League to revert back to 12 teams in 2005

[eoinh]

we would be better off with a 16 team single division ... fewer clubs should ultimately raise standards. also the fixtures quandry mentionned above re 3 rounds of 11 games would not be an issue.

The one division league was the absolute ruination of the LOI in the past. It has only been with the introduction of promotion and relegation that it has slowly improved.

No other country in europe has only one league. It simply doesnt work

[exiled_gufc_fan]

The one division league was the absolute ruination of the LOI in the past. It has only been with the introduction of promotion and relegation that it has slowly improved.

No other country in europe has only one league. It simply doesnt work

but not too many other countries have a population of only 4 million and such an array of competing sports.

as long as there was a system where clubs could get demoted to one of the four senior leagues, it should be workable. after all even the bottom club in Coca Cola League gets demoted to the conference in England.

the current situation re the bottom clubs in the first division of the eL is a joke - "re-election"!!!

[Éanna]

I still think that a 12 team league with 3 series of games is utterly retarded.

No, playing teams every two months is getting tiresome.

both true. so whats the solution? IMO, 16 team premier and either two 10 team regional first divisions or promotion from the existing senior leagues.

[exiled_gufc_fan]

in my former username on this site, i put forward the idea of franchising (in 2001). I was told it was daft ... there was some agreement that there were too many teams... and not that we have had a couple of seasons of summer football and the 10 team league...

agree with jim. it should be looked at, but it would have to be very carefully considered and checked out before deciding on anything. look at 10-team league and summer footy as examples of deciding on things without proper planning.

http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=1905

... why can't we have some real debate?

[NY Hoop]

I stand to be corrected but arent we the only league that plays an odd number of games (33). Also I think we are all agreed that playing each other 3 times is, as GWA says "retarded"!!

Firstly there are too many teams in the league and bringing in more is absurd. Bit harsh but if we get rid of dublin city and monaghan we will have 20 teams. Then there should be 2 divisions of 10 teams for 36 games. 1 up and 1 down with the second team in the first playing the 9th placed team in the premier.

The 12 team league never worked. With the 10 team EVERY game is crucial. Talk to any player and they will tell you there is nothing worse than playing meaningless games which is what you get with the 12 team league.

16 team league is the worst idea. You would have about 4 or 5 teams challenging, 6 to 7 teams too good to go down and the rest fighting to stay up. In effect you would have 3 leagues in 1 division. With the 10 team league a team who wins 2 to 3 games on the trot can shoot up the table.

But until, we the fans, have a voice on the decision making these idiotic decisions will just go on. Registration problems , licensing problems, games being postponed at the drop of a hat, derry going back to thursday night etc etc etc etc.


KOH

[gufcfan]

I don't like being negative lads, but I think we need to get licenses for the current league teams before introducing more teams.

When the league has at least 12 'A' and 10 'B' licenses, only then can we look at increasing the total number of teams.

Couldnt have said it better myself.

A larger Premier in theory is good in that it gives more teams the chance to gather more revenue, obviously from larger attendances, sponsorship... but it mean a less competive 1st division.

This would make the gap between the bigger and smaller clubs larger.