Athlone may "drop out of League of Ireland football for the foreseeable future"

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12/12/2008, 6:53 PM
gufct

where are you getting 18 viable teams
:p
12/12/2008, 7:01 PM
The Lilywhites

Quote:

Originally Posted by gufct

where are you getting 18 viable teams
:p

You'd need 19 :p
12/12/2008, 7:07 PM
dcfcsteve

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackholesun

Id love to see the FAI "wildcard" Athlone into the Premier next year. There should be a wildcard slot every year out of the first division based on the clubs off the field strucutes / community work. The year in the premier would then be on the basis of the wages etc being scrutinised by the FAI to make sure they are not living beyond their means. The year or two if they survived in the Premier would be a shot in the arm of clubs like Athlone.

The last thing clubs like Athlone would need would be a year in the Premier division. They're nowhere up to the standard, so would either get humped on a weekly basis (= serious reduction in interest in the club) or they'd get carried away with 'the dream' and keeping up with the big boys and put themselves even further into financial ruin.

It's no coincidence that the better supported First Division clubs are the ones usually pushing for promotion (Dundalk, Shels, Waterford). Part of off-the-field structures is having the fan-base to sustain football at a higher level. Athlone simply do not have that at the moment, so shouldn't be allowed within a mile of the Premier.
12/12/2008, 9:03 PM
Cici900

Gutted for Athlone. Only in my teens but had the pleasure of being to both St Mels and Lissywoollen. Great club. Good History but most of all Eircom league die hard fans like myself would hate to see Athlone die for the fans. C'mon people of Athlone! Save your club!

Best of luck Athlone! Rooting for ye!
12/12/2008, 9:55 PM
Red&White Rover

Know a few of the players from Athlone. From what I've heard Seem to very much doubt, from a few weeks back, that there'll be a team in LOI next season.

Shame really. Too big an area to not have a team.
12/12/2008, 10:37 PM
AnnaghRed

Gonna have to cut your cloth accordingly and quit trying to aspire to a place in the champions league....bankrupting half your clubs has hardly leapt you up the UEFA co-efficiency table this past few seasons.

Move to a 16 team top division, with a meaningful "a" league for p&r before its too late...clubs with potentially decent support like Athlone need the visits of the likes of Derry to help keep their head above water.
13/12/2008, 12:24 AM
Student Mullet

Quote:

Originally Posted by gufct

where are you getting 18 viable teams
:p

10 teams, 4 rounds.

All legal and financial disputed decided in multi-ball over-time.
13/12/2008, 1:43 AM
Dodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnnaghRed

Gonna have to cut your cloth accordingly and quit trying to aspire to a place in the champions league....bankrupting half your clubs has hardly leapt you up the UEFA co-efficiency table this past few seasons

IN all fairness there's no way clubs like Cobh and Athlone can be accused of overspending in the dream of making Champions League
13/12/2008, 9:25 AM
1895ringsend

Its sad to see athlone in such a bad way especially with their history! They prob have the best stand in the league and i know there was plans in place to further develope the ground not so long ago. You'd have to fear the worst for them unfortunatley but best of luck to them and i hope they survive.
13/12/2008, 9:29 AM
Dassa

What sort of crowds are Athlone town getting? The new stand looks fantastic.

Is there potential for Athlone to be a big club or is it a GAA area?
13/12/2008, 10:21 AM
eelmonster

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dassa

What sort of crowds are Athlone town getting? The new stand looks fantastic.

Is there potential for Athlone to be a big club or is it a GAA area?

Athlone is a football town (like Dundalk and Sligo, it's one of the old garrison towns where 'soccer' has always been more popular than the gah), and ATFC were one of the first (the first? Does anyone know where Midland Athletic were based?) provincial town sides to enter the League of Ireland. They've been in the First Division doldrums for far too long (over ten years now! That's hard to believe) which has just about killed off their support. If they were playing in the Premier they'd probably attract a decent support, of course, the same could be said of Longford, Limerick, Waterford and Shels (:D)

I'd hate to see Athlone Town go under, I hope they can rescue their club.
13/12/2008, 1:43 PM
citybone

Quote:

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

There'll be 33 games in the First Division next season. You've just reduced that by one. ;)

Though I like the idea of teams fighting to come bottom half!

i kopt on to my mistake when i was offline, oops! ya the 1 game less would not make a big differemnce. also i find it hard to understand why a team would want to finish in the bottom 6 and get less prize money & prob lower gates as well.
13/12/2008, 2:36 PM
dcfcsteve

Quote:

Originally Posted by eelmonster

and ATFC were one of the first (the first? Does anyone know where Midland Athletic were based?) provincial town sides to enter the League of Ireland.

Despite their name, Midland Athletic were a Dublin side.

Played in a ground called 'The Thatch', though no idea which part of town that was.
13/12/2008, 5:11 PM
eelmonster

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

Despite their name, Midland Athletic were a Dublin side.

Played in a ground called 'The Thatch', though no idea which part of town that was.

Cheers, Steve. So Athlone Town were the first team from outside of Dublin to be elected to the LoI? It would be a real shame if they didn't get a licence, perhaps the FAI cound buy Lissywoollen too to help them out.
13/12/2008, 6:46 PM
oriel

The current plight of Athlone is another example of the existing structure that is the 2 team league not working. Athlone got a crowd fo 4,000 for the fai cup v Rovers only 2 years ago, this proves there is a support in the town.

The first div is a joke, no media interest and even less with fans.

A 16 team Prem league with a regional feeder lge beneath would be the way forward in my opinion.

This way we could cater for clubs stuck in the first with a decent history like Athlone, Waterford, Limerick, (Finn Harps) and Shels
13/12/2008, 7:04 PM
Martinho II

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam_Heggy

Athlone are not the only club in bother, at least 3 other first div sides are stuggling and calling for the season to be cut.

At Tuesdays meeting, 3 first division clubs called for each team to play each other twice leaving only 22 game season.
When it was suggested they also wanted out of the League cup and said they would not participate in a League sheild competition.

If its come to a stage where they feel they can only pay out for 22 games a season and no cup competitions then its painting a bleak picture.

i would safely say that we were one of the clubs as our costs are gone up hugely with less income to meet increasing debts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eelmonster

Cheers, Steve. So Athlone Town were the first team from outside of Dublin to be elected to the LoI? It would be a real shame if they didn't get a licence, perhaps the FAI cound buy Lissywoollen too to help them out.

athlone town were the founding members in 1924 but then resigned and didnt come back into the league till the late sixties.
13/12/2008, 7:13 PM
eamo1

Gutted.

Im a Galway Utd fan but ill be gutted if they go.One of the few clubs with a real tradition in the league and ive good memories of going to see us against them in the old old old old old old Mels Park.I REALLY hope they can be saved.
13/12/2008, 7:28 PM
atfconline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martinho II

athlone town were the founding members in 1924 but then resigned and didnt come back into the league till the late sixties.

Nope. League was founded in 1921, we joined the year after. We did play in the first Free State Cup though, and won that in 1924.
13/12/2008, 8:21 PM
Sam_Heggy

Quote:

Originally Posted by oriel

The current plight of Athlone is another example of the existing structure that is the 2 team league not working. Athlone got a crowd fo 4,000 for the fai cup v Rovers only 2 years ago, this proves there is a support in the town.

The first div is a joke, no media interest and even less with fans.

A 16 team Prem league with a regional feeder lge beneath would be the way forward in my opinion.

This way we could cater for clubs stuck in the first with a decent history like Athlone, Waterford, Limerick, (Finn Harps) and Shels

Why have you got Harps in brackets? :confused:
14/12/2008, 8:15 AM
brianw82

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam_Heggy

Why have you got Harps in brackets? :confused:

Coz they may or may not be in the First next year.
14/12/2008, 8:37 AM
oriel

Correct Brian
14/12/2008, 9:26 AM
sligored

i really hope athlone pull through. a great soccer town. its a no win situation because their presence in one top division will do them more harm than good because the likes of kildare monaghan athlone and mervue dont have the financial clout to compete and they would get stuffed week in week out. There must be a holy grail for well run clubs and putting substandard teams will only diminish the quality.

what can we do with the first division?
14/12/2008, 10:18 AM
brianw82

Quote:

what can we do with the first division?

As much as the constant complaints of no MNS coverage from supporters of FD teams annoyed me during the year, I'm coming to the conclusion that it must be featured on MNS next year to a certain degree. Maybe one feature match a week? It'd be a boost to all concerned.
14/12/2008, 10:51 AM
Raheny Red

Quote:

Originally Posted by holidaysong

Whatever happens I can't see there being a one division league. A lot of first division grounds just aren't up to catering for large amounts of fans from well supported premier division teams.. At worst, I'm sure we'll get enough teams for two divisions of 10..

We encountered no difficulties last term :cool:
14/12/2008, 11:22 AM
brianw82

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raheny Red

We encountered no difficulties last term :cool:

He's probably talking about Kildare, and the large amount of Dundalk fans that travelled for the last game.

What's a 'large amount' though? 300 would be the maximum that any PD team would bring anywhere bar special occasions (local derbies, etc.)
14/12/2008, 1:36 PM
holidaysong

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raheny Red

We encountered no difficulties last term :cool:

Hence the reason I didn't say all first division clubs.. :rolleyes:

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianw82

He's probably talking about Kildare, and the large amount of Dundalk fans that travelled for the last game.

What's a 'large amount' though? 300 would be the maximum that any PD team would bring anywhere bar special occasions (local derbies, etc.)

Somewhere like Jackman Park just isn't up to hosting premier division matches. Requirements like having a certain number of seats and having segregation and providing facilites like separate food stalls for away fans - Jackman Park just wouldn't be up to it.. Imagine Jackman Park hosting a premier division match between Limerick and Cork? It'd be a disaster..
14/12/2008, 3:27 PM
MMVIII

Really hope Athlone can make it through this, although it looks doubtful, but heres hoping.

Fond memories of going to watch Athlone in St Mels Park when i was a kid. Nicest chips ever :D
14/12/2008, 4:00 PM
L37Ultra

Quote:

Originally Posted by holidaysong

Hence the reason I didn't say all first division clubs.. :rolleyes:

Somewhere like Jackman Park just isn't up to hosting premier division matches. Requirements like having a certain number of seats and having segregation and providing facilites like separate food stalls for away fans - Jackman Park just wouldn't be up to it.. Imagine Jackman Park hosting a premier division match between Limerick and Cork? It'd be a disaster..

First of all, it looks unlikely that Limerick will be playing in Jackman Park next season.

Secondaly, Jackman Park hosted Limerick and Cork in the FAI Cup this season and it was far from a disaster.
14/12/2008, 4:20 PM
holidaysong

Quote:

Originally Posted by L37Ultra

First of all, it looks unlikely that Limerick will be playing in Jackman Park next season.

I didn't know that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by L37Ultra

Secondaly, Jackman Park hosted Limerick and Cork in the FAI Cup this season and it was far from a disaster.

The FAI cup isn't the same though. You don't have the same requirements for individual seats etc. in that that you do in the Premier Division. I'm not picking on Limerick by the way, I'm sure there are other grounds in the First Division that wouldn't have enough seats or be able to have proper segregation..
14/12/2008, 5:35 PM
fionnsci

Quote:

Originally Posted by L37Ultra

First of all, it looks unlikely that Limerick will be playing in Jackman Park next season.

Will they be playing in Hogan Park? Is it much of an improvement?
14/12/2008, 6:10 PM
Martinho II

Quote:

Originally Posted by atfconline

Nope. League was founded in 1921, we joined the year after. We did play in the first Free State Cup though, and won that in 1924.

thats where i got confused thanks for pointing that out atfconline..

i might go to the meeting as a neutral can I turn up at it??
14/12/2008, 6:58 PM
atfconline

Well by its nature, it's going to be an open meeting, so I can't imagine there will be anyone on the door spotting for LTFC fans (which of course there should be).
15/12/2008, 7:43 AM
Ash

But you'll have to swear allegience to the memory of Orlando Robert Coote and
renounce the devil and all other Longford related products :D

See ya there Marty :ball:
15/12/2008, 9:23 AM
R�iteoir

"Do you rennounce Section O and all it's works?"
15/12/2008, 10:31 AM
Battery Rover

Can people text Midlands 103 with a call for people to support tonights meeting and keeping Athlone Town in LOI Football

Send your texts to 083 30 10 103
15/12/2008, 12:05 PM
L37Ultra

Quote:

Originally Posted by Battery Rover

Can people text Midlands 103 with a call for people to support tonights meeting and keeping Athlone Town in LOI Football

Send your texts to 083 30 10 103

Done :)
15/12/2008, 12:58 PM
LK37oldskool

Quote:

Originally Posted by fionnsci

Will they be playing in Hogan Park? Is it much of an improvement?

More likely to be the Markets Field (Greyhound Track).its the spiritual home of soccer in Limerick.Have'nt used that pitch since the late 80s.Much better facilities......hopefully!:eek:
15/12/2008, 1:04 PM
L37Ultra

Quote:

Originally Posted by fionnsci

Will they be playing in Hogan Park? Is it much of an improvement?

Nope. Market's Fields.

See here
15/12/2008, 1:22 PM
Jofspring

Quote:

Originally Posted by LK37oldskool

More likely to be the Markets Field (Greyhound Track).its the spiritual home of soccer in Limerick.Have'nt used that pitch since the late 80s.Much better facilities......hopefully!:eek:

Only thing missing is floodlights and dressing rooms, which mean day time matches.
15/12/2008, 1:35 PM
R�iteoir

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jofspring

Only thing missing is floodlights and dressing rooms, which mean day time matches.

Licensing states that stadia MUST have floodlights though - no lights mean you can only compete in the A-Championship, not the League

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