Lack of initiative shown by League

**Riddickcule** · 29/01/2010, 4:39 PM

Originally Posted by John83

Last year, Derry went boom, Kildare aren't coming back any time soon, Cork are still tottering on the brink, and it's no secret that the rest of the clubs aren't exactly triple-A rated on the stock market. Getting the clubs to the point where the league's media coverage isn't all about unpaid wages and winding up orders is a far higher priority than advertising.

Or, ending this farce once and for all and scrapping the whole thing and starting again.

**dahamsta** · 29/01/2010, 6:00 PM

Out of interest I had a nose around, we have 7 @fai.ie email addresses, but I'd guess there's an awful lot of lurkers.

Originally Posted by Riddickcule

Or, ending this farce once and for all and scrapping the whole thing and starting again.

County and province based, like the GAA. Semi-pro. That and management changes in the FAI are all that are needed, the rest will follow, including management changes in the clubs. It really is as simple as that.

**Battery Rover** · 29/01/2010, 6:09 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

Out of interest I had a nose around, we have 7 @fai.ie email addresses, but I'd guess there's an awful lot of lurkers.

**Longfordian** · 29/01/2010, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

Out of interest I had a nose around, we have 7 @fai.ie email addresses, but I'd guess there's an awful lot of lurkers.

County and province based, like the GAA. Semi-pro. That and management changes in the FAI are all that are needed, the rest will follow, including management changes in the clubs. It really is as simple as that.

Do any of the @fai.ie addresses have posts out of curiosity?. Don't want to know who they are (well I do but you can't tell me), just in general.

**eelmonster** · 30/01/2010, 12:09 AM

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Ceci n'est pas une ad

**jebus** · 30/01/2010, 12:22 AM

Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

Adam - monkeys aside, there would be zero point whatsoever in the FAI paying to promote the league on a site for hardcore league followers.

Everyone on here knows that the league exists, is broadly positive about it, know if they have a local club or not, knows when the season will have begun etc etc etc. As the saying goes, you don't preach to the converted. It woudl therefore be pointless for them to do anything here.

They could do advertising elsewhere, but as stated above it would need to be done properly as part of a planned campaign. And the FAI doesn't have the expertise or the priority, let alone the inclination, to do this.

There's a fair few who only frequent the Ireland forum because they don't support a LoI team

It's debatable whether an online advertisement would coax them to a local ground of course

**MariborKev** · 30/01/2010, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by gael353

Its not just advertising though, i think it helps if you have the national broadcaster offering unriveled support to you to enhance sponsors to join your party. as a main sponsor they can advertise your product anytime including during after and before rival sports programming.

Go and read the back story on the "unrivalled support"

**RoversHead** · 30/01/2010, 1:47 PM

The core nucleus of hardcore LOI football fans dont need the league sold to them,the vast majority of them dont use this forum either so the claim that foot.ie represents them is incorrect,it proovides a good forum for debate by the fraction of them that use it but as a vehicle to attract new fans to the league mmm dont think so,we need a product worth buying into first and Im not convinced that the FAI are the right people to develope that product,

**dahamsta** · 30/01/2010, 3:32 PM

Originally Posted by eelmonster

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http://foot.ie/forums/showpost.php?p...2&postcount=55

http://foot.ie/forums/showpost.php?p...2&postcount=57

**joeSoap** · 01/02/2010, 3:07 PM

Originally Posted by RoversHead

The core nucleus of hardcore LOI football fans dont need the league sold to them,the vast majority of them dont use this forum either so the claim that foot.ie represents them is incorrect,it proovides a good forum for debate by the fraction of them that use it but as a vehicle to attract new fans to the league mmm dont think so,we need a product worth buying into first and Im not convinced that the FAI are the right people to develope that product,

Absolute horsesh1t! The core nucleus may not need it sold to them, but they need incentive off the field of play to keep attending. It is statistically proven that advertising does work, and you can rest assured that the die-hard element is dwindling as a result of the economy and disillusionment with poorly run clubs. The junior section here comprises mainly people that don't attend LOI football for varying reasons, and that sector gets thousands of hits. Don't tell me that a measly few quid invested by the FAI wouldn't perhaps attract a few of them to a game. The product is there-it's called football. It's been worth buying into for the last 20 years commercially. We have a league of reasonable standard. More could be done to promote it. Whatever your opinions on the FAI, they run the show, so its a matter of making do with what you've got.

**dong** · 01/02/2010, 3:17 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

Out of interest I had a nose around, we have 7 @fai.ie email addresses, but I'd guess there's an awful lot of lurkers.

County and province based, like the GAA. Semi-pro. That and management changes in the FAI are all that are needed, the rest will follow, including management changes in the clubs. It really is as simple as that.

Don't know about that. So you are saying we should have a team from, say, Leitrim?

**dahamsta** · 01/02/2010, 4:47 PM

If Leitrim wants to field one, yes. Why shouldn't they? I didn't say they all had to be winners.

**Dodge** · 01/02/2010, 5:36 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

County and province based, like the GAA. Semi-pro. That and management changes in the FAI are all that are needed, the rest will follow, including management changes in the clubs. It really is as simple as that.

Stick to the non football threads adam.

County based

When the GAA starts having to pay their players, and stops receiving government grants paying their players expenses, we can see how they run a professional league.

Until then, we can stick with the league that has lasted since 1921.

If Riddickule wants to get rid of a company that loses money (I think the economists would call it investing) on the league to step aside for a company that wants to make an imaginary profit out of it, let him live in make believe land with the rest of the spoofers who run Irish clubs.

As much as I love to stick the boot into the FAI, the simple fact is that clubs here need to sort their own problems out, and make their games worth going to. No point in spending money advertising games and bringing in punters if the grounds are kips and the standard of football is rubbish. Advertising might get them in for one game, but it won't keep them going.

Has the celtic tiger going boost taught you nothing? No more pie in the sky crap lads.

**Acornvilla** · 01/02/2010, 6:43 PM

i think it would be a smart move for the fai to invest in upgrading facilities for the clubs thou

**dahamsta** · 01/02/2010, 7:14 PM

Ever wonder if anyone actually finds your "antagonism" funny Dodge? Ever think people might be as interested in the business side of things as others are in the game itself? The Irish game'd be a damn sight better off if there were a few more...

I said semi-professional. I'm not ever sure I'd go that far, renumeration in the GAA works in it's own bizarre way: if you're any good, you'll be taken on as a sales rep somewhere, people will buy off you just because of who you are, and you'll have a nice comfortable living from the commission. I've worked alongside both hurling and football "stars" in this setup, they both had about the same lifestyle.

I have no problem with a government-subsidised league btw. Say what you want about the GAA, they run things a damn sight better than the FAI.

**dong** · 01/02/2010, 7:28 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

If Leitrim wants to field one, yes. Why shouldn't they? I didn't say they all had to be winners.

Yea but come on. How would they possibly survive? For a start you have an established club twenty minutes up the N4 with a small population between the two counties. There is very little "soccer" in Leitrim (sorry Carrickfan if you're reading this!). The league has many problems, but the idea of abandoning the club set up as it stands is not the answer. Clubs with no tradition with little or no fanbase are one of the reasons the league is stagnating.

**dahamsta** · 01/02/2010, 8:39 PM

If Leitrim doesn't want to field one, they don't have to. I didn't think it was all that difficult a concept to understand.

**weecountyman** · 01/02/2010, 9:02 PM

A county based side would only work in an outpost like Letrim if there was an incentive - ie pyramid to work through. If there was a Connacht league that fed directly into a regional 2nd Division (supposing that there is a Premier, North and South 1st Division, and 3 regional 2nd Divisions- West, South and East) then a small club set up in Letrim can work their way up from a Connacht league and maybe one day push into the 1st Division. Smart investment, a solid fanbase and good community relations, then every county can be represented. The FAI would have to take a lead but the whole shebang would need to be run and operated on a commercial basis with venues fit for spectators and a fully fledged matchday experience guaranteed.

**dong** · 01/02/2010, 9:48 PM

Originally Posted by dahamsta

If Leitrim doesn't want to field one, they don't have to. I didn't think it was all that difficult a concept to understand.

Fair enough. What about Dublin then? Which club would be picked to represent the capital in this proposed league? And what happens to the other clubs in Dublin in such a scenario?