General promotion/media discussion (split from the attendances thread)

[dcfcsteve]

btw, to get back on topic - a very simple thing that could be done is insisting the FAI Cup draws go back on the 6.1 news, rather than being shown to the converted as they've been since the MNS sop started. Double edged sword - gets the cup out there to a wider audience and gives them a chance to plug MNS when they say "further coverage and reaction to the draw at 7pm on RTE2".

Good idea there Macy.

I wonder if RTE's News Editor was keen/happy to get rid of the draw though. Especilaly for the earlier rounds, it can take up a good chunk of their beloved main news show, so MNS might have provided a good reason for them to lobby to have it moved.

Though if it's part of the FAI's deal with RTE then the NE would obviously have no say

[bingoballs]

Morning Ireland sports section again this morning and there was cricket, golf, tennis, gah hockey and finally, as an afterthought, a brief mention of the LOI. I complained to RTE last week as there was no mention of the FAI cup games at all on the same programme last friday. Maybe there is little appetite to find out about the league in Ireland but there is massive potential for expansion.
Not that long ago crowds of over 20,000 fans were not unheard of at league and cup ties, what is the difference between now and then when most clubs in the league today would be happy to have 10% of that gate?
Anyone who doesn't believe that the media lead and the punters follow is being hoodwinked in my opinion. The English general election is a perfect example of this when Rupert Murdock told all the top people in his different publications and agencies the outcome he wanted and instructed them to get it. I honestly believe there is a general snobbery amongst the Irish press towards the LOI and the coverage our league gets reflects this. How many times have you seen a picture of a player from the LOI in a paper and the wrong name underneath? And Steve, regardless of any online editions, the best coverage of the league is still the Mirror, an English publication.
No matter what anyone says, I firmly believe that the more column inches and airtime will result in a greater interest being generated. The FAI need to tackle this and use their clout to try and sell the league to the masses via the media. As I am writing this Keith Fahy has just scored for Ireland. How will it be reported in the media tomorrow, Biirmingham midfielder or former Saint Pats and LOI star?

[Spudulika]

Orn you could top worrying about people who won't come to games and just enjoy whats there. Seriously, if all LOI clubs only ever manage to get 500 people at the game, so what? Just carry on paying our way and let the people who actually do bother with the games enjoy them

FAr, far, far toom mcuh bull**** spoken on here about the "ills of the game". most people just go to watch a bit of football. When team do well, they get more, when they're rubbish they get less.

Pain in my face of talk of overhauls when there isn't a single penny to spare in Irish football

Well, maybe for some it's better to just leave it all as it is, let money flow in and out and continue walking backwards. I don't know if you're wumming, but I don't think there's a person who's heart and head is in the LOI who doesn't see that some small changes would improve the situation massively. Clubs being run professionally for a start, players getting paid etc. If it were simply a case of no money to spare to improve the LOI then that would be fine, though it's not in the equation. There are funds to be drawn upon from a number of sources (successfully done in other countries) if only there was a bit of initiative from the top and a push from the bottom. However, it could well be best to leave it rot as it is, maybe it's just about a ball being kicked than anything else, which is in essence all it is.

Bingoballs, did you get a response as to why there was a lack of reportage? It's not totally uncommon but teh first I've heard that nothing was done after games the night before.

[ger121]

This was a great idea to promote lower league football in England. Shame something similar wouldn't work here to get people into a LOI match for a night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8973589.stm

[dcfcsteve]

This was a great idea to promote lower league football in England. Shame something similar wouldn't work here to get people into a LOI match for a night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8973589.stm

Great idea.

I think something similar to this could work in the LOI, but it would need to have some sort of 'hook' behind it as we don't have the whole 'no Premier games' day issue here as they do in England.

It would rely on novelty though, and would really need to get rolling as a bandwagon before people got involved. The big question is - how to get it started ?

The FAI could play a big role in something like this. With Internationals now on a Friday, pick one , switch the league games to a Saturday, and then use the international players as part of an effort to promote the idea of going to see your local team the next day. Doyle and Fahey in particular would be great to use in an ad. The FAI could even cajole/persuade a few of the players to take in games themselves as part of it all. Even if they only relied on trying to persuade some of the 50,000 at an international to go, a 1% success rate (not unreasonable) would be noticeable.

There's a gem of an idea worth trying there. But I doubt the FAI would be bothered.

[Straightstory]

[QUOTE=bingoballs;
I honestly believe there is a general snobbery amongst the Irish press towards the LOI and the coverage our league gets reflects this.[/QUOTE]
Very true. What's so frustrating is that it wasn't always this way. Once upon a time columnists like Con Houlihan would write as much about the league as he did about the national side. Newspapers would give as much (if not more) space to domestic football as the English game. The League was part of the general mozaic of Irish sport - like horse racing; the GAA etc. The LOI has been completely squeezed out over the last fifteen years or so. It's such a shame. People now only want things that are glossy and glitzy. Maybe something to do with the overall dumbing down of newspapers (and, I suppose, society in general)????

[legendz]

I'd push community connections as well. LoI clubs should have an U16 team, Youth team (U18 but goal-keeper and 3 outfield players can be U19) and a reserve side. The FAI should try to get more counties represented in the A Championship. In Pool 2 for example, get a Clare and Tipperary side involved. They might have to relax the rules a bit for it but keep the regulations as they are for joining the LoI Division One.

[legendz]

also... What the LoI needs is box office news. That will come from regular good progression in Europe to at least the play-offs stages and not just one hit wonders.

[dcfcsteve]

Very true. What's so frustrating is that it wasn't always this way. Once upon a time columnists like Con Houlihan would write as much about the league as he did about the national side. Newspapers would give as much (if not more) space to domestic football as the English game. The League was part of the general mozaic of Irish sport - like horse racing; the GAA etc. The LOI has been completely squeezed out over the last fifteen years or so. It's such a shame. People now only want things that are glossy and glitzy. Maybe something to do with the overall dumbing down of newspapers (and, I suppose, society in general)????

The coverage was only a little better 25yrs ago from memory, so it's been a while since the LOI had anywhere near balanced coverage with overseas football.

[Spudulika]

dcfcsteve, It was marginally better than now back then (there were better crowds from my own memory), but you had more paper coverage, plus the national radio was better at covering it, not to mention Sports Stadium on a Saturday. When they did away with it (Sports Stadium) suddenly there was a severe drop off in sports coverage - cycling, athletics, boxing, LOI football and even live games from the pre-sky league, GAA NL and horse racing. Suddenly it all went satellite and exposure was lost. If only they would put on a show like that again, though on a Sunday, maybe it might just work, but it took a few brain cells to follow it at times.

[dcfcsteve]

dcfcsteve, It was marginally better than now back then (there were better crowds from my own memory), but you had more paper coverage, plus the national radio was better at covering it, not to mention Sports Stadium on a Saturday. When they did away with it (Sports Stadium) suddenly there was a severe drop off in sports coverage - cycling, athletics, boxing, LOI football and even live games from the pre-sky league, GAA NL and horse racing. Suddenly it all went satellite and exposure was lost. If only they would put on a show like that again, though on a Sunday, maybe it might just work, but it took a few brain cells to follow it at times.

I'd be fairly confident the League has better exposure now on TV anyway. Sports Stadium gave a bit of coverage most weeks, but in comparison to MNS and the raft of live games we have now there is no comparison to then and now on TV.

I'm also pretty sure crowds then were no better than now, and from memory they were actually a bit worse. They were certainly more erratic - e.g. Dundalk or Sligo could magic up 4-5,000 fans every so often without a cup final, City took thousands around the country etc, but a lot of clubs had less support then than now (incl pretty much every Dublin club plus the likes of Longford, Harps and Drogheda).

[legendz]

The league has never been helped by having been such a closed circle. Some see it as GAA thinking but pride in a county is an Irish thing. Rugby has tapped into Provincial pride, association football hasn't really tapped into anything.

[fionnsci]

There was a daycent LOI ad on at half time at the Ireland match tonight, just goals.

[dcfcsteve]

LOI does tap into a sense of place outside of Dublin - in Derry, Cork, Sligo, Dundalk, Longford, Drogheda etc. Not always, but those areas have shown the ability to generate significant crowds to support their teams on big days out.

It's a different issue within Dublin, where teams don't seem to embody their local areas as much as they do in other big cities elsewhere. Ironically, I've always thought that Pats probably had the best local identity of the Big 4 in Dublin, but Rovers seem to be making the best fist of this recently.

GAA is also fortunate not to have any competitors within its own sport, and the rugby provinces largely drove the current surge in popularity of the game in Ireland rather than merely being beneficiaries. The LOI has neither of those things going for it - we have foreign competitiors who are richer, more glamorous, more successful and better covered than us, and football's popularity in Ireland is largely the result of a combination of Jack Charlton-era Ireland and foreign clubs.

[dcfcsteve]

There was a daycent LOI ad on at half time at the Ireland match tonight, just goals.

As an aside - were ordinary adult tickets really €40-50 for tonight's game....?