Sporting Fingal to be offered First Division place [Archive]

Tis-smeee

18/01/2008, 12:14 PM

Sporting Fingal to be offered First Division place

Sporting Fingal will be offered the opportunity to replace Kilkenny City in the Eircom League of Ireland First Division.

Reacting to the decision of Kilkenny City to resign from the Eircom League of Ireland, Director Fran Gavin, said:

“Kilkenny City’s decision to resign is based on practicalities. They do not have sufficient people on board to meet the demands now being placed on clubs in an effort to raise standards throughout the league.

“When the FAI took over the running of the League we said that there would be a realignment as the demands on clubs to adhere to higher standards increased and this is an example of this.

“Kilkenny City were a well run club. They had very good facilities at Buckley Park and managed their finances prudently but they had reached a crossroads. After a period of reflection they decided that they didn’t want to push on to the next level and I fully understand that and compliment them for their honesty.

“The objective of the Football Association of Ireland is to create a League of Ireland that contains well run clubs, living within their means and offering the best possible facilities to players, officials, spectators, sponsors and media. I have no doubt that other clubs will arrive at the same crossroads as Kilkenny and face the same questions and I hope they answer them as honestly as Kilkenny have.”

“The vacancy that now exists in the Eircom League of Ireland First Division will be offered to the highest placed team in the recent IAG process for the A Championship which is Sporting Fingal.”

www.eircomloi.ie

jebus

18/01/2008, 12:24 PM

I think scrapping the First Division should be given considerable thought to be honest, it's completely unworkable when you had clubs like Kilkenny getting 50 people at games, or the rest of us getting 500. Whether it means reforming both divisions into one 16-20 team Premier with two A Championship type leagues to ensure there at leats is a relegation situation or something else I don't know though, but financially the First Division just doesn't work

Sheridan

18/01/2008, 12:25 PM

“Kilkenny City’s decision to resign is based on practicalities. They do not have sufficient people on board to meet the demands now being placed on clubs in an effort to raise standards throughout the league."
No need for that little dig...

“The vacancy that now exists in the Eircom League of Ireland First Division will be offered to the highest placed team in the recent IAG process for the A Championship which is Sporting Fingal.”
:D Just when we thought we might get through a season without someone being elevated on spuriously contrived criteria. I've no doubt Sporting Fingal are the best placed of the A-Leaguers to compete at this level, but the brazenness of this takes the biscuit.

BohDiddley

18/01/2008, 12:27 PM

Absolute madness. Dublin needs another eL club like a hole in the head.

GuisaSaigon

18/01/2008, 12:35 PM

higgins

18/01/2008, 12:40 PM

You need some sort of a buffer!!!

All clubs have their day in the First Division. Getting rid of it will solve nothing.

Mr A

18/01/2008, 12:42 PM

Did Sporting Fingal do a DVD or what?

The clubs didn't know they might get a league place when they did this surely, so logically they should have been able to bid again- I'd way prefer Tullamore to get the slot if they're anyway ready.

* I know this joke is old and unfunny at this stage, but it simply has to be done.**

** No I can't explain that, but you know it as well as I do.

GuisaSaigon

18/01/2008, 12:48 PM

The clubs in the First Division that could hack it in the Premier Division could be invited to the new Sooper Dooper League again. The Clubs that are a mess could play in an A League type set up where the winners would be considered for inclusion in the Sooper Dooper League if the met pre- agreed criteria. Sound familiar?
The Christmas trees in Abbotstown would want to watch out!

higgins

18/01/2008, 12:51 PM

You don't get it ??

You need a lower division so that 10 or 12 teams can fight it out for promotion. What will usually happen is the ones who get promoted are doing things correctly. When promoted they stand a better chance of doing well in the premier

Having no first division would result in less teams getting their act together.

Did you not do probability in school ?

GuisaSaigon

18/01/2008, 1:05 PM

There would be promotion relegation if A League clubs got their act together and/or League teams let their standards slip.

Sniffer

18/01/2008, 1:07 PM

It's certainly a pain to see yet another Dublin club in the LOI, what's the alternative? A half-baked provincial outfit with no support?

Tis-smeee

18/01/2008, 1:15 PM

As Opposed to a half baked Dublin outfit with no support

L37Ultra

18/01/2008, 1:26 PM

It's certainly a pain to see yet another Dublin club in the LOI, what's the alternative? A half-baked provincial outfit with no support?

Ya but whos to say Sporting Fingal will have more support than Kilkenny? You certainly dont know yet. Cities in Europe have at the most three clubs and their populations are greater than that in Dublin. There are now 7 clubs in the top two flights in Ireland from Dublin. It wouldnt happen anywhere else. Support is evenly spread throughout Dublin for these clubs but the League does not need another Dublin club IMO. I think SF will struggle to get support to be honest. Hope im wrong though!!

Titan

18/01/2008, 1:38 PM

Block G Raptor

18/01/2008, 1:38 PM

I think SF will struggle to get support to be honest. Hope im wrong though!!

They struggled in the last election alright but they're coming back strong :D;):D

cornerflag

18/01/2008, 1:38 PM

Ya but whos to say Sporting Fingal will have more support than Kilkenny? You certainly dont know yet. Cities in Europe have at the most three clubs and their populations are greater than that in Dublin. There are now 7 clubs in the top two flights in Ireland from Dublin. It wouldnt happen anywhere else. Support is evenly spread throughout Dublin for these clubs but the League does not need another Dublin club IMO. I think SF will struggle to get support to be honest. Hope im wrong though!!

It is difficult to tell at this early stage tho wether or not SF will be able to establish a credible fan base. They will after all be concentrating on the north side of Dublin i.e. Swords Malahide area as far as i am aware. Fingal county is growing rapidly so who knows. its all down to their promotional methods

BohDiddley

18/01/2008, 1:52 PM

No fans, no place, no history, no reason.

The game is trying to widen its appeal and, arguably, has started to turn things round from an absolutely disastrous position. Now this.

The public has a choice between genuine, historic clubs, like Bohs, Pats, Rovers and Shels, and the makey-uppy, Mickey Mouse projects of people who should be providing education, health services, and answers to climate change.

My hope is that people, confronted with and provoked by something as falsely based and ludicrously titled as 'Sporting Fingal', are spurred on to seek out the real deal in their football heritage.

monutdfc

18/01/2008, 1:57 PM

I have no doubt that other clubs will arrive at the same crossroads as Kilkenny and face the same questions and I hope they answer them as honestly as Kilkenny have.

www.eircomloi.ie
Am I missing something - the Director of the League just said he hopes more teams drop out of the league?

Bald Student

18/01/2008, 1:59 PM

7 in Dublin?????????????????Dublin is defined as anywhere you can get to on Dublin Bus or by Dart. That's why the Drogs are moving to Meath, to maintain their country status after the Northern Line is electrified.

Spoons

18/01/2008, 2:01 PM

"The Christmas trees in Abbotstown would want to watch out!" GUISA SAIGON......

A little rich slagging Dundalk off when the biggest gangsters are pulling the strings at your own Club.....

Which leads me to another point.....

How the hell did Galway Utd ever get in to the Premier Division!!! :confused:

Philly

18/01/2008, 2:08 PM

Am I missing something - the Director of the League just said he hopes more teams drop out of the league?

Jesus yeah that is an insane thing to say really. The sad fact is more First Division clubs will go bust because we have being given no help whatsoever when it comes to PR, Marketing, etc and the league has received no promotion. This has made the struggle to survive harder and the FAI seem to be happy enough to see the stragglers disappear. Football in this country is such a joke at times.

Sheridan

18/01/2008, 2:10 PM

The joke is that the clubs voted for it...

Tis-smeee

18/01/2008, 2:15 PM

Which leads me to another point.....

How the hell did Galway Utd ever get in to the Premier Division!!! :confused:

They rented a great dvd i think it was a clint eastwood one and they bought all the sweets

ndrog

18/01/2008, 2:21 PM

Dublin is defined as anywhere you can get to on Dublin Bus or by Dart. That's why the Drogs are moving to Meath, to maintain their country status after the Northern Line is electrified.

Drogs new stadium is being built in Drogheda which has always taken in parts of meath county on the northern part of town . And you cant get a dart or Dublin bus to Drogheda .

Olander

18/01/2008, 2:21 PM

How the hell did Galway Utd ever get in to the Premier Division!!! :confused:
You're only about a year behind with that question.:)

passerrby

18/01/2008, 2:43 PM

www.eircomloi.ie[/url]

I wonder why with fran and john delaney at the helm

Flawless

18/01/2008, 2:46 PM

Out of curiosty (or Naiivity), were will Sporting Fingal play their home games??

Jerry The Saint

18/01/2008, 2:50 PM

All clubs have their day in the First Division.

Not ALL clubs :D

passerrby

18/01/2008, 2:52 PM

morton stadium .is that in fingal, are they the first club to be issued with a licence for the forthcoming season while the rest have to go through the process

Sniffer

18/01/2008, 3:09 PM

It's in Santry, close to the Fingal border - Shamrock Rovers played there a few years back, and Shels were reported to be considering a move there a couple of seasons ago. there are plans in the pipeline for a new venue in Fingal as reported on the FAI website (http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2559)

Block G Raptor

18/01/2008, 3:21 PM

there are plans in the pipeline for a new venue in Fingal as reported on the FAI website (http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2559)

Abbottstown is in Fingal so perhaps we'll see a stadium at the Bertie Bowl Site after all, if not quite on the scale we'd hoped for back then

passerrby

18/01/2008, 3:24 PM

slightly of topic but is there plans to locate a LOI team at abbotstown, is that possible

Block G Raptor

18/01/2008, 3:32 PM

slightly of topic but is there plans to locate a LOI team at abbotstown, is that possible

As far as I know theres a fair bit of land out there which has been zoned for sport and recreation to prepare for the whole sports campus Ireland Thingy
the NAC (http://www.nationalaquaticcentre.ie/photo-gallery.php)is there presently and the FAI have recently moved in too, as far as I can recall the FAI academy/center of excellence (http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2007/1205/fai.html) is supposed to be going in there at some stage too

amjl

18/01/2008, 3:43 PM

I think scrapping the First Division should be given considerable thought to be honest, Whether it means reforming both divisions into one 16-20 team Premier with two A Championship type leagues to ensure there at leats is a relegation situation

I think scrappingthe First Division would be a good idea & making a Premier Division into 16-20 teams league would make much more sense. It would give all the smaller clubs a better chance of survival as they would get bigger crowds from playing the bigger clubs and it should attract more interest locally. (any 1st Division club would benefit from the cwrods when playing against Cork, Drogs, Derry, Pats, Bohs, Rovers, etc.)

Clubs who finish rock bottom or if clubs fail to keep the pace(financially, etc.), then they should be relagted down to the A championship, which could be used as a buffer with the winners being promoted should they have their affairs/liscence criteria up to standard.

That way, you have just 1 league to promote to the bigger audience and you still have your promotion/relegation with only 1 team going up & one going down to keep it intersesting at that end of the table.

financially the First Division just doesn't work

Understatemnet of the year!

kingdomkerry

18/01/2008, 4:13 PM

Too many Dublin clubs as it is. 2 for any city the size of dublin is enough

pineapple stu

18/01/2008, 4:28 PM

The clubs didn't know they might get a league place when they did this surely, so logically they should have been able to bid again- I'd way prefer Tullamore to get the slot if they're anyway ready.
Didn't Letterkenny apply and were turned down?

If so, that'd imply all applicant clubs had to make an IAG type application just to join the A league, so there was one ready available for them to pick a First Division team. Still not the best of ways of doing it though.

You have to have a First Division to avoid stagnation. Promotion and relegation are an essential part of any league.

The Rebel Ram

18/01/2008, 4:29 PM

Sad day for Kilkenny
Disgusted that it is yet another Dublin club to replace them!!!!

Dodge

18/01/2008, 4:31 PM

Am I missing something - the Director of the League just said he hopes more teams drop out of the league?

That was my reading of it too. They obviously want an "elite" league. :rolleyes:

Too many Dublin clubs as it is. 2 for any city the size of dublin is enough

Last year Dublin had between 1/3 and 1/4 of the population and roughly those percentages in league clubs.

If no other club wants to oin the LOI there's not many options...

pineapple stu

18/01/2008, 4:32 PM

Yeah, 'twas either Fingal or one of two Galway teams (which would have been funny!) or Tullamore, and we don't know how well prepared they are. So from here anyways, it looks like the obvious choice to bring Fingal in.

John83

18/01/2008, 4:59 PM

Too many Dublin clubs as it is. 2 for any city the size of dublin is enough
Absolutely. We should have a team a county. Perhaps some kind of all-Ireland final.

osarusan

18/01/2008, 5:09 PM

Absolutely. We should have a team a county. Perhaps some kind of all-Ireland final.
And I've always thought it would be a better sport if all players could handle the ball, not just the goalkeeper.

Schumi

18/01/2008, 5:10 PM

Absolutely. We should have a team a county. Perhaps some kind of all-Ireland final.And none of this 'hand ball' rule.

Buller

18/01/2008, 5:22 PM

And none of this 'hand ball' rule.

And we'll called the box a.... parallelogram! In geometry, a parallelogram is a quadrilateral with two sets of parallel sides. The opposite sides of a parallelogram are of equal length, and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are congruent.
:D
Also we could make the pitch so ridiculously big that it would not fit in our new stadium in Tallaght.... oh wait... :rolleyes:

passerrby

18/01/2008, 6:09 PM

And we'll called the box a.... parallelogram! In geometry, a parallelogram is a quadrilateral with two sets of parallel sides. The opposite sides of a parallelogram are of equal length, and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are congruent.
:D
:

there was I just about keeping up with this discussion and buller has to knock me out of the ball park your just like my wife using words i dont understand

Buller

18/01/2008, 6:13 PM

there was I just about keeping up with this discussion and buller has to knock me out of the ball park your just like my wife using words i dont understand

Ahaha, dont worry - I dont understand them either... Continue Discussion!
I think Sporting Fingal will be different to what was the meaningless Dublin City. They've got a spacific catchment area and are hoping to build a stadium with FCC's backing. I think they are a completely different prospect and worthy of a first division place. Very sad to hear Kilkenny resigning...

pineapple stu

18/01/2008, 8:47 PM

Possibly, but there are similarities in that they're an ego trip who seem to be quite happy to run up large costs without any solid basis for knowing what their income is going to be. In addition, they're a franchise team set up with no history and, regardless of how big your catchment area, in Dublin anyways, that just ain't going to work very well. If nothing else, recent eL history tells us that.

Lim till i die

18/01/2008, 8:52 PM

Last year Dublin had between 1/3 and 1/4 of the population and roughly those percentages in league clubs.

A good point well made and one which the more vocal members (ie Cork fans) of the "Too many Dublin Clubs" brigade often overlook.

Having said that if you gave me a choice between Morton Stadium and Buckley Park next year I know what I'd pick :o

monutdfc

18/01/2008, 9:33 PM

And we'll call the goalkeeper ..... a custodian

(I always wanted to write a match report in the style of a gaa report...Williamson at top of the left evaded stalwart defender Doyle and progressed into the large parallelogram where he rifled the leather past Murphy the custodian and into the back of the onion bag.... I'm sure these terms were original once, but they are now hackneyed cliches)