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Last year the deadline for clubs to apply for an A licence was the end of October, so wondering if any new clubs were showing an interest ? Portlaoise seemed to pull out at the last minute last year, and I'm sure the success of this year's clubs will encourage more teams to join.
I sincerly hope that Mervue United are back in there somehow....not really any room for them in the LOI.
They should try and get teams from Navan, Portlaoise, Kilkenny and Ennis in and have N/S divisions of 12 each.
Don't see how three Galway teams will all survive, so agree Mervue will probably drop down eventually as Salthill have the better youth set-up. The FAI also need to balance the sections, it's a major advantage to the Northern teams not to play any Dublin clubs.
I'd imagine Portlaosie will be, they were all set for it last year and then opted out. Don't really know who else might be interested
Any plans for either of the Mullingar sides to enter?
dont think an Ennis or a co clare side would do much in the A div. Lifford are the biggest junior club in the county and entered the under 21 league for some years,but it wasnt supported by clare ppl. The county football is a joke at the moment with possibly the strongest team (Shannon Hibs) playing in the Limerick div 1a (div 2)Quote:
Originally Posted by fionnsci
any really good players tend to play for Galway or Limerick,
id favour an under 20s team from clare there is some although limited numbers of players in the county
No great football tradition in Navan. Anyone that has a modicum of talent plays in Drogheda or Dublin. Of the stronger sides in the county, Dunboyne and Ratoath, both of whom hae fantastic facilities, play in the LSL along with Navan's Parkvilla. Overall, the standard in Meath is low compared to elsewhere, at least that's my experience.Quote:
Originally Posted by fionnsci
Spot on, I don't really get everyones made desire to get a team from Navan into the leagueQuote:
Originally Posted by Raheen
Not sure how it works, but would Letterkenny Rovers be a good addition?
With the success of Mervue and Salthill in recent seasons apparently Galway Hibs, Corrib Rangers and West United are all talking about joining the A Championship - the aim is that in a few seasons there will be the League of Ireland Premier Division and the division below will be the Galway Superleague. There will be a game played in Terryland every game of the week with some double headers.
Good choice you would think, but Finn Harps !!Quote:
Originally Posted by Predator
One club (Harps) in Donegal should be enough imo
I actually like that idea of a North/South division split! It would probably give teams alot ,more interest as some dont really show much commitment when it comes to travelling from one end of the country to the next!
The divide has been in for the past 2 seasons.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dillonman
Would it not be closer for the likes of Carlow to travel to Dublin/Louth than going to Tralee/Cork and Dundalk/Drogheda going to Castlebar/Galway etc etcQuote:
Originally Posted by 1882
It has to be divided somewere, I know its unfair on certain teams, but the divide has to be made.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dillonman
So we have Tralee, Castlebar, Carlow, and Tullamore...
Would love to see those towns with a Loi club, good spread aswell, decently sized towns also.
So who else to add to that list? I'd say Mullingar, Portlaoise, Clonmel, i'd also like to see a new Kilkenny come back into the fold.
Agreed on all of thatQuote:
Originally Posted by Riddickcule
Bring back Tipperary Town. I think its aboutm time Meath get their own team in there and stop trying to rob Drogheda!
Only thing about getting these sort of clubs in is the whole Kildare thing, it didnt work there, was a long hard struggle and alot of these towns mentioned are strong with the GAA so it would be very hard for them to get themselves going strongly!
Do you mean Thurles Town?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dillonman
If anyone in Tipp. is to have a team it should be Clonmel
Thurles = major Gaah teritory
What about Nenagh? And I think North County Cork could support a team in the Mallow/Mitchelstown area
Nenaghs too small, plus already 2 clubs in county cork, the aim should be to get every county represented
Nenagh's about the size of Monaghan, and Roscrea's nearby, and a big enough town.Quote:
Originally Posted by Riddickcule
Ennis could be a location for a Clare team, but other than that, I'm not sure how many teams we can have.
I can't really see Leitrim, Roscommon and Cavan supporting teams, so existing clubs like Longford, Monaghan and Sligo could try to tap into those fan bases.
Maybe a Meath team could be based in Navan, and I'd like to see Kilkenny and Kildare back in the league as soon as possible. The only other real possibilities who don't already have A League teams would be Portlaoise and Ennis
Clonmel would be excellent representatives for Tipp, and though it's disappointing to hear from Portlaoise, the League needs a Co. Laois team and resurrected Kildare and Kilkenny clubs. Agree with Riddicule about Leitrim, Cavan and Roscommon, so if Navan and Ennis clubs are too weak, then Meath County and Clare County clubs run by the local leagues would see most counties included.
Dont think so.Quote:
Originally Posted by peadar1987
Mullingar Town applied twice a few years back - unlucky and were very close to getting accepted. Reckon we would get a good crowd for games. it would be brilliant to have some derby games with Longford and Athlone - jesus!!:)
BUT now the two teams are playing in a muck league and i dont think there are any plans for the future at all
If Westport United had a more advanced set up from their current facilities, then they could well have entered.
Are they any football clubs in Ennis? not on the wikipedia page.
That would surely affect support for Castlebar though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderblaster
I think there's a Clare League though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Riddickcule
I think in order to get the maximum support, there should be clubs like "Clare Celtic" formed, instead of simply elevating a club from the local amateur setup to the league. Fair enough, you'd have to attract a new fanbase, but it's like the Tralee Dynamos situation, there's not really enough room in Kerry for two LOI clubs to be well-supported, but people from Killarney won't support Dynamos because the bear the name of a different town. An All-Kerry side would, in my opinion, attract more support.
It didn't work for Kildare County though. Indeed, I'd say Newbridge Town could have made a better go of the LOI than KCFC did.Quote:
Originally Posted by peadar1987
Having said that, Kerry is probably one county where it could work due to the county identity there associated with the GAA team. Wexford would be another example of this.
Not all counties have this though. For example if there was no LOI teams in Louth, I don't think the county identity here would be strong enough to sustain support for a 'Louth United FC'..
Were Kildare County not just Newbridge Town under a different name?Quote:
Originally Posted by holidaysong
Im pretty sure it was Newbride that entered and they named KC to try and draw in the whole county.
I think most people in Kerry would have preferred the county option, the KDL were good to go in '08, but the FAI only wanted club teams in the U-20 league, that said they'd only have needed to called themselves Kerry FC or something similar to get around that rule. That's why Dynamos went it alone, and in fairness, they could well go up next year without needing any new league format.
Lads can we put the Navan team to bed, just because it's a big town doesn't mean it will be good for the club, Newbridge and Naas would have the biggest population in Kildare and it didn't help KCFC, the teams in Navan don't even play in that high of a league
I don't think there are many individual clubs with the appetite and resources to go for the A league at the moment.
Personally, I would let the current A-league sides into LOI and then split the first division into two 8-team divisions north/south (much cheaper on travel). Below this, the FAI should ramp up the Oscar Trayor (inter-league) from a knockout cup to a league system. That way we get a true 'pyramid' system up to the Oscar Traynor, with the best players picked off by the LOI clubs.
Agreed, most probably think there's no point going senior if 2010's the last year of the current format. Only the teams currently involved would be able to play First Division in 12 months time, though that shouldn't stop new teams joining in later years.Quote:
Originally Posted by chimpster
We have 2 and next year possibly 3 teams in Galway and we can't support 1.The FAI should be looking at county's that don't have teams and are big enough to support LOI.
Agreed but the FAI can't just kick Mervue and Salthill out, or can we ?
That was my point. In my opinion, they should have just stuck the existing club Newbridge Town into the league rather than create Kildare County FC. Football is an urban game and I think it would have been wiser to attract support in the town based on the Newbridge name rather than the county name, which is associated more with the GAA.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam_Heggy
As a Finn Harps fan, you might argue that a county based thing is a good idea - Harps always promote themselves as a Donegal team rather than a Ballybofey / Stranolar team. But then as a Dundalk fan, I'd argue that a Louth United team would never attract as much support as Dundalk and Drogheda United do on their own.
Salthill aren't going up to the 1st Divison, out of their own choice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Riddickcule
Strange - gufc2000 posted a long article saying Salthill were accepting a place in the FD and that Drom should be up to standard, but the club could have changed their minds since then. If it is true, would all five clubs submit new applications? Based on results, either yourselves or Tralee would have strong cases, while on infrastructure, Cobh would be ahead.
They are getting crowds of around 80 most of whom just live near Terryland,no one will care if we kick them out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Riddickcule