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anyone know what strategy the swedish and norwegian fa used to improve their leagues, as far as i can tell, only a few years ago, maybe 10/15 years ago they were at the same level as the EL, but went through a really good european stage where they could beat anyone on the night ala resenborg etc. what were they doing that the fai couldnt do (apart from organising a ****-up in a brewery;)
the norwegian government put serious money into football. the govenrmmetn even thought about pulling orwegian teams out of europe,but instead backed and invested in the league facilities.
in scandinavia the l;eague crowds arent great, ie fc Kobenhaven get 18000, brondby 14000, hammarby 6000 and rosenborg 14000. no other teams in these leagues average more than 10,000. many clubs get EL sized crowds..but tv money,sponsorship,prizemoney and various off-field activities mean the clubs can be well-run financially,as theyve professionals running the clubs unlike in the EL
in these countries however, english football is hugely popular but it doesnt stop people suporting their local teams-both leagues are popular,but in ireland the case is different obviously
Don't know what their secret was but the Scandinavian leagues should act as an inspiration to us.
If they FAI honestly cared about advancing the league, they would be analysing every single thing the Scandinavians did during the '90s to improve their leagues. Of course, the FAI don't care about advancing the league, so that kind of settles that...
You can track the money trail to some extent. Swedish clubs who sell players to continental and British clubs take in big money. In Sweden for example the County Councils act as provincial governments and distribute central government money for everything from training facilities to stadia. This they do in consultation with the Swedish FA and the individual clubs. Sweden has been hammered economically the last ten years so sponsorship money, tv money and above all player sales have been vital for their survival. Norway would have a similar pattern with bigger gates then in Sweden on average with of course one exception *hit loads of oil money i.e tax revenues and investment both from private and public sources & player sales in recent years. Denmark I don't know so much about except to say that FC Köpenhamn actually own the national stadium as a leasing company and make their money through the gate,(big support15,000), holding rock concerts and the eurovision e.g. & player sales. A bit like if Rovers owned the Point! Sure twould never work! :D Up The Rebels :ball:
Social and Economic factors can explain the ability to develop to some extent.
The only one that is similar in population size is Denmark, the others do have an advantage. Norway's oil reserves help no end with infrastructural development while the general Social Democracy systems (which I'm not completely sold on) seen in Scandanavia are good for local development and thus help sporting organisations. The one big thing is that when you have that level of natural resources it's very easy to be a successful social democracy as there is plenty of money to throw around.
Norway has tried to join the EU. I'm pro-European and I thought they were idiots to try as it makes no economic sense for them. They would lose territorial waters, and with it fish stocks and oil reserves. Thankfully their people agreed with me and turned down their government's silly proposal.
Back to the football and we are somewhat limited by the centralisation of our population. Large throngs in Dublin and Cork but our other cities and big towns don't have big enough share. Before anyone from Limerick or Galway gives out I'm saying that I'd rather you were bigger not anything derogatory.
Competitor sports in Norway/Sweden are another factor. While athletics is quite big in Sweden the main focus of both nations outside of football are winter sports. As their leagues are summer based they happily don't have to worry about too much rivalry. Over here the competitor sports have scattered seasons and there is no real free time to take for a specific sport.
Investment is an issue. If I said to someone "We could do with a nice stadium in Belfield" the likely response would be "Do you not think you should get enough people to fill the old one first". This is a misguided response. Better quality grounds, as well as more involvement with the community etc, is vital to develop any sport. Just look at what's happened with Hull. They went from a grubby old mess to the new KR stadium and things are really starting to look up for them.
None of this is meant to provide an answer they're just some observations I made.
Not much i can add to that except to say i agree with Aberdonian Stu
While agreeing with Aberdonian Stu... it does beg the question... is winning 14 consecutive titles by the same team any good for the League as a whole?
Where are other Norwegian Clubs these days compared to other European clubs... would the same thing happen here if Shels or Cork managed such a run of titles?
This World Record set by Rosenborg Trondheim, is something not even the STASI Sponsored Dynamo Berlin could manage in the Former GDR . :eek:
A key thing they did in Norway was to establish academies at each club, and then prevent (not sure how) kids from signing for teams outside of Norway before they turned 18 or 21 or something. The academies gave the kids training in football, but also a solid education as well. Rosenburg used to have a large number of players from the military, as that was one of the 'educational' routes the players used to go down.
The idea was that they would be better players and people when they did eventually move elsewhere - rather than go through the whole failure/rejection thing away from home at 16. They would also sell for more, and the clubs would benefit from their skills in the meantime.
The FAI sent a delegation to Norway about 2yrs to look into all of this. Obviously hasn't done much good.... :mad:
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Originally Posted by dcfcsteve
I'd love to know how they did that because that's exactly what we need. It would not only benefit EL clubs, but it would also help the international team too. Too many players who could have made it have not because of having to move to England when they were very young and suffering as a result.