Solution to League of Ireland problem?

I was thinking about how we could ever get soccer fans in Ireland (note -not Irish soccer fans :D) to support our league again.

We could ban coverage of the Premiership -but that would be difficult.

However, given the government's need to raise extra revenue, we could add a levy to satellite TV subscriptions (perhaps a percentage -so that those with Sky Sports would pay more :)). This could then be directed back into the league here (via grants).

There is a national interest here (not just sporting) -the tens of millions being spent by Irish people on the premiership and english leagues (replica jerseys, trips, subscriptions etc) is going straight out of the country and not coming back.

Of course all this is fairly radical, but if we had a sneaky minister for finance (it is FF after all!) then it could be done (he could be wearing a Bohs or Rovers jersey under his shirt or something for all we know!).

Sack Gavin....

Tbh, I think fans on here should stop complaining about the current regime and having a go at barstoolers. Its a tiring game!

Prob just better off accepting and enjoying LOI football for what it is!

Anyway, the main stumbling block to LOI "progression" is the fact that people see English football as the default league of sorts.

Simple as that - when people think football, they think Man United, Liverpool etc. And you cannot blame these people - after all, every time they open up a newspaper or turn on the TV, that is what they see.

For the LOI to grow and progress in a manner that a lot of fans on here seem to want - LOI football has to be seen in a more natural light, i.e. it has to become ingrained in the public psyche in a way similar to that seen of the English Premiership. It has to get in the 'papers, regularly get on the back page (for the right reason) and attract genuine big name players that people will take notice of.

Aesthetics is also a big thing - I mean, the Australian A League is arguably a lower standard of football than the LOI, but it is played in impressive stadiums every week and it looks good on the TV. The same cannot be said of the Brandywell, the Showgrounds, Finn Park etc.

But all that aside....just enjoy the LOI for what it is!

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Originally Posted by joema

Tbh, I think fans on here should stop complaining about the current regime and having a go at barstoolers. Its a tiring game!

Prob just better off accepting and enjoying LOI football for what it is!

Anyway, the main stumbling block to LOI "progression" is the fact that people see English football as the default league of sorts.

Simple as that - when people think football, they think Man United, Liverpool etc. And you cannot blame these people - after all, every time they open up a newspaper or turn on the TV, that is what they see.

For the LOI to grow and progress in a manner that a lot of fans on here seem to want - LOI football has to be seen in a more natural light, i.e. it has to become ingrained in the public psyche in a way similar to that seen of the English Premiership. It has to get in the 'papers, regularly get on the back page (for the right reason) and attract genuine big name players that people will take notice of.

Aesthetics is also a big thing - I mean, the Australian A League is arguably a lower standard of football than the LOI, but it is played in impressive stadiums every week and it looks good on the TV. The same cannot be said of the Brandywell, the Showgrounds, Finn Park etc.

But all that aside....just enjoy the LOI for what it is!

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Talk about a pick on the north-west.....;);)

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Originally Posted by joema

Tbh, I think fans on here should stop complaining about the current regime and having a go at barstoolers. Its a tiring game!

Prob just better off accepting and enjoying LOI football for what it is!

Anyway, the main stumbling block to LOI "progression" is the fact that people see English football as the default league of sorts.

Simple as that - when people think football, they think Man United, Liverpool etc. And you cannot blame these people - after all, every time they open up a newspaper or turn on the TV, that is what they see.

For the LOI to grow and progress in a manner that a lot of fans on here seem to want - LOI football has to be seen in a more natural light, i.e. it has to become ingrained in the public psyche in a way similar to that seen of the English Premiership. It has to get in the 'papers, regularly get on the back page (for the right reason) and attract genuine big name players that people will take notice of.

Aesthetics is also a big thing - I mean, the Australian A League is arguably a lower standard of football than the LOI, but it is played in impressive stadiums every week and it looks good on the TV. The same cannot be said of the Brandywell, the Showgrounds, Finn Park etc.

But all that aside....just enjoy the LOI for what it is!

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This.

There is a reason why if you say you support a LOI team/or even any non-English team be that Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus) that people say 'how did you end up supporting them' followed by a giggle.

The way media coverage is in this country it is made out that English football represents us. Look at the CL for **** sake, every single damn year on RTE they show the same teams again and again and again with the same things said year after year.

Look at when people who say for instance. ''Damien Duff would do well from playing abroad' FFS he is abroad. Its a cultural thing really, look at all the Irish players playing in England. Can any other nation claim that their whole squad plays in the same foreign country?* Wales maby? :confused:

I really would love to know what its like in Norway or , a country with similar fascination with English football(anyone live there?) but tbh I think the Irish are more in the Chinese or other Asian version of football fans. Actually anybody know what Scotland is like? Do they have interest in English football? I remember watching Aberdeen vs Barcelona last year, Barcelona vs cheered, here we support the irish against the damn foreigners but 2500 show up to support newcastle? wtf

*I always make this point so sorry if you read it before :) *

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Originally Posted by Shelsman

There is a national interest here (not just sporting) -the tens of millions being spent by Irish people on the premiership and english leagues (replica jerseys, trips, subscriptions etc) is going straight out of the country and not coming back.

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Not entirely true, unfortunately. The pub industry is very much helped by football on the telly, travel agents, the airlines and the ferry companies make a fortune out of barstoolers going to England every week, the TV stations presumably make profits on their English TV shows once advertising revenue is taken into account and sports shops take profit on merchandise sold (and the Government gets tax on that too).

All told, foreign football is a rather lucrative business here.

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Originally Posted by irishultra

I really would love to know what its like in Norway, a country with similar fascination with English football(anyone live there?)

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I was there for the Ireland game last year. Was drinking with a few locals, who were singing "Steve Gerrard Gerrard, he scores from forty yards" out loud in the pub. But when I asked them who they supported in Norway, every one of them had a local team that they followed too.

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Originally Posted by Shelsman

I was thinking about how we could ever get soccer fans in Ireland (note -not Irish soccer fans :D) to support our league again.

We could ban coverage of the Premiership -but that would be difficult.

However, given the government's need to raise extra revenue, we could add a levy to satellite TV subscriptions (perhaps a percentage -so that those with Sky Sports would pay more :)). This could then be directed back into the league here (via grants).

There is a national interest here (not just sporting) -the tens of millions being spent by Irish people on the premiership and english leagues (replica jerseys, trips, subscriptions etc) is going straight out of the country and not coming back.

Of course all this is fairly radical, but if we had a sneaky minister for finance (it is FF after all!) then it could be done (he could be wearing a Bohs or Rovers jersey under his shirt or something for all we know!).

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Not sure any of those proposals would pass EU law.

I really would love to know what its like in Norway, a country with similar fascination with English football(anyone live there?) but tbh I think the Irish are more in the Chinese or other Asian version of football fans.

few things about scandinavian countries.
1. not as many of there players would be in England as ourselves
2. id imagine not as many people would be able to view the PL as here. it may not be as widely available to homes as here ??
3. facilities are light years ahead of us. most wouldnt be out of place in england. most of there stadiums are class.
4. would have better players and prob a higher standard than us overall. that may attract more to games.
5. they dont let there players go for pittance thus earn more money from deals.
6. long culture of picking home based players in the national sides.

An unworkable suggestion I'm afraid.

I think the law wouild have something to say about picking on TV that is broadcasted through one medium only - let alone then using it to cross-subsidise only one sport,

And if satellite prices went up because of something like this, everyone would just switch to cable instead as it's cheaper. So you'd just p!ss off most of the country and every non-LOI sports fan, and see very little income.

I don't know what's in the air today, but there seems to be a rash of hat-stand panaceas for the league's woes being aired at the moment ! :eek:

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Originally Posted by Duggie

2. id imagine not as many people would be able to view the PL as here. it may not be as widely available to homes as here ??

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The Premiership is almost as popular in Norway as it is here, from my experience.

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facilities are light years ahead of us. most wouldnt be out of place in england. most of there stadiums are class.

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The grounds are good, but the "Build it and they will come" maxim has long been debunked here, I think.

Ultimately, though, the Norwegian league benefits from the mentality that means Norwegians will follow their local teams. Probably a bit of this comes from the large youth structure that exists, whereas in Ireland, we seem to have separation between youth football clubs, non-league football clubs and league football clubs. If you joined, say, Cork City at age 7 and played for them up to 18, it's easy to see how you might end up a Cork City fan.

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Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

I don't know what's in the air today, but there seems to be a rash of hat-stand panaceas for the league's woes being aired at the moment ! :eek:

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Remind me how many times have you loudly proposed or defended an AIL as crucial to football in this country?

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Remind me how many times have you loudly proposed or defended an AIL as crucial to football in this country?

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Seems you've been sucking-in the same crazy air if you think an AIL league concept that had a financial backer can be directly compared to notions of breaking the law by charging sateliite viewers to cross-subsidise domestic soccer, or setting-up a provincial structure to a club-based urban game... :o

These are crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy nights....

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Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

I don't know what's in the air today, but there seems to be a rash of hat-stand panaceas for the league's woes being aired at the moment ! :eek:

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At a guess it'll be the events at Dalymount last night. Let's hope the lads in action tonight can spark off a series of threads about how everything is grand!




The separation between youth and senior football here is a major problem, and one that can be easily addressed. Bray's partnership with local schoolboy club St. Joseph's is working very well, and we're getting a rake of young supporters into the games. Don't underestimate the number of people one person can bring into a club. One lad in my primary school had a brother who had a trial at Pat's in the mid 90s, and even from that tenuous connection Pat's gained about 5 supporters from my class of 20. We're never going to compete with the English game on quality, so in my opinion, the clubs really have to forge very strong links with the local community.

It's already been said that the Nordic countries have huge support for the English Premiership, but that they support their national game as well. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't try to aim for the same model. I don't mind seeing English shirts at the Carlisle Grounds, because at least they're at the Carlisle Grounds!

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

The Premiership is almost as popular in Norway as it is here, from my experience.

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oh ya i know but i was just wondering that it mightnt be available in homes as easily as here. like most people here have sky.

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The grounds are good, but the "Build it and they will come" maxim has long been debunked here, I think.

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i have always firmly believed if we had proper stadiums in LOI more people will turn out.

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Originally Posted by Duggie

i have always firmly believed if we had proper stadiums in LOI more people will turn out.

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Don't think so. Look at the dump Leinster were playing in when their bandwagon took off, for example. Barstoolers are only interested in the absolute best players, which the LoI simply can't afford. Ever.

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Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

Seems you've been sucking-in the same crazy air if you think an AIL league concept that had a financial backer can be directly compared to notions of breaking the law by charging sateliite viewers to cross-subsidise domestic soccer, or setting-up a provincial structure to a club-based urban game...

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Given your only criterion was "hat-stand panaceas for the league's woes", then yes, they can be directly compared.

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Originally Posted by irishultra

This.
Can any other nation claim that their whole squad plays in the same foreign country?* Wales maby? :confused:

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Senegal played and beat France in the 2002 World Cup. The entire Senegalese squad played in France at the time.

Deadly :p

The reason why we're not like Norway is:

:We (most of us) live something like just 80 miles away from the British coast whereas Norway is further.

:We are wealthier than Norway, so we can travel more and spend more.

:We've never had a team in the Champions League group stages. Rosenborg have made it into the group stages a good few times.

:The stadia in Norway are far better. A quick glance on Wikipedia and the average stadium in Norway is a 14,000 all-seater stadium. The only stadium here that could have 14,000 seats is Tallaght.

Overall the infrastructure in the Norwegian Premier League is much better than the LOI.

The comparison is non-existent.

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Originally Posted by Umberside

The reason why we're not like Norway is:

:We (most of us) live something like just 80 miles away from the British coast whereas Norway is further.

:We are wealthier than Norway, so we can travel more and spend more.

:We've never had a team in the Champions League group stages. Rosenborg have made it into the group stages a good few times.

:The stadia in Norway are far better. A quick glance on Wikipedia and the average stadium in Norway is a 14,000 all-seater stadium. The only stadium here that could have 14,000 seats is Tallaght.

Overall the infrastructure in the Norwegian Premier League is much better than the LOI.

The comparison is non-existent.

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what?

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Originally Posted by irishultra

what?

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Our GDP is higher, that means we are wealthier (though it's not the best comparison, Norway is wealthy too:o).

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Originally Posted by Umberside

The reason why we're not like Norway is:

:We (most of us) live something like just 80 miles away from the British coast whereas Norway is further.

:We are wealthier than Norway, so we can travel more and spend more.

:We've never had a team in the Champions League group stages. Rosenborg have made it into the group stages a good few times.

:The stadia in Norway are far better. A quick glance on Wikipedia and the average stadium in Norway is a 14,000 all-seater stadium. The only stadium here that could have 14,000 seats is Tallaght.

Overall the infrastructure in the Norwegian Premier League is much better than the LOI.

The comparison is non-existent.

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Points noted, but on the contrary:

-Most people in Norway support a British team anyway, the fact is they support their local teams as well. This should have nothing to do with how close they are to the league.

-Norway is actually a very wealthy country, and the wealth is spread better than in Ireland. There are fewer fabulously rich people in Norway, but fewer very poor people as well. There should be more people able to afford to travel in Norway, especially to Germany to see the Bundesliga, yet they don't

-Rosenborg won something like 14 back-to-back titles. This must have been unbelievably boring, yet crowds for other clubs were still averaging over 8 000. We have a far more open and exciting league than Norway did during this period, so potentially a better product.

-I'll concede their grounds are better, but the seats in the Carlisle Grounds are just as comfortable as the seats in Old Trafford, the Britannia Stadium or the Phillips Stadion. Supporters come to watch the match, and the amount of time they spend in the toilets or at a bar is pretty negligible in comparison.