Back to Summer Soccer

[young boy]

just a thought that came to mind about the eircom league. with the League progressing well and more teams going full time does anybody think its time to go back to playing from auguest till May. i mean there is more money at clubs these days and surely with all these new stadiums the pitchs are getting better and should be able to stand the weather we get with the proper protection and work that is been done to them. i know its an issue for awhile but surely over the next 2 years most teams will be full time in the premier and first deivision and willl have full time groundsmen and the pitchs should be spot on. i think it will draw bigger crowds to games and will also give the players a nice rest during the summmer with there families.

[OneRedArmy]

No.

And as for the "nice rest for the players".....

[LeixlipRed]

Full time groundsmen? Have you ever been to an EL match?

[galwayhoop]

just a thought that came to mind about the eircom league. with the League progressing well and more teams going full time does anybody think its time to go back to playing from auguest till May. i mean there is .................... and will also give the players a nice rest during the summmer with there families.

the season from mid august to mid may is 9 months. therefore 3 months nice rest with their families

the season from early march to mid/late november is 8 or 8 1/2 months. giving the players a nicer (slightly longer) rest with their families - which includes christmas / new years.

also very very few games called off due to adverse weather conditions and more competitive in european competitions. and also less work for the groundsmen as the pitches are not as damaged.

why was that you wanted to go to summer (title of thread) soccer - i presume you mean winter (as you implied with the dates for your season) soccer?

[young boy]

ya i ment back to winter. it was only to see if people changed there minds. i have been to a few eircom league grounds and there grounds men do good jobs.

maybe there just poor at your club lexlipred but other grounds are kept in top notch all yr round. not too many r keen on the change. from speaking to some people and players in the eircom league they would like to see the change.

[pete]

I feel we are beyond changing schedules just for the sake of it. Vast majority of fans favour the current calendar & I think would need to make a very convincing case to have us change now.

[charliesboots]

maybe there just poor at your club lexlipred but other grounds are kept in top notch all yr round.

lexlipred's club's groundsman could do with being a part-time subaqua diver and also very charitable maybe!!

[Sam_Heggy]

Finn Park is in awful state at present. Its unfortunate as we were always very proud to have such a good quality playin surface. all in all im in favour of the season as is. our teams have never been as competitive in europe and the crowds will come whether is summer/winter if your team is doing well. and as we all know the weather is not exactly guaranteed to be great in the summer either.

[charliesboots]

Finn Park is in awful state at present. Its unfortunate as we were always very proud to have such a good quality playin surface. all in all im in favour of the season as is. our teams have never been as competitive in europe and the crowds will come whether is summer/winter if your team is doing well. and as we all know the weather is not exactly guaranteed to be great in the summer either.

Totally off-topic Sam but hows the new ground progressing or is it?

[osarusan]

They are - "they" is a personal pronoun (replacing a proper noun, in this case a plural noun)

Their - a possessive pronoun (indicating ownership or control)

There - indicating location.

Hope this helps.

[Sam_Heggy]

Totally off-topic Sam but hows the new ground progressing or is it?

we have developer sorted, plans are on our website www.finnharps.com and afaik the funding is pretty much sorted so, the idea is to start this year but ive listened to that for a while. We have a new chairman on the board who seems to be well driven towards the new stadium so fingers crossed. No1 at the club wants to put time scale on the stadium but hopefull to be in by start of 2010.

[Réiteoir]

I love Summer Soccer - would never want to go back to the old ways.

[Dr.Nightdub]

Anyone who was up in Dungannon for our Setanta match the other night would fight to the death to avoid going back to winter soccer. Brassic, so it was.

[charliesboots]

Anyone who was up in Dungannon for our Setanta match the other night would fight to the death to avoid going back to winter soccer. Brassic, so it was.

Love it. There's always a better atmosphere at games when its dark. Absolutely hate June/July/August matches when its still bright at the final whistle.

[TonyD]

They are - "they" is a personal pronoun (replacing a proper noun, in this case a plural noun)

Their - a possessive pronoun (indicating ownership or control)

There - indicating location.

Hope this helps.


In fairness, it's a common enough error on this Board. If we're going to get into spelling and grammar issues, what about the use of "should of" instead of "should have". That's one that really pees me off.

[paudie]

While looking out at the torrential rain/sleet/hailstones we have over since January I was thinking "Thank God we only have to go to matches at the tail end of the winter" and not all December/January/Feb.

Can't see the season changing again TBH.
The good european results alone justify summer soccer and you only need to look at the league up North to see that, of itself, playing winter football doesn't attract bigger crowds.

[peterc1992]

Nah,i enjoy having no premiership and watching the el.

[dcfcsteve]

Keep it Summer.

Also - on your assertion that "most teams in the Premier and First Division will be full-time in 2 years" : I doubt if most teams in the Premier would be full-time by then, and I'd be shocked if any in the First were. There just isn't the income for it currently in Irish football, and there is supposed to be a wage cap of 65% of turnover, which would legislate against full-time for many teams.

Football clubs have no define right to be full-time - they need to structure their set-up and wages according to their means/income. Our league can currently realistically only sustain a few at the moment, so that's all we should be having.

[pineapple stu]

While looking out at the torrential rain/sleet/hailstones we have over since January I was thinking "Thank God we only have to go to matches at the tail end of the winter" and not all December/January/Feb.
Make a man out you, so it will.

[Murpholini]

No thanks. It's no fun driving half way down the country only to find the referee has called off the match 90 minutes before kick-off. Summer soccer is here to stay for the forseeable future and without it we would not be making the great strides in European football that have been evident in the last five years.