i think the squads will be interchangeable, much like the U21 system at the moment but with players freely moveable.Quote:
Originally Posted by gufcfan
from the reserve teams point of view:
a key aspect of the a league is actually the u20 league - the FAI see this as the perfect age (or perhaps u19, like a lot of europe) for underages to end and moving into the squad to start. moving the restriction down a year and removing the option to play overage players will then immediately form the bones of an A league team - for instance, at cork city it would certainly benefit players who have out grown the u21 level but have yet to break the first team, eg Mark McNulty / Killian Lordan / maybe even Denis Behan, and would give players like Cathal Lordan and Shane Guthrie the benefit of regular football against senior players without needing to be farmed off to cobh/waterford. it will provide a way for players like colin obrien to stay match sharp, and finally, the best of the u20 team could also be picked to be "promoted" to this level. of course, an extra team means extra refs, extra coaches - the FAI firmly wants the eircom league's footprint on the national sports scene to be bigger.
from the (currently) intermediate teams pov:
it allows them to portray themselves locally as now being "above" the provincial leagues, as part of the nationwide "pyramid". it could mean a lot for local clubs in kids eyes to have the local paper reporting that Kerry League (south division) have just qualified for a play off against Cherry Orchard (north division) in the final of a national competition, with the winner taking on an EL side for a place in the league.
it would also mean playing in the summer. the current difference with the senior game played in the summer and the junior/intermediate played in the winter is of benefit to nobody. while participating clubs would face the challenges associated (clash with other sports being the main one), it would also help them in terms of football and in terms of competing against the senior sides in national cups. the romance of (then intermediate) cobh ramblers reaching the cup semi final would be much more likely to be reborn than intermediate sides finding themselves out of season and missing players against similar sorts of teams they'd be playing in the A league.
id say so. election is the policy at the bottom of virtually every pyramid around europe, its just that currently, irelands pyramid is rather shallow and disjointed.Quote:
In the long term would entry to the league be on invitation. Say you had a team finish rock bottom a few years in a row...
im very enthusiastic for the A league as I feel football here in ireland would benefit from the same sort of deep and comprehensive pyramid found in england, italy, norway etc. whilst i know we will never have the same level of participation, it would be a much bigger draw for young players to consider themselves part of the same structure as the zayeds and healys, rather than the eircom league and first division floating untouchable above the rest.
i too am thinking aloud here so apologies for rambling and im not quite sure if ive made any central theme evident other than "what bright spark at the FAI thought of this and can we make him president"
