just read eanna's post about paul daly's anti-city article. i'm away at the mo and have missed all the euro matches (thank god for the internet). i think we should have a campaign of emails protesting that article - the sports editor is john mchale. john.mchale@eecho.ie
to get the ball rolling, here's the email i sent today.
I am writing as a Cork City supporter appalled by the article written by Paul Daly and published in the Evening Echo entitled "For Some The Cup Is Always Half Empty". I hope I will not take up too much of your time in outlining my complaints.
Sky Sports and the clubs they televise benefit from Irish football fans spending money on their passion. If it was not financially viable, Sky Sports would not be here, but they are, collecting subscription fees and providing matches for us to pay-per-view. The hype and glamour lavished on these matches is unique to Sky Sports and, with our history of emigration and of Irish heroes playing for Liverpool and Manchester United et al, Sky Sports are not likely to lose the Irish market any time soon.
For the Eircom league to survive, to improve, it must attract those who love football. It must encourage the Sky Sports subscribers to leave the comfort of their armchairs from time to time and spend some money and some time supporting instead of merely watching. How can this be achieved? What does the Eircom league have to offer?
1. Excitement. The passion of the crowd. Chanting, flags, cheers, groans. The benefiits of actually being at the stadium. Cork City's home match with NEC Nijmegen was a sell-out, with an atmosphere that had never been witnessed before by several of City's players.
Paul Daly commented on the atmosphere at a typical Cork City match: "Normally the inhabitants of the Derrynane end only open their mouths occasionally, alternating between breathing and abusing certain players. Mostly, they do the latter more than the former."
2. Football of a high standard, played on good pitches by skillful players - in Cork City's case there are frequently several past and current Irish Under-21 internationals, and at least one candidate for full international honours.
Paul Daly summed up the quality of the football on offer: "It was one of the most tedious games I've ever sat through at the Cross.... City didn't have the ability...Their play lacked ambition and imagination."
3. Pride. The opportunity to support your local team, to share in a sense of community spirit. Irish clubs have been looked down on and trivialised for too long. Now as standards rise and professionalism grows there exists an opportunity to leave the inferiority complex of the past behind.
Paul Daly spelled out his sense of pride in Cork City's performances in Europe: "Let us not get carried away with this win. The Intertoto Cup is known in English football circles as the Inter-two-bob cup... in short, the Dutch weren't particularly bothered... Those who love City should not worship a false god."
The impression given by Mr. Daly is that Cork City lack ambition, thrilling at hollow victories over disinterested opposition who lost only because they attached no worth to a competition ignored by clubs of real stature. He maintained that the standard of football on offer is frustrating and boring. He maintained that to visit Turner's Cross is to endure tedious football played out in a negative atmospere. Mr. Daly has suffered so much supporting Cork City that he fears for his "mental stability".
I would suggest that perhaps that stability was unhinged some time ago. Cork City's Intertoto exploits have brought a level of interest in the Irish game that has perhaps never been seen before. The excitment surrounding the club is an outstanding opportunity to generate new supporters, to consolidate existing suport, to win over those who might otherwise just stay at home. Without support from football fans, Eircom league clubs cannot hope to continue the progress of recent years.
My question is simple. Why did the Evening Echo, who sponsor Cork City Football Club, publish such a negative, damaging article, which encourages potential supporters to stay away, to keep their money and their sanity? For the local media to pour such vitriol on the local football team, who are currently enjoying one of their most successful periods both on and off the pitch, is incomprehensible to me. I would greatly apppreciate any light you could shed on this matter.
if we send in enough emails, maybe the message will get thru? if not, at least we can **** the little fecker off.
