Aertel's EL focus-Media in the First division

Does the eircom League First Division get the publicity it deserves? I don't think so.

Television news bulletins rarely give results while one top-selling national daily broadsheet newspaper never prints reports and rarely includes tables or results.

With the exception of Cork City in the Premier, TV cameras rarely leave the capital.

What exactly is the problem? Is there shame associated with playing in the second tier of Irish soccer?

Last season Dublin City played in the Premier Division. They got plenty of coverage and all their matches were reported in all media.

This season, they are in the First Division, and get little coverage but nothing much has changed at the club apart from their divisional realignment.

On the other hand, Sligo and Cobh, for example, are doing great things but their exploits are going unnoticed.

If either are promoted it will be a different story.

You don't get the same problem in England.

They have four divisions with a whopping 92 teams and every single game is included in every single newspaper with team line up, subs, sendings off, in fact everything you care to know.

They even manage to get a TV camera to every ground.

We have 22 teams in Ireland, meaning 11 games a week, with five of them in the First Division.

It's not a major task.

All but one of the First Division teams are from outside Dublin.

There are competent, qualified and impartial reporters from local media who attend at regional grounds and are willing and able to provide copy to all national media but their offers are not always taken up.

First Division clubs are professionally run and command large attendances for
home games. Sligo Rovers and Galway United are two examples.

Yet it's unlikely the TV cameras will be at either club soon. (Unless Shels or Rovers visit for a cup tie).