The League

[RoversHead]

As stated above, a 16 team Premier Division, no First division, with the A League being the league were potential new teams can develop and grow, as well as "feeder" clubs who are not after promotion, just the development of talent in the league. Sort of a Wexford Youths style setup in different centers around the country.

Teams in Dublin should really share grounds rather than having resources wasted maintaining numerous grounds.

The 10 team PRO league was dead before it was even close to happening. We need to nurture talent and stop shooting ourselves in the foot with 10 team leagues and 3 Divisions. Resources are small already.

Spot on

[JC_GUFC]

There is no way they could promote Finn Harps at this stage. If they did they would be fixing one problem but creating another. Cork City's points and any points gained against them would be wiped out

Actually in the latest rules of the league the average number of points a team got against the team dropping out is used to determine how many they're awarded. That's why Cork have to at least see out the 1st series of games.

Bohs fans will be up in arms as they lost and Derry won againt Cork - meaning Derry will get an extra 9 points while Bohs get none.

[RoversHead]

Are any of the cork fans who post on here involved with foras?or can anyone from Cork tell us what the situation is ?

[don ramo]

so well have a 9 team premier division, that will be great

[Dodge]

Actually in the latest rules of the league the average number of points a team got against the team dropping out is used to determine how many they're awarded. That's why Cork have to at least see out the 1st series of games.

Bohs fans will be up in arms as they lost and Derry won againt Cork - meaning Derry will get an extra 9 points while Bohs get none.

Fair play, din't realise this. I'm now in the horrible position of half wanting them to go bust just so we'll get another 6 points this year

[Gareth]

16 team Premier Leagues are not the way forward,The Premier League should be 12 teams MAX,there isnt enough talent for more than 12 teams

One of the disadvantages of a 12 team league is the requirement of playing each other 3 times. Playing each other twice creates too short a league and 4 times too long with way too much repetition. 16 teams allows the league to run for 30 series. At present we have 22 teams operating in the Premier and the First. This league represents a loss of 6 of those teams.

[the-blue-harp]

Perhaps it's a regional dialect?

Cup of tae?

thats the official language of the country...Irish, not a regional dialect.

[pineapple stu]

This league represents a loss of 6 of those teams.

It doesn't have to if you merge the six extra teams with those in the A Championship to form a new First Division.

Actually in the latest rules of the league the average number of points a team got against the team dropping out is used to determine how many they're awarded. That's why Cork have to at least see out the 1st series of games.

Bohs fans will be up in arms as they lost and Derry won againt Cork - meaning Derry will get an extra 9 points while Bohs get none.

Am I the only one who thinks that's completely nonsensical?

[Gareth]

It doesn't have to if you merge the six extra teams with those in the A Championship to form a new First Division.


Am I the only one who thinks that's completely nonsensical?

Pineapple I fully agree, and as the ad says... Past performance is no guarantee of future gains. It is mad. Only way is to wipe all results, or if a team has played everyone once, then let it be.

As for the merge, yes, but I would not be a fan of calling it a First Division. I'd prefer Secondary League or something. When did the world of football need to have all it's leagues classified as representing the first element of a sequence. (A League, The Championship, The Premier League, The First Division). Is it some fear of being labelled second?

[pineapple stu]

It's always been the First Division, I suppose (taking the B Division as a different competition). We have at least stuck with our names, unlike those across the water. But the principle is that no club should be forced out of business by a 16-team Premier.

[Dodge]

Don't forget the leagu has alreasy had 16 team leagues and it wasn't exactly setting the world alight then either

The amount of clubs in the top division is totally irrevelant to the situation that Cork, and others, find themselves in

[pineapple stu]

Piffle. Change the number of teams! It's not worked so many times before that it's bound to work now.

[Gareth]

Don't forget the leagu has alreasy had 16 team leagues and it wasn't exactly setting the world alight then either

The amount of clubs in the top division is totally irrevelant to the situation that Cork, and others, find themselves in

The number of teams was the lesser point compared to the point that we can't pump all the money into wages and say it's a professional league. We need to put the money into the structures. Like developing younger players, stadia etc

[Dodge]

Agreed, so why mention the amount of teams in the league at all?

[Gareth]

Agreed, so why mention the amount of teams in the league at all?

Because albeit a lesser point, it was a point I wanted to make. I dislike the idea of playing three or four rounds in a league. 16 teams would eliminate that.

[John83]

I'd agree that expunging the games played would be fairer than extrapolating the results (or even leaving whole . That said, I'm pretty sure I remember some teams bitching like hell when they lost points after Dublin City's (or "Sea Day" as their fans used sing) results were expunged.

The FAI seem to be happy with the ten team division for now - "The current structure lends itself to a concentration of the top talent in a smaller number of clubs which improves the standard of those teams. This should help those teams continue to improve the playing standard in this country and also allow clubs to enhance their European performances which have been excellent over the past few years... We will continue to monitor the structure of the League to ensure at all times that the set up is the most appropriate one for the development of both the player and the League as a whole." This from Padraig Smith's Q&A. Doubtless, they'll have a similar argument when they switch back to a 12 team division, but if that's representative of their thinking, I'd expect them to reject a 16 team division out of hand.

thats the official language of the country...Irish, not a regional dialect.

If someone consistently uses tae in English, it's not an Irish word, but a dialect word in Hibernian English. The phrase, "Cup of tae" is not Irish.

The constant interuption of important threads on the survival of football in Ireland with grammer lessons should be considerd as an act of Heresy ,the rejection of the more established belief that the survival of football is more important than any single spelling crime.This site is infested with Arians .Context and content would be a better angle of attack for your lot giving you the added bonus of leaving your own posts open to no critique what so ever
The fact that the tone and content of some of these posts would be found offensive by a number of groups in our society ie people with literacy, learning difficulties would enable me to use Aryan but I reserve that for a more serios brand of muppet now back to the football please.

Some people like to be able to read the argument without wincing.

Some people have learning difficulties, no doubt, but others are just too lazy to write correctly. The only dyslexic person I've ever discussed this with admitted that he took great care writing his posts, proof reading them before he posted out of respect for those who would read them. His posts are consistently clearer and better written than almost anyone else I know.
There are spell checkers built into Firefox (and presumably other browsers by now). There are grammar checker plug ins. There's no excuse for almost all of the people who type badly. That they dismiss criticism with politically correct references to learning difficulties disrespects the efforts of those who actually have them to overcome their limitations.

[RoversHead]

I'd agree that expunging the games played would be fairer than extrapolating the results (or even leaving whole . That said, I'm pretty sure I remember some teams bitching like hell when they lost points after Dublin City's (or "Sea Day" as their fans used sing) results were expunged.

The FAI seem to be happy with the ten team division for now - "The current structure lends itself to a concentration of the top talent in a smaller number of clubs which improves the standard of those teams. This should help those teams continue to improve the playing standard in this country and also allow clubs to enhance their European performances which have been excellent over the past few years... We will continue to monitor the structure of the League to ensure at all times that the set up is the most appropriate one for the development of both the player and the League as a whole." This from Padraig Smith's Q&A. Doubtless, they'll have a similar argument when they switch back to a 12 team division, but if that's representative of their thinking, I'd expect them to reject a 16 team division out of hand.


If someone consistently uses tae in English, it's not an Irish word, but a dialect word in Hibernian English. The phrase, "Cup of tae" is not Irish.


Some people like to be able to read the argument without wincing.

Some people have learning difficulties, no doubt, but others are just too lazy to write correctly. The only dyslexic person I've ever discussed this with admitted that he took great care writing his posts, proof reading them before he posted out of respect for those who would read them. His posts are consistently clearer and better written than almost anyone else I know.
There are spell checkers built into Firefox (and presumably other browsers by now). There are grammar checker plug ins. There's no excuse for almost all of the people who type badly. That they dismiss criticism with politically correct references to learning difficulties disrespects the efforts of those who actually have them to overcome their limitations.

Wow ,The fact that the FAI are happy with the current situation because it allows for the nurture of tallent should be a cause for some concern considering clubs are facing going out of existance,not the Wexford youths but the so called elite Bohs and Cork .
By the way "Lazy instead of retarded" now thats Aryan ,your another grammer spammer who gives foot.ie a bad name .

[John83]

Wow ,The fact that the FAI are happy with the current situation because it allows for the nurture of tallent should be a cause for some concern considering clubs are facing going out of existance,not the Wexford youths but the so called elite Bohs and Cork .

I don't think we can blame the 10 team Premier for Cork's woes, nor for the troubles Bohs seem to be storing up for themselves.

A lot of people here have long derided the recurring idea that changing the number of teams in the division solves anything. It also doesn't really cause any major problems. Those clubs would be in trouble regardless.

I don't entirely agree with the reasoning I quoted, but I don't think it's invalidated by the financial crises the league has faced.

By the way "Lazy instead of retarded" now thats Aryan ,your another grammer spammer who gives foot.ie a bad name .

I have a sneaking suspicion that you don't know what Aryan means. I find it somewhat embarrassing that I keep meeting people from countries where indoor plumbing is considered a magical modernity who speak and write better English than my supposedly fluent countrymen.

[the-blue-harp]

If someone consistently uses tae in English, it's not an Irish word, but a dialect word in Hibernian English. The phrase, "Cup of tae" is not Irish.

I have never heard it used anywhere else

[don ramo]

settle down now class


16 team premier league is the bets way to go, and all these idiotic owners stop spending beyond there means, since 2005 the winners are cork city, shels, drogs and bohs twice, 3 of those clubs have had serious financial issues and from pure rourmour bohs are suppose to have also,

the only reason 16 teams will have such a hugh dwarf in talent is cause there will always be 3 or 4 clubs spending way beyond there means,

then outside the premier division, have exactly what the A league is at the moment, 2 regionalised divisions north and south, you have the 6 teams left from the first divsion and the current 6 teams playing in the A league, include the 16 premier A teams, and you have 2 14 teams divisions seperated north and south for travel reasons and more derbies also, have a 28 game season (play each other twice), then have the top 3 teams from north and south enter playoffs (or a 6 team mini league breakaway) for promotion,

out of the 6, 2 teams go up, and 2 come down from the premier and they do not have play-offs (you finnish in the bottom 2 your gone)