Parity In The League Of Ireland
This popped up on RTE yesterday: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2018...windling-fast/
In summation: draws are down, wins by more than a goal are up, the distance from first to last has never been higher and the same three teams keep qualifying for Europe.
I'm sure it will raise some hackles on various points, but I wanted to talk about the idea of "parity" in a sporting contest. Do we think that parity between clubs is something we should be aiming to try and actively create? That is to say, should the league/FAI be taking measures, like the proposed re-distribution of European prize money say, or even something more radical, to make more clubs competitive? We all know that things go up and down in LOI, but it does seem like Dundalk and Cork are carving out a monopoly at the top.
I'm very on the fence on this. Dundalk, Cork, Shams and, albeit by a sudden injection of cash, even Waterford have earned their success and should feel hard done by if any of it was siphoned off to the benefit of the rest and, in the end, would the amount when diluted be all that much for clubs with huge debts? And what else could you do? Other sporting leagues have salary caps and draft systems that favour lower ranked clubs, but different tradition and law complicate implementing such things here.
At the same time, I do worry that the League is heading to a situation where those top three/four clubs are just caught in a positive cycle of European money - success on the field - European money - that others can't break into bar a sudden injection of cash that, without meaning to provoke Waterford fans, carries inherent risk if done improperly (just look at Limerick!). I can see the dreaded league split option being implemented at some point down the line for example. Is there a method of creating parity that doesn't drag better clubs down?
So, should we be attempting to manufacture parity and, if so, how should we do it?