I doubt they will wander too far from Dublin, Meath or Kildare I'd say. Maybe Laois, Cavan or Carlow at a pushQuote:
Originally Posted by sadloserkid
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I doubt they will wander too far from Dublin, Meath or Kildare I'd say. Maybe Laois, Cavan or Carlow at a pushQuote:
Originally Posted by sadloserkid
Apart from Meath I don't think there's any point trying with those other places to be honest. Kildare tried a County club from within (ot planted from externally like these guys are trying to do), and it never really took off. No-one lives in Carlow, Cavan or Laois. Their whole counties each have smaller populations than Galway city.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neish
The problem is that football is primarily an urban sport, and there are few population centres in Ireland of any size without an LOI club already. Navan is probably your best bet really. Has a 30,000 population, a decent sense of local identity, a good interest in 'soccer', and an LOI club hasn't been tried there before (I know Drogheda get a bit of support from Meath).
Thats an excellent point about Navan. Didnt realise that its soccer hotbed. I should know this but their name escapes me but wots the name of the team from Navan thats in LSL or so? I had no idea that Navan is so big!Quote:
Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
Navan Cosmos? The MDL grounds in Navan are a hotbed of football alone. Navan seems a bit of a no mans land in football terms - there is a fairly big Drogheda following and a large Dublin population that already have colours nailed to the mast never mind the GAA obsession. Population aside Trim could well a better spot to try and grow a community backed club.
I think Park Villa are the 'big' club in Navan.
Portlaoise and Carlow aren't much smaller than Navan, to be fair. Although I don't think Portlaoise would support a LOI side.Quote:
Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
Having been born and raised in Meath and spent most of my life living here I can tell you soccer is very much the minority sport. Gaelic football rules. Even though Meath are poor these days, this is still very much a Gaelic football stronghold, no doubt about it. Also Navan is a big rugby town.Quote:
Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
There are some decent clubs like Park Villa in Navan, Dunboyne, Trim Celtic, and some up near Louth too like Duleek, but soccer has always been the poor relation here.
The county has a big population nowadays, especially Navan, but there would be nothing like the interest in LOI like other similarly sized towns like Drogheda or Dundalk, or even much smaller ones like Sligo or Athlone. I'd like to be proven wrong but I can't imagine there would ever be enough interest to support a new LOI team.
But of course they wouldnt have an interest in LOI- there is no team in Navan. It is a chicken and an egg situation. Maybe a LOI team would is needed first to build a base.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philosophizer
My knowledge of Meath football is east Meath is a Drogheda strong-hold. Duleek and Bettystown should be the area that Drogheda get fans from. As for Navan, they have a great MDL pitches, but they dont produce many good teams and are not that competitive at most levels (as compared to something like Evergreen of Kilkenny). Navan is really a place the LOI should expand into (if there were resources for that to happen) but at the moment, I'd say there is not much interest.
Parkvilla was in the LSL put returned to the NEFL a few years ago, where it's one of a pair of Navan sides in the top division.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philosophizer
I lived in Navan for a decade and was disppointed with the low standing of football in the town compared to rugby or gaelic football. There are a number of Navan sides in the NEFL but the standard of football is relatively poor given the population base. Also, there are a lot of Dubliners living in Navan, notably on the Johnstown side and they're mostly interested in EPL. In the south of Meath, football is much stronger with both Dunboyne and Ratoath Harps in the LSL.
Yea for a town that size it's surprising that soccer isn't more popular. I honestly think the influence of Colm O'Rourke can't be underestimated. He's been the principal in St Pat's (massive secondary boys school in Navan) and was teaching there for decades and runs the football in the school. They've never had any soccer team in the school. The anti soccer schtick is bred in early in Meath.
Also worth noting that Meath only recently got a 1st competitive Ireland international in Jamie McGrath. Not much soccer tradition in the county.
I'd agree with this. Towns like Ashbourne, Ratoath and Dunboyne near the Dublin border would actually have stronger interest in soccer. And their populations have grown a lot since the 90s with the spillover from Dublin.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raheen
https://www.fai.ie/domestic/news/fai...cup-draws-made
There is the draw for the FAI cup. I wonder if any of these would fancy a go at the this new tier, particulary Westport, Freebooters and Clonmal
How are Maynooth University Town set up for this? They were looking to apply this year I think as a combined college/local team. I think they've practically nothing in terms of spectator facilities though, someone was saying? Has there been any developments there? You'd imagine they'd be an obvious candidate if the third tier is looking at college teams (which I don't actually agree with as a specific club demographic to target)
No spectator facilities at all in Maynooth, Stu. No idea if they're planning anything.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Maynooth would be an interesting application, but it's hard to see them having a pitch that would meet even relaxed licensing. The astroturf on college grounds might have room to the north for a small stand where there's a little bit of green, it's surrounded by internal college roads otherwise. The Maynooth Town pitch has a bit more space for something like that admittedly. But whose going to pay for it?
What were the requirements for the old A Championship?
This is Tullamore's ground, and they played in the A Championship.
https://www.ourgrassroots.ie/media/o...n-fc-pitch.jpg
They're looking to build a small stand, I think, but so far as I can see that's what they have now. The clubhouse is nice from what I recall (we played in them in the League Cup around 2008) and while a clubhouse isn't a stand, it's certainly nice to have it already there.
They might be an interesting one in that they were in the old LoI B Division, so there is a bit of LoI history there - albeit that it's a long time ago now and maybe not of huge relevance today. But a lot of the current provincial sides had good LSL backgrounds - Longford, Dundalk, Bray, even Sligo.
If Salthill Devon and Mervue were allowed into the First Division with no spectator facilities then precedence has already been set. As long as someone can provide proof of future plans for a stand of some sort, then that should be adequate for the third tier.
Acceptable practice in the top tier as it is,Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
No better man Sadloserkid thats the team I had in mind!Quote:
Originally Posted by sadloserkid