Potential New EL Teams

The thread on re-election to the first division got me thinking about potential areas/clubs for new EL clubs. Kildare Countys recent addition has been a success and they are certainly a positive addition to the league. With good community backing there is certainly a few potential areas/clubs who could also be an addition to the league.

Mullingar currently have two teams competing separately in the Under 21 EL which would suggest the potential is there.
The Kerry League and Mayo League have also got teams at EL under 21 level and perhaps places such as Tralee/Killarney or Castlebar might have the population to be able to sustain a local team.

The Wexford league are making great strides at underage level under the astute guidance of Mick Wallace.

And perhaps other towns/citys such as Ennis, Cavan and or in Tipp (in Thurles/Roscrea or Nenagh) would have the potential as well.

Also with the growing population of Dublin satelite towns there could be the potential for an EL team in the likes of Navan, Naas, Maynooth and Wicklow Town.

Obviously forming an EL team from scratch would be no easy task, and huge work and investment would be required. But it would be great to see the EL diversify a little (especially with there being only ten teams in Division one).

Tipp would be ideal

I would prefer more teams outside Dublin too many inside atm.
And large towns would be a plus.


kdjac

The rebirth of Thurles Town?

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Originally Posted by kdjaC

Tipp would be ideal

I would prefer more teams outside Dublin too many inside atm.
And large towns would be a plus.


kdjac

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The percentage of the amount of Dublin teams in the eL and the percentage of population living in Dublin are roughly the same. There is not too much clubs from Dublin.

The simple fact of the matter is that there are no clubs who could come up from the intermediate or junior leagues and survive financially, on the pitch there is probably 4 -5 clubs who could hold there own, but couldnt get crowds and facilities together.

The only way they could do it would be to ground share with an EL club - e.g say rockmount came out and shared the cross with cork or something - even then what sort of crowds would they get?

Portlaoise FC might be an option. Rosleighan Park has the potential to be developed, the town itself is big with a well populated hinterland, good central location in Ireland and good roads nearby, plenty of industry and potential sponsors, easy ground to get to on the Tullamore road, they also drew a good crowd against Home Farm in the Cup a few years ago.

Mullingar Town have a huge and excellent pitch, stand, needs terracing, dressing rooms have been improved/rebuilt (I think) and Dalton Park is fairly easy to get to but housing estate around ground would make parking a problem.

Mullingar Athletic's Gainstown ground is fantastic but the main pitch, while enclosed, has no stand or terracing so work to be done there. Gainstown is a few miles from the actual town but accessible enough from the Dublin Galway road.

Despite what the Mayo lads told me on another thread, still think there might be potential for a Mayo side in future years - hope so anyway as they are fantastically well organised and progressive up there.

Meant to mention Tullamore's Terry Adams Park. Haven't seen it for about six years but they were adding new pitches around then. Ground/pitch is enclosed with a kind of stand but no terracing and parking would be a problem given the road it's on. Town is big though with a populated hinterland and Tullamore's easy to get to for visiting fans. Lot of work to be done to bring ground up to LOI standard but certainly not impossible.

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

The percentage of the amount of Dublin teams in the eL and the percentage of population living in Dublin are roughly the same. There is not too much clubs from Dublin.

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There should be only 4, the others dont bring anything to the league.

kdjac

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Originally Posted by kdjaC

There should be only 4, the others dont bring anything to the league.

kdjac

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I wouldnt go that far about Shamrock Rovers. :eek:

Arklow Town in the LSL have a fairly decent stadium, alot like Whitehall. They even have turnstiles. I don't think there are any seats but their stand could hold a few thousand. And Arklow's a big enough town too, I think it's about 12-15,000. Also, it's outside Dublin.

There you go. A Kerry team would be another worthy mention but Tralee Dynamos are the only ones I've heard of that I'm sure are from Kerry.

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Originally Posted by kdjaC

There should be only 4, the others dont bring anything to the league.

kdjac

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What 4?

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Originally Posted by superfrank

Arklow Town in the LSL hace a fairly decent stadium, alot like Whitehall. They even have turnstiles. I don't think there are any seats but their stand could hold a few thousand. And Arklow's a big enough town too, I think it's about 12-15,000. Also, it's outside Dublin.

There you go. A Kerry team would be another worthy mention but Tralee Dynamos are the only ones I've heard of that I'm sure are from Kerry.

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Forgot about Arklow Town and I think it's only a matter of time befure Kerry has a LOI team and Wexford too.

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Also with the growing population of Dublin satelite towns there could be the potential for an EL team in the likes of Navan, Naas, Maynooth and Wicklow Town.

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I heard before Kildare County was originally meant to be Newbridge Town but they were only allowed in if they represented the whole of Kildare, therefore Naas and Maynooth couldn't get in.

Not 100% true. The people behind the move were from newbridge Town but they changed the name to Kildare county for 2 reasons. One was for marketing reasons, hoping to get the whole county behind them. The other, more important, reason was they didn't want to destroy what they had built up at Intermediate level. They saw what happened to St. Francis and St. james gate when they left the league and didn't want to have to start again if the eL tem didn't work out initially. Sensible thinking IMO

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Originally Posted by superfrank

What 4?

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I'd say he is talking about Shels, Bohs, Pats and Rovers

It's an idea Longford had some time ago, change from Longford Town to simply Longford. IMO any new club in rural Ireland should either choose something which applys to the county or something different altogether, eg. Finn Harps.Honestly don't know if I'd be as mad about LTFC if Granard was the county town and LTFC were known as GFC...

People in some counties feel marginalised enough with out feeling inclined to support newbridge town over a Kildare County side.

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Not 100% true. The people behind the move were from newbridge Town but they changed the name to Kildare county for 2 reasons. One was for marketing reasons, hoping to get the whole county behind them. The other, more important, reason was they didn't want to destroy what they had built up at Intermediate level. They saw what happened to St. Francis and St. james gate when they left the league and didn't want to have to start again if the eL tem didn't work out initially. Sensible thinking IMO

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Thanks for that explanation Dodge. I always thought the Kildare League was kind of behind Kildare County with Newbridge Town playing an important role.

Doesn't the u21 Kildare County side play their home games in Castle Villa, Kildare, Athy etc?? That's how I got the impression that the League was involved.

Great to see my dad's county in the LOI, whatever the set up.

Kerry has the potential, Wexford, Cavan town's surely big enough for a new team. Maybe Ennis as well, what's their population ?

Tralee, Population was 25,000 in 2003
Wexford, Population was 20,000 in 2003
Not that big!

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Originally Posted by Gerrit

Kerry has the potential, Wexford, Cavan town's surely big enough for a new team. Maybe Ennis as well, what's their population ?

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Couldn't find the population on any Ennis website but I think it's around 15,000.

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Originally Posted by Buller

Tralee, Population was 25,000 in 2003
Wexford, Population was 20,000 in 2003
Not that big!

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Drogheda's not that big but they have a decent team. Besides if you want teams from outside Dublin then there's not exactly alot of big towns to choose from.

And if you had a team in Tralee, doubtless you'd get fans from Killarney as well. It's only 20 miles down the road.