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I dont know bout u fellas but i think the coverage for the IL is total crap. 10 mins of Final Score on Sat and 5 mins on Sunday Sport. The EL was poor but since setanta it has somewhat improved. It seems junior football gets more coverage than the IL. I may not be a fan of any IL club but i still like to see how teams are doin. I think its a disgrace! :mad:
yeah the coverage is woeful. You would be lucky if the IL got 15 mins overall a week. used to be a show that was on UTV called the soccer show or something like that, but this was cancelled I think because they said there wasnt enough viewers. Altough Id say it was getting more viewers than say some re-run of Jenny Bristow or something like that.
and then when Sky came calling they were chased. The problem is the IL is run by an old boys network
The coverage of the Irish League is woeful in the outmost extreme. BBC Newsline say a local channel dealing with local issues, but it does not. The only time it covers Irish League football is whenever something bad happens; Glentoran v Linfield trouble; Coleraine in diffs, but never and of the good things.
I would not just blame the television though, the IFA collectively can't even make up a half-wit and are doing their best to destroy the local game in Northern Ireland.
When i look at teams i think to myself how has the standard not improved. Reasons
1. The irish league needs to change to summer football. Its worked for the EL and now look at how clubs are doin in europe.
2. Full time clubs. I dont know if there are any full time clubs but they need to try move to a full time mentality. Dosnt mean pay them full time but train full time.
3. Wages. I dont know about all the clubs but last i heard the IL pays players big money. Glens were nearly a million in debt becuse of this.
4. Revenue. Most teams dont seem to improve on selling revenue.
5. Fan base. The glens and linfield have good fanbase but others are total crap. Institute have a stand i wud put in my back yard. Need to attract more fans with summer football ideal.
6. stadia. The brandywell may not be anfield but its great compared to IL clubs.
If teams cud get a new stadia and turn to summer football more fans wud come and more revenue wud be generated. The IFA need to seriously look at their structure because look at Omagh Town. Went out of existence. Its only going to happen to others. The IL is dying on its knees but is it too late to change.....:confused:
Is getting an extra round or two in Europe worth overhauling our season for? Personally I don't think so. I would be against summer football as I believe the majority of supporters in Northern Ireland would be.Quote:
Originally Posted by City till I Die
Quote:
Originally Posted by David
That reason alone is enough to change from Winter to summer! As a result of progressing a round or two you'll get alot more TV exposure and alot more revenue from sponsorship!
I can't see it as the majority up here are used to winter football and the IFA like to keep things the way they were but seriously I would prefer winter football
I disagree. I enjoy European football and the away trips but it is a bonus, the league is the bread and butter and realistically I think that no matter what, clubs here are not going to get further than a round or two in European football so I cannot see that attracting more sponsorship to be honest. There would be added difficulties to summer football up here such as the marching season etc but even without that I personally would prefer winter football.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raheny Red
Well if the IFA like it the way it is then there is goin to b some fightin if an all-ireland league comes around.:(
What are the benefits other than Europe?Quote:
Originally Posted by City till I Die
Better weather, better pitches, less competition for coverage for starters. Progressing further in Europe is just one benefit, but a very important one at that.
The rest fair enough, but from what I have seen of Eircom league pitches they are awful. Tolka Park was terrible, and the Brandywell was as bad, if not worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by niamh
Yeah, pitches here can be poor at the start of the season, but for the majority of the season (say May - October) pitches are in fine nick, and the football is generally the better for it. I would have shared a lot of the misgivings expressed here before the League of Ireland switched to Summer football, but I think in general it's been a success. It's quite nice to watch a game on a fine summer evenings in shirtsleeves. The improved European results shouldn't be sniffed at either. Every little step up the ladder in terms of peoples perceptions of the game here helps.
The IL deserves more coverage not only in the North but also down here.
Unfortunately there seems to be two chances of that happening ....
Much as I appreciate Ms. Bristow ( fine thing for her age ;) ) I think there should be footie on instead. There was a time not so very long ago when that IL Roundup was on UTV I think that the coverage in the Wee North of the IL was superior to the coverage of the EL down here. Times have changed. And as for Ms. Bristow, well she can be nicely repeated at another time or shown in the Republic as the case may be :D
At least the BBC has a bit of film every Saturday afternoon with goals, interviews and so on plus I've seen clips from IL games even on midweek BBC.
When have RTE ever shown anything similar on their Friday night or Saturday evening news???
You're lucky if they even give the bloody score of an EL match.:mad:
I also noticed that there will be little, if any, live coverage on RTE or TG4 until August while Setanta will start live or "as live" from 28th April.
Benefits overall have been marginal at best. Attendances are actually at their lowest during the months that would've been the close season!Quote:
Originally Posted by David
Well better pitches means better quality in football and gettin further in europe means more money to secure the club. Look at the EL and how shels and cork have done in europe. This improves the co-efficient and if a club gets seeded in europe or not. So to me there are more advantages than dis-advantages.
Back on the topic alot of us on ILF have sent e-mails to the BBC after they said they were wanting to know about what the people what. Seemingly that doesn't include the IL:rolleyes: Hope they don't get the rights which I think is up at the end of the season and that would really stick it up them. They also said they want to try and share the coverage around all sports even though the GAA gets an hour slot during the summer or around that time
How about getting the IFA to include a Highlights package and a few live games a year which could be shown on the BBCi on late saturday evening say, in that way they can show the game without disrupting what they call "programmes" just an idea.