A few things

[Gollum]

Hi there, my name is Sandro, I'm from Italy and some of you might already know me as I have been running the Into The West website for Galway United since 1997. Media coverage on Irish domestic soccer has improved a lot in the last few years, still it's always hard to know who's playing who in the league games or to find out details on clubs and players (in particular if are a foreigner or you live abroad). So I have a few questions and suggestions:
- ANNUAL: I think the 2001-02 yearbook was the last one issued, does anybody know if it is going to be published again?
The Irish league Yearbook in the north is quite good, packed with lots of info and pics.
- MAGAZINE: can't believe there's no serious magazine on domestic football published in Ireland. The Irish Soccer Magazine was quite poor, actually, but always better than nothing and actually included all line-ups and attendances for each single game, review of the grounds, interview etc. I can't remember much of the 11-a-side magazine but it was quite strange, with little coverage of the League.
- PLAYERS DATABASE: I used to keep a personal database until a couple of years ago, it was quite basic with names and position of each player. It was in an excel format and I do'nt think it's of any help to anybody now. Are you still working in the database as I read somewhere else? When will it be available, what format? Pity i deleted lots of picture I saved from the net.
- FOOTBALL GROUNDS: I'm currently writing a book on Italian football grounds from Serie A to Serie C2, a guide similar to Simon Inglis's beautiful "Football grounds of Europe". I saved many pics of Ireland's ground, but very few aerial views or decent images which show the full ground. Does anybody have better pics of the grounds?
- MAILING LIST: There used to be one or two in the past and they were going quite strong. I'm afraid they are both gone now. how about to restore them or start a new one?
- LEAGUE FORMAT: maybe I should write this somewhere else, I know. But it's only to point out that most of the problems come from the fact that First Division is seen as a sort of tragedy in the League of Ireland whereas elsewhere has a dignitous status. In many countries you can see big attendances even in lower divisions, but as far as there is no threaten of relegation, irish first division will always be a meaningless league. So whatever format for the 2 leagues, I think there should be a link to local soccer. Me, for one, I would opt for a 14 teams premier league with clubs playing each other no more than twice, no matter if most clubs are from Dublin. I know it would be hard then to introduce more clubs in the first division, but perhaps the risk of losing their first division status would push them to improve their facilities.

[John83]

Originally posted by Gollum
- ANNUAL: I think the 2001-02 yearbook was the last one issued, does anybody know if it is going to be published again?

Not that I'm aware of.

- MAGAZINE: can't believe there's no serious magazine on domestic football published in Ireland.

The market is unfortunately small, so a magazine is hard to make economically viable.

- PLAYERS DATABASE:

Championship Manager has a database of all those players, someone may be able to email it to you.

- FOOTBALL GROUNDS: I'm currently writing a book on Italian football grounds from Serie A to Serie C2, a guide similar to Simon Inglis's beautiful "Football grounds of Europe". I saved many pics of Ireland's ground, but very few aerial views or decent images which show the full ground. Does anybody have better pics of the grounds?

Good for you - post on the board if/when you get it published. A few of us would definately be interested. There is a site of pictures football grounds. I'll look it up and edit this.

- LEAGUE FORMAT: maybe I should write this somewhere else, I know. But it's only to point out that most of the problems come from the fact that First Division is seen as a sort of tragedy in the League of Ireland whereas elsewhere has a dignitous status.

The biggest problem is that the top teams are poorly supported. If Bohes and Shels could get 15,000 through the gates every week - not unrealistic if the domestic league was considered worth watching by a decent proportion of football fans in this country - and the rest of the league teams would slowly follow. Unfortunately, Irish fans seem to prefer English or Scottish football.