Friendlies 2022

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Originally Posted by D24Saint

It’s always best to stay close to your support base rather than travel for better facilities. I always found the Longford situation a strange one for example . It’s a fine ground but it’s in the middle of nowhere. The location I’d say has an affect on causal fans , the have a few pints and go to a match on a Friday night types.

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Longford looks nice at first glance but all those uncovered seats have been exposed to the Irish weather for too long and many are rotting away. And unless there has been big improvements in last 2 or 3 years its lacking in basic facilities not enough toilets and been there several time and can't remember anything but soup,sandwiches, tea, coffee and a small tuck shop being on offer. Really should be more considering its so far out of town.

I know some may think its a bit ironic that a Harps fans is saying this but there is always at least one chip van and at least stall for tea, coffee, soup & snacks in Finn Park

The soup and the lady who serves it is one of the things that makes the trip up there worth it.

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Originally Posted by sbgawa

The soup and the lady who serves it is one of the things that makes the trip up there worth it.

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The people are great there. Used to love Monaghan too for their hospitality, badly missed.

The club have been trying to replace the seats bit by bit over the last few years but yeah we really could do with some more cover if someone won the lottery. Ideally toilets the far side too but in fairness many grounds only have small toilets under the main stand. Overall considering we've never got any substantial government funding for whatever reason the ground has been a credit to a volunteer run club.

I think being a wee bit over looked there that Institute do not want to play in the Brandywell and their presence to Derry City is an irrelevance, they will never tap into that support base and are a very small club that do very well within their means to even manage as they do.

Ultimately they have the money there to set up shop somewhere else and I believe now want to do so out in Newbuilldings but they are a glorified junior club and will always be so there are probably orher Derry teams currently that are or could be as good as them and play NIFL intermediate.

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Originally Posted by DCWA

Ultimately they have the money there to set up shop somewhere else and I believe now want to do so out in Newbuilldings but they are a glorified junior club and will always be so there are probably orher Derry teams currently that are or could be as good as them and play NIFL intermediate.

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I'll admit to not following this too closely, but I've only heard Clooney mentioned before now. First I've heard talk of Newbuildings. How's that going down with one of the few clubs that would have ambitions of their own?

The main reason there aren't one or two more local clubs playing at the same level as Stute is the IFA. And now they seem to have got their house in order who wants to step up given the chance?

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Originally Posted by EatYerGreens

Institute are basically Derry's protestant team. They're not going to build a fanbase or grow community roots at Brandywell. It's a catholic area, and Derry City will always have more appeal there. Plus they can't make any money at the Brandywell apart from ticket sales, which by all accounts are very small. So Instituet want their own ground in a protestant part of the city where they can grow a fanbase and have facilities that they can use to generate income from. Which strikes me as a very sensible approach from a small club that will never progress or possibly even survive if its only income is ticket receipts in the Irish League's second tier..

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So predominantly old differences then. Sad that! Irrespective of locations, leases, etc. Whatever about a ground, a joint venture training facility or academy could and maybe should be considered to help future fans difference be based purely on football rivalry.

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Originally Posted by DCWA

tthere are probably orher Derry teams currently that are or could be as good as them and play NIFL intermediate.

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Strabane Athletic are ambitious and looking to rise up the ranks. I think they won promotion to the IL third tier a few years ago, but couldn't go up because of their ground. The council have sorted that out now, so they should go up if they win their division, play-offs etc again. Which would be good news for the West of NI. Currently out of the 35 clubs in the IL's top 3 tiers only 7 are from the Western half of NI (Dungannon, Institute, Dergview, Ballinamallard, Tobermore, Moyola Park and Limavady. Excluding Portstewart for being the wrong side of the River Bann). And only one of them is in the top tier currently.

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

So predominantly old differences then. Sad that! Irrespective of locations, leases, etc. Whatever about a ground, a joint venture training facility or academy could and maybe should be considered to help future fans difference be based purely on football rivalry.

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It's just the geopolitical reality of the north to be honest. A bit like Crusaders being stuck in the wrong place (a 'loyalist enclave', as one of their Directors put it, with declining population in a part of North Belfast that is demographically becoming more and more nationalist)

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

To be fair to them, Institute aren't from Derry City. They're from Drumahoe, effectively a little village outside the city. The brandywell is out the opposite side of the city, about 5 miles away.

All their support comes from that end of the city, and they're not going to build a support base in the Brandywell.

They had a brilliant little stadium in the Riverside, and if they can salvage any of it towards a new ground they'll be fine. The stadium they had would have been better than several LOI grounds as they currently sit.

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Drumahoe I think is on the Enniskillen Road aint it Nigel? Think I passed through it before going to games to the Brandywell when we travelled via Enniskillen!

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Originally Posted by Longfordian

The club have been trying to replace the seats bit by bit over the last few years but yeah we really could do with some more cover if someone won the lottery. Ideally toilets the far side too but in fairness many grounds only have small toilets under the main stand. Overall considering we've never got any substantial government funding for whatever reason the ground has been a credit to a volunteer run club.

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I think a major error we made over the Section O side of the ground was getting rid of the shelter which used to span the whole area of the pitch. Also over 20 years ago there was a small roof behind the goal where the dressing rooms used to be!

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Originally Posted by Martinho II

Drumahoe I think is on the Enniskillen Road aint it Nigel? Think I passed through it before going to games to the Brandywell when we travelled via Enniskillen!

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It's where the new A6 road to Belfast starts/ends . It's basically just a suburb of Derry, not a separate place.

If you were coming from Enniskillen direction you'd be taking the A5. So the unionist village on the edge of Derry there would be Newbuildings.

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

So predominantly old differences then. Sad that! Irrespective of locations, leases, etc. Whatever about a ground, a joint venture training facility or academy could and maybe should be considered to help future fans difference be based purely on football rivalry.

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You seem to have found the confirmation you were seeking in your original post, but while there a grain of truth to what was said in response the oversimplification seems to have brought you to a gross misrepresentation of the situation.

There is, barring the odd transfer bruhaha, little animosity between the clubs. People go to watch both teams. There a symbiotic relationship in terms of players development - by and large Stute take the cast-offs and Derry take the cream.

Derry could, if a suitable venue existed, move to the waterside tomorrow. And the majority of fans would grumble for a bit then get on with it. There would be a sizable minority who would take exception, most of whom would have gone thirty, forty or fifty plus years without ever setting foot on the other side of the river, only passing through on the way to Dublin or Belfast. But they live the black and white of the same oversimplification.

As others have said Stute are effectively a junior club who took their shot in a footballing wasteland. They're not going to get much bigger, and playing out of the Brandy when they should have their own home isn't doing them any favours. Should they fall to the third tier, without a home of their own, then they risk being passed by another local intermediate side with a proper setup, or just disappearing.

Sligo 1-1 Harps,Morahan for Sligo,Tourish with Harps goal.

Pats are playing Cork in Richmond on Saturday @3.

We are playing UCD next in Belfield on Saturday at 2pm.

1 nil v Cork in a pulsating end to end classic on a beautiful day in Richmond. The opposite it actually true.

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Originally Posted by Martinho II

We are playing UCD next in Belfield on Saturday at 2pm.

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2-1 to UCD. Tommy Lonergan with both goals.

Trialist A for us, part of the well known Trialist family.

Shels and Athlone was live on youtube earlier as a LOITV test, finished 3-1 to Shels with Dan Carr off the mark. As you would have expected both Duff and Russell had their teams drilled to play ball on the ground as much as possible despite the poor weather, Shels played too many crazy passes around the backline at times which resulted in Athlone's goal