Referees to monitor suspensions like that and that it was effectively none of their business.

[Tir Oilean]

That makes sense Guisasaigon but I was at a meeting for League Reps & Officials (refs etc) and this was suggested but the FAI said it was not up to the Referees to monitor suspensions like that and that it was effectively none of their business.

FECKING GOB****ES! Shows they are not willing to fix the problems that are occuring. There is a rep from the league at every game let him check the effin lists. Teamsheets are given to refs, PA and Press before every game. Do they have a mission statement somewhere that has the phrase "any publicity is good publicity" included?:mad:

[GuisaSaigon]

That makes sense Guisasaigon but I was at a meeting for League Reps & Officials (refs etc) and this was suggested but the FAI said it was not up to the Referees to monitor suspensions like that and that it was effectively none of their business.

Of course it is not up to the referees but that is why people are suggesting it should be up to referees.
If the referees refuse to do it somebody has to be appointed at each game to check teamsheets.If you look at any other league table in Europe you dont see asterix beside a team name because they fielded an ineligible player. We are the laughing stock of Europe.It's about time FAI took their heads out of their arses and put some preventative measures in place.

[GUISAUltra]

well said guisa

[Magicme]

whoa....dont all shout at me...just telling u what I heard!

[geezer]

tell the fai if you you take the t out of cant you can, they really are tossers, what does your man quigly the liverpool supporter and former president of the fai be doin in with his clipboard runnin around in front of the cameras every time their is a game on telly, surely someone like him could check the teamsheets he does crap all else

[GuisaSaigon]

Sorry Magicme, it was the FAI i was ranting at, not you.

[corbyeire]

seems like limerick will go under now if they dont get the lease at the end of the year - more farce

[GUISAUltra]

the good old FAI are already having a huge impact:D:D:D

[scotsbeer]

right, i dont do rocket science but i do get the general gist of how points are being allocated to clubs regarding their application to join the league next season but im still a wee bit confused as to how this play off pish is going to work. is it just an opportunity for the runner up in our league and the 11th placed team in other league to gain extra points for their ALREADY SUBMITTED applications? if so, what are the point allocation? what if both games finish level or level on aggregate.? does the winner overall go straight up? if so then what the feck was the application process all about in the first place? its all a pure and utter pile of nonsense.

[Terry]

not 100% sure but someone else said elsewhere on this forum that the play off is for "1" point

[Conor H]

not 100% sure but someone else said elsewhere on this forum that the play off is for "1" point

I heard 15.If it's for 1 point we shouldn't bother are arses travelling to Bray or Waterford if we're in it.

[DmanDmythDledge]

It's one point for calculating marks, but if it makes a differnce in placing it would be worth 10 points.

[scotsbeer]

sorry to harp on but that still doesnt clear things up. do u mean that if the overall winner of the play off is the team from the premier they get ten extra points toward their application and the losers just get the one extra point for taking part and vice versa? seems a bit daft. whats new there though with the fai and el.
if its only worth1 point then i agree wqith connor h. no matter how loyal a fan u are , who would travel all the way to bray or waterford for extra point.
anyway, excuse the thicko. 2 wins are the first priority before all of that

[Conor H]

kilkenny are far from a joke Conor maybe because they run the club within thir means and OWN one of the finest grounds in the Country other big clubs who spend all their money chasing crazy dreams laugh at them but I certainly admire Jim Rhattigan and his club.

Just saw in the attendances thread there.
50.yes 50......... at Kilkenny v Athlone.I'm sorry but that's a joke.They have little or no potential IMO.
Fair enough the books are in order but you'd have to question the sustainability of the club with laughable attendances like that.
Looks like we'll easily outnumber them next week!!

[Terry]

I remember 7 or 8 years ago being up in terryland on a miserable winters day for a match against monaghan with less than 50 at it and we seem to have faired out alright in the end.

Kilkenny have there off the pitch in good order, on the pitch now can only go up.

[John83]

You'd be surprised how many fans come out of the woodwork when a team starts doing well, Conor.

And how few hang around when you've been crap for several years.

[MyTown]

Conor,
I still think if Jim Rhatigan has balanced the books he deserves his place at the top table. In the midst of so much incompetence at other levels of the game and the manner in which Shelbourne and others have been allowed to go about their "business", Kilkenny are the template of how to do it properly. Who knows hurling might bomb there in the coming years and the locals will start to head to Buckley Park in greater numbers?

Waterford was the soccer heartland in the south east and very little will change to sway that support towards Kilkenny, but I'd much rather see them there than some of the Dublin clubs.

I'd say if Ronan Seerey had a Jim Rhatigan on his side Dublin City might still be in business. Instead, depending on who you believe, he personally, took a hit of up to six figures when his club went out of business - including the mortgaging of his house and car.

The great thing about soccer is that it is very democratic about who gets to play. I think if Kilkenny can afford to stay in business they deserve huge respect.

[DmanDmythDledge]

sorry to harp on but that still doesnt clear things up. do u mean that if the overall winner of the play off is the team from the premier they get ten extra points toward their application and the losers just get the one extra point for taking part and vice versa? seems a bit daft. whats new there though with the fai and el.
Teams are given points for the 2006 season which will count towards 20% of the overall points. This includes league, cups and european results. For the league points it's 21 for first, 20 for second and so on till 1 for 21st. The team that wins the FD will be 11th and score 8 points, whoever wins the playoff 12th and scores 7 points and whoever loses the playoff 13th and scores 6 points.

Its explained fully in this (http://www.fai.ie/merger/pdf/eircomLeague-proposals.pdf)- go to page 15 for the points criteria stuff.

[GuisaSaigon]

I remember us getting a crowd of 62 against limerick in the sportsgrounds a few years back. That was in the Premier Division ! We had a sh!te start to the season and people werent interested. Kilkenny have had a sh!te season, they have nothing to play for and people aren't interested .

[GUISAUltra]

kilkennys attendances are nearly always low these days though.
Even though they are well balanced of the pitch they are the worst team in the first division and i guarantee they would trade financial stability to be flying high in the premier division

[gufct]

Knowing the people who run kilkenny financial stability will always be the top priority and their right if you look at the mess a club like shels are in.

[GUISAUltra]

its easy to say they'd refuse the money when they have never been offered it. i still think kilkenny would switch a bad bank book for top flight football and european games

[DmanDmythDledge]

its easy to say they'd refuse the money when they have never been offered it. i still think kilkenny would switch a bad bank book for top flight football and european games
But they would only be temporary positives. They wouldn't be able to sustain a squad good enough to keep the level of performance up due to financial problems, or they could go down the Shels route and thread very close to going out of existence. Kilkenny have set the foundations to be a successful club. however the only problem I see them facing is that Kilkenny is a hurling county so most talented youngsters would choose a career in hurling rather than soccer.

[GUISAUltra]

i still think that no matter how solid a base kilkenny have they will never ever be a successful club. fair play to them for having a good house in order and everything i can just never ever see them being successful. i might be wrong but i dont think i will be

[Conor H]

Agree with ULTRA.
There's no point having a well run club if nobody bcomes to support the bloody team!

[steno]

Sure when you have joke's of clubs like Limerick,Kilkenny and Kildare in the league it's not going to get better either.The FAI must implement what they've said they will before it's too late.


In what way?

[Conor H]

Well IMO Kildare are an example of how it can quite simply go wrong!
Despite showing potential early on Kildare are a club going nowhere fast.With low attendances averaging 100-150 an average squad,average manager,poor enough infastructure etc i can't see kildare going anywhere.
Yee probably would have got more support if yee entered the league as Newbridge Town but that's neither here nor there.
Kildare wouldn't ba able to sustain themselves in the premier league.An all seater stand of what 100?There are quite a few reasons why i feel Kildare like many others in this league are a waste of time.No offence meant i quite enjoy my trips to Station Road.

[John83]

Agree with ULTRA.
There's no point having a well run club if nobody bcomes to support the bloody team!
I'm sure the Limerick fans will agree.

[GUISAUltra]

station road is definitely one of the best trips but as a club kildare are a bit of a joke. i know we drew with them last week but we played terrible and still should have won 3-1.

I do think that Limerick can still have a good future if they get this situation sorted out with there lease, I know Drew said he's gonna walk away in december if he doesn't get the lease but i dont thnik Limerick will go defunct. they have potential to be a great club, whereas i dont think kildare or kilkenny do.

On the whole i think whoever gets into this new league are gonna pull greatly ahead of the first division clubs. the difference will be massive and with there being no promotion for the next 3 years i think whoever doesn't get promoted are gonna find it really hard to stay afloat

[Terry]

I cant believe our own supporters are talking like this when only a few years ago we were in a position of going under ourselves. We have now turned things around and are getting stronger each year both on and off the pitch. It clubs like kilkenny, kildare and limerick that we should be shouting support towards and not shouting for them to go out of existance/ or for them to leave the league. If this league is to succeed we need teams from ever corner of the country. When kilkenny did make it into the premier division a good few years ago there support was much the same as any others, so this shows that it is there if they can get things moving on the pitch. Lads, answer me this, if we were in there shoes this year do you think that we would be getting more than 100 through the gates? very unlikely !

[steno]

Well IMO Kildare are an example of how it can quite simply go wrong!
Despite showing potential early on Kildare are a club going nowhere fast.With low attendances averaging 100-150 an average squad,average manager,poor enough infastructure etc i can't see kildare going anywhere.
Yee probably would have got more support if yee entered the league as Newbridge Town but that's neither here nor there.
Kildare wouldn't ba able to sustain themselves in the premier league.An all seater stand of what 100?There are quite a few reasons why i feel Kildare like many others in this league are a waste of time.No offence meant i quite enjoy my trips to Station Road.

250 seats first of all and our average attendances aren't great agree with you there and the club have had two very poor seasons.

But even so last season the club turned over 44,000 and we have stopped trying to buy sucess and adjusted accordingly. There is more to running a club than gate receipts as I'm sure you know Conor H. The club gets a decent sum in sponsorship and runs quiet a sucessfull draw in conjunction with other clubs based in and outside Kildare for 5 months.
http://www.kildarecountyfc.com/Every1AWinner/index.asp (http://www.kildarecountyfc.com/Every1AWinner/index.asp)

As for sustaining ourselves in the premier league, If the club can manage success I'm sure the crowds will come back as has been seen at Sligo Rovers and yourselves at Galway.
We are also only an hour from Dublin and all four clubs in Dublin appear destined for the premier division as maybe do yourselves. The Dublin clubs do have a good following as Shamrock Rovers have shown when they have come here.

Plans are also in line to build a new stand opposite the current one its just a matter of getting money through grants. I think the planning permission is there but not sure.


Terry wrote
I cant believe our own supporters are talking like this when only a few years ago we were in a position of going under ourselves. We have now turned things around and are getting stronger each year both on and off the pitch. It clubs like kilkenny, kildare and limerick that we should be shouting support towards and not shouting for them to go out of existance/ or for them to leave the league. If this league is to succeed we need teams from ever corner of the country. When kilkenny did make it into the premier division a good few years ago there support was much the same as any others, so this shows that it is there if they can get things moving on the pitch. Lads, answer me this, if we were in there shoes this year do you think that we would be getting more than 100 through the gates? very unlikely !

Thank you Terry very good points and was exactly what I was getting to:)

[Lim till i die]

I cant believe our own supporters are talking like this when only a few years ago we were in a position of going under ourselves. We have now turned things around and are getting stronger each year both on and off the pitch. It clubs like kilkenny, kildare and limerick that we should be shouting support towards and not shouting for them to go out of existance/ or for them to leave the league. If this league is to succeed we need teams from ever corner of the country. When kilkenny did make it into the premier division a good few years ago there support was much the same as any others, so this shows that it is there if they can get things moving on the pitch. Lads, answer me this, if we were in there shoes this year do you think that we would be getting more than 100 through the gates? very unlikely !

Well said Terry

Some of ye have real short memories in Galway :ball:

[gufct]

Im afraid conor you have a lot to learn about Eircom League Football.We are doing ok but only ok we dont own our own ground we dont have any assets bar the players and were it not for the dedicated voluntary people involved in keeping ther wolf from the door and keeping the club alive we would and nearly did go out of existence 3 times in the last 10 years.

The league needs clubs who try to live within their means and refuse to pay grossly inflated wages based on a dream of success which many of the bigger clubs Bohs & Shels being the 2 main culprits in the last 5 yrs without any sustainable revenue source.

[GuisaSaigon]

I cant believe our own supporters are talking like this when only a few years ago we were in a position of going under ourselves. We have now turned things around and are getting stronger each year both on and off the pitch. It clubs like kilkenny, kildare and limerick that we should be shouting support towards and not shouting for them to go out of existance/ or for them to leave the league. If this league is to succeed we need teams from ever corner of the country. When kilkenny did make it into the premier division a good few years ago there support was much the same as any others, so this shows that it is there if they can get things moving on the pitch. Lads, answer me this, if we were in there shoes this year do you think that we would be getting more than 100 through the gates? very unlikely !

Top post, Terry.

[Tir Oilean]

Well said Terry......The voice of reason. In Conor H's defence he's not been around that long to know how close we've been to being defunct over the past ten years.