About 200 people at our game v Cliftonville seems to be no interest in it this year , both teams played weakened sides Paul Cook was at Ballybofey watching Waterford can't see this going ahead next year in its current format i think the fact that its overlapping into next season isn't helping.
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I agree but think that a 32 team knockout would be best (16 from North, 16 from South). Maybe an open draw but by having the first round seeded at least it would be more likely the big guns would feature in the final (or would people prefer to see a UCD vs Sporting Final final played in front of 300 fans? ).
Oh good - another AIL thread......
Bottom line is that the Setanta appears to be dying on its arse at the moment. I'd be surprised if it survives another year, and stunned if it made it to another one beyond then without drastic change.
The most likely change, however, is that it'll be quietly dropped.
problem is no-one even relly tries to publasise the fixtures anymore there isnt the same buz about the competition as there used to be..
it was a very big deal for longford when we were in it i think a lot is down to the clubs dismissing the competition.
it is stupid holding it over two seasons thou and there is probably too many teams in it now thus dragging it on for too long and having sub standrd teams competing its getting like the champions league whee too many average teams get places in the competition
there would have been more if everyone knew that the first 11 would be playing. cooky made ten changes for the first game and our fans knew it'd be more or less the same for saturday and didnt bother going. it was an enjoyable game though for those who went and id much prefer to do well in this than the league cup. more attractive playing teams from across the border..something different anyways
The only way forward I can see is for a knockout tournament. Maybe top 8 from each side, keep clubs from the same league apart as much as possible.
What's bonkers about fans not travelling when the team clearly aren't giving it any priority?
If this is whats happening, with even the likes of Sligo not taking it seriously then the competition is dead - it's just a question of when Setanta pull the plug.
I know there's a lot of threads on it already, but it does explode the myth that some peddle that an AIL will solve all financial ills. At this rate, attendances will actually be down further!
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
Approx 250 travelling Coleraine fans in Dalymount last night.
According to a Bohs fan I know he thought it was f%^king terrible. According to one I overheard going out it was f&*king Sh^&e. I thought it was much worse than that.
I'm entirely open to contradiction, but 250 away fans seems not a bad following to me? What was the total attendance?
Anyhow, to get back to the question posed in the thread title, when the organisers can't seem to hit upon a suitable format for a simple knock-out tournament involving 8 or 9 teams, it would seem bonkers to me to attempt to contrive a successful formula for a League of 12?14?16 teams.
With the present Cup (sadly) appearing to be dying on its arse, all a new Setanta AIL would achieve would be to ****** up the two existing Leagues which, if hardly in rude health, at least have something to offer.
I assume he's talking about the game.
Coleraine support was superb in numbers and in noise - totally outsang the home fans all night although that wasn't too hard to do.
I was talking about the game. That was awful as I'm sure was what the Bohs fans were talking about afterwards.
Last edited by gspain; 07/10/2009 at 2:49 PM.
Its not that bonkers in the middle of a recession to sacrafice a trip to see the reserves sandwiched in between away games to Cork and St Pats , we have had a lot more road trips this season including , Albania via Croatia and Montengro , 3 trips to Cork and even had to had to travel to 2 different gounds to see Shams away this season plus the fact that most of our fans have been to Derry there isn't much of a novelty factor in an away trip to Belfast however I would like to see us play Cliftonville again in a competitive game as their fans made us feel very welcome and had a good setup its always nice to get change out of a twenty quid note for 8 pints compared to the couple of euros change out of 40 for the same round in the return game.
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The crowds are not coming out for setanta games at all. I think the way the fixtures have been moved around has had an effect, the whole format needs to be changed.
Yes very low key this year. This is the first game I've gone to this time around but I normally get to a few. Interest seems way down across the board. Media coverage is even less than usual as well.
It would be a shame to see it go.
Hard to judge the home crowd in Dalymount last night from the Jodi but maybe 1,000.
Bohs had a decent side out too - Deegan, Crowe, Brennan Murphy etc plus a few reserves.
The game badly needed a goal. You can't really blame Coleraine for defending deep and well. They seemed thrilled with the result and so they should be. Bohs had a bad night. I'd still fancy them to win the return and the group.
Im not sure what you mean by that, but the fact is that this season were not able to take Setanta as serious as we would like.
We have a small squad, have had a long season with some really big games coming up. We need or best players for those games and so thats the games the suppporters want to go to.
Cookie wasn't even at the Cliftonville game, took an oppurtunity to see Waterford.
That said we are top of our Setanta Table
Manager: Fergal, have you your boots with ya?
Fergal: Ya, I have them here.
Manager: Ah good stuff, well give them to this man so, he forgot his!
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