QuoteI think the merging of the LOI and the IL is the 1st logical step. This needs to be done to secure the future of the game at grassroots level on this island.
As a northerner, I would love to see this happen. I would also love to see Belfast Celtic resurected for the first season of the new league.
I also think a majority of people in Northern Ireland would like to see this happen. It would offer a new start for the game in general, and it would offer a new start for the clubs in a new league.
But how would you do it? There are 9 clubs who would obviously have to be in the top flight, 10 if BC came back.
- But would we want to put clubs in Waterford and/or Limerick given their population and potential?
- Would only the top division by 32 county, or would there be a second division for the likes of Cliftonville, Longford, Portadown and Dundalk?
- If you had 2 divisions would there be promotion and relegation initially, or would that have to be suspended for a few years to get the clubs operation on a stable financial footing?
- How would the frankly terrible facilities be improved? Realistically we would probably need 8 Tallaght stadiums in a very short time.
- How would TV work? Would we take the money from the satellite channels, or would it be better to do a deal with TV3/UTV to capture the public's imagination
- Summer or Winter?
- What day would the matches be played? Friday night and be open to competition with Rugby? Saturday and try to compete with the EPL? Saturday evening and try to keep people out of the pubs? Sunday and go up against GAA?
- How would it be made sexy? Should be bring in household names at the end of their careers from accross the water? Or a few lesser known South Americans who can entertain on the pitch?
- What about the differences in tax rates? As far as I am aware the northern clubs would be at a serious financial disadvantage given the different tax systems in place.
I'm the biggest fan in the world of this idea, but rather than just kicking about the principal, I reckon people should try to start answering those questions. I am sure they can be answered.
I think the merging of the LOI and the IL is the 1st logical step. This needs to be done to secure the future of the game at grassroots level on this island.
From the Derry City thread:
1) The vast majority of Derry fans on here and, as far as I can see, on derrycitychat, want the culb to remain in the League of Ireland. Let's not have page after page on how they could reform in the Irish League.
1a) The vast majority of NI fans on here and, as far as I can see, on Our Wee Country, want their team to remain independent. Let's not have page after page on how they could voluntarily and avoidably vote themselves out of existence in an All-Ireland team.
2) Either a new Derry can play in the League of Ireland, or they can't. It's factual, and no amount of discussion, hypothesising, querying, investigating, precedentising or whatever will actually change that. So let's leave that issue aside too.
2b) Either an All-Ireland football team will be formed or it won't. It's dependent on there being an All-Ireland first, and no amount of discussion, hypothesising, querying, investigating, precedentising or whatever will actually change that. So let's leave that aside too.
how?? Im really struggling here...Originally Posted by stiffler
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Guys, if you want to talk about All-Ireland leagues and so on, there are about 5,000 threads on the issue in the LOI section.
You seem to think there was once a time when finishing second in our group and being very competitive in the playoff with one of the top sides in Europe would have been considered a poor result. This isn't right.
Threads on merging with the north (league or international team) crop up from time to time. They generally produce posts one one of two themes: desirable but impractical or undesirable and impractical.
I think Henry's brought the crazies out of the woodwork.What do you think.
You can't spell failure without FAI
Thats only one part of a conversation about merging the football associations, and national teams. Its just as relevent here. especially as the lack of a competative league is one of the major factors holding back our national team.
When nations like Serbia need depth for their national team, they can look to their own domestic game. I know not everyone will agree, but League of Ireland players whilst many might have talent, aren't good enough for the international game. Serbia has clubs like Red Star where young players get battle hardened against experinced internationals, and in front of big crowds, in tough European games. For the improvements the LOI has made, it still is no where near that standard, nor is it likely to get there whilst it is such a financial mess.
And that is the impact all this has on the national team. Serbia won their group with ease, finishing well clear of France. We just lost a playoff to them.
Not yet. 1. We can compete with the bigger nations and so can they (recently beat Spain and England!). 2. The soccer fans of the North are too hostile towards us currently. Remember Windsor park in 1994. I wouldn't fancy getting attacked by the guy sitting next to me with a Union Jack. 3. Would we sing the Sash my Father Wore and alternate it with The Fields if Athenry. 4. I couldn't listen to Ireland's Call in Landsdowne.
Maybe in 20 years.
Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin.
Nice idea in theory but I doubt it's going to happen when they are celebrating last night's result over on OWC like David Healy himself had scored a last minute winner in the World Cup final. There is far too much bitterness towards all things southern amongst other things up there for it to work so it's all a moot point really. Never mind that the respective blazers are not going to want their foreign junkets cut in half. Better off concentrating on what we have available and working with it.
Plus shíte he may be but the likes of Kyle Lafferty would have as much right to play as anyone else. Bluenose or not.
I am afraid it will never happen until bigoted mindsets like yours no longer exist North or South.
"No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." - Edmund Burke
Go away and stop stirring.
There's nothing complicated about it. We don't want to merge with your football team. And even if we did you wouldn't have a big enough player base to compete consistently with the biggest countries.
Go away and stop stirring. Somehow I think the FAI now- just as in the 1920s- would be quite happy to remain separate from the IFA. Not least because you don't need to merge anything to get players from Northern Ireland, Scotland and England into your squad.
Got any evidence for this? A clear majority of people in Northern Ireland aren't interested in football at all, many others don't follow the local game, many of those who do won't see much advantage in leaving a fourth-rate league in which they're competitive for a third-rate (and on current evidence arguably even worse-run) one in which they might not be.
We'll always be hostile to any suggestion that we abandon our team to merge with another. 1994 isn't 'currently', if that's what you're suggesting above. I'm fairly sure no one at the World Cup qualifier attacked anyone with a union jack.
Last edited by Gather round; 19/11/2009 at 11:57 PM.
Sorry my apologies when I mentioned Lafferty he would be 'the' type of player against it. He is a radical N.I. supporter who breathes loyalist. I more or less meant I would hate having players who were against the idea. Though I wasnt the best with my words.
Living in Canada I obviously forget some of the important issues in regard to the IP and LOI. Obviously the idea sounds great but would require massive upheaval not only in football terms but politically.
Henry has definitely brought out the madness in everyone I think.
Just to let the good people on foot.ie know, there are many members on OWC who believe that people from Northern Ireland who support the Republic of Ireland in international football, of which I am one, are bigots. They believe that I and countless others do so, not because it is simply the natural course, but due to political beliefs.
I simply explain that I support the team, that represents the nation, of which I am a citizen. Therefore my national team.
Thankfully, many accept that and regretfully, many don't.
I'll not bore you with the various issues surrounding player eligibility, Darron Gibson and so on. All, have been the subject of seemingly never-ending, yet still active threads.
To anyone who is curious about any of these themes, pay the site a visit. It may be an eye-opener for you and at the very least, an education.
As an introduction, this OWC link to our match may work - http://ourweecountry.ipbhost.com/ind...howtopic=27674
(We are also routinely called, in jest of course, Mexicans, beggars, tarmaccers etc.......etc.......)
Welcome to Northern Ireland!
Last edited by The Fly; 19/11/2009 at 11:48 PM.
And while you're at it, lets unify the country aswell.
i like watchinh N.I win? whats wrong with me? am i the only normal person or the only wierdo because i'm not hate filled against anyone? (there are exceptions)
why can't we be like the rugby and pool our strongest players from this island together?
in fact, correct me if I'm wrong, but is soccer the only sport in this country that's divided between north and south?
Madness
ps I can't see Lafferty going for it, no
Folding my way into the big money!!!
would lafferty get in the squad that is the question? ah...... whats with all the older generations and fecking up my world!!
But footballs the hooligans sport is'nt it?
So it can't happen, its a gentlemens game played by hooligans.
Whilst rugby, is a hooligans game played by gentlemen...
I feel your pain, Fly. A lot of the discussion on OWC is over the top. That said, the various issues you mention are covered as nauseam here as well. With monotonous regularity, threads start here all basically saying the same thing: 'let's merge with NI even though their team's rubbish and the fans tend to knucke drag'. We get hacked off with it, like.
Most of the NI fans I know wanted France to win the play-off, although many (including me) will be more relieved than anything else. The thought of the Belfast media getting a collective hard-on for the six months leading up to the finals would have been a right pain. Let's be honest, it's hardly different from the anti-England sentiment in the South, and similarly Scotland and Wales.
I would love to see us merge... I'd have no problem with it, but sadly it will never happen. Too many bigots/thugs in both our fans ranks
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