Originally Posted by
EatYerGreens
It may be a simple point, but it doesn't withstand scrutiny I'm afraid.
Firstly - it's not only fulltime clubs in Britain that face long journeys. Look at Scotland's Fourth tier, where you have Annan on the English border playing Elgin and Cove at the other end of the country in the Highlands. The players seem to be able to cope with that, despite being only semi-pros.
Regardless - the key point is this.
There is only one club in the Irish League which would face longer journies in an AIL than Derry City currently does - and that's Coleraine, and barely by much. They would travel 12 miles further than Derry to get to Cork, for example. Every other club in the IL would face shorter journeys than Derry currently does, and the majority would face shorter journeys than Finn Harps and Cork currently do aswell - especially averaged over a season.
Also - the expectation is that an AIL would lead to more clubs turning professional anyway and there being more money in the league. Which would ease the burden of the travel on both clubs and players alike.
So how would it be unreasonable to expect IL clubs to play in such a league, but it's OK for Derry, Cork and Harps to do so ? Obviously players and clubs would prefer to minimise their journey times. Who wouldn't in life. But if that is an over-riding priority, then it's a charity for mediocrity. Let everyone play in their own little local mini-leagues then and to hell with anything more than an hour or so away.