Future of the A Championship

[Dodge]

The First Division shield made up the number of games. The number of games isn't an issue.

[legendz]

What's the issue so?
8 teams is low and far from ideal as I say. 8 teams is two less than the Premier currently holds though. It'll be very harsh and wrong to put 6 First Division clubs into the A Championship. There is a gap between the A Championship and Division One, I think at best they could only promote 2 to the national league. If the 6 Division One clubs and 2 A Championship clubs are ok to go with it they should go with it.

[Dodge]

What's the issue so?

No issues with me. All current a league tems promoted to the first division. 2 division league. Why did teams join the A league if they weren't looking to progress up through the LOI ranks? Now they get to skip a step. Allowances can be made for facilities.

A league reverts to reserves only unless any new clubs want to join in the future

[legendz]

They are looking to progress to the LoI but I don't think they are ready. The A Championship is split North and South so they don't have huge travel costs. The whole point is that they could look to build and I don't think they all have progressed enough so far.
Allowances can be made for facilities but if the clubs are not ready for a national league, they should not be put in that position. If only 2 are promoted, it leaves 3 remaining in the A Championship with the rest of the reserves and new clubs looking to join in the future. If the 3 remaining clubs and new clubs are in a position to join the national league, the first division can then be expanded to 10 or 12 and hopefully 16 eventually. I'd love to see all 5 being in a position to join the first division as soon as possible but they aren't.

[Schumi]

An eight team division would be ridiculous. Merging all the A Championship teams into the First Division would make much more sense, the A Championship would have served its purpose in preparing teams for LOI football.

[legendz]

An eight team division would be ridiculous. Merging all the A Championship teams into the First Division would make much more sense, the A Championship would have served its purpose in preparing teams for LOI football.

It's far from ideal but it might be the only option. Everyone is presuming the 5 clubs are ready. You say, "the A Championship would have served its purpose in preparing teams for LOI football." What if clubs of the 5 are still preparing, building and are not ready for LoI football? I can only imagine they have to stay in the A Championship, as will any new clubs looking to join the league.

[Dodge]

They're already in LOI football. They just got a promotion. Something they would've got if their on field performances meritted it.

[legendz]

The A Championship is supposed to be the first stop for clubs hoping to move into the Airtricity League, giving them the opportunity to get used to the standards – both on and off the pitch – expected if they are to progress into the First Division. If clubs haven't achieved this, I don't see how they can all of a sudden be entered into Division One to make up the numbers.
Recently people were writing off the need to look at creating a football pyramid in the long-term and now all of a sudden clubs are supposed to take huge leaps into League of Ireland football.

[Dodge]

Differing people surely.

Any club can apply for membership of the league (through the A league) and as the numbers there don't matter, they will never ever be rejected. There's no point in a pyramid forcing them to joina league they don't want to. if they want to joing the league, they will join the league. No question.

The clubs who have joined the A league do so in the knowledge that they could be promoted. That it arrives before the expect it is a good thing. Every club has been involved for a t least two years. If they're not ready to step up now, get rid of them.

[legendz]

There's no timescale on the A Championship either, just as there's no limit on membership. Clubs need more that 2 years though in fairness.
If all 5 A Championships clubs were entered into the Airtricity League, if one or two had to pull out it would undermine the league. At the moment if one of the 22 pull out, there's one of 5 that can be entered in their place. While not ideal, with 8 in Division One, should one or two drop out, there should be at least 3 in the A Championship in a position to take their place. It's like a stress test, club's should be there in a position ready to come in.

[Dodge]

There's no timescale on the A Championship either

Precisely, they could be promoted in their first season

Clubs need more that 2 years though in fairness.

I think you're vastly overestimating the level of some clubs in Division 1. Look at Salthill for example

. It's like a stress test, club's should be there in a position ready to come in.

They've had at least 2 years. Some more. There's no point in having only 6 teams in the first division, whith 4-6 more waiting on promotion to it. If thye can't afford it, then let them drop out now.

[legendz]

Yeah, let's look at Salthill. They finished miles off the pace in Division One and yet they beat Cobh and have kept their place. Why bring in more as bad or worse? There's no point having 6 but you can have 8 in division one, far from ideal but the only way division one can continue. Otherwise Division One is done away with with the A Championship as a second tier. I don't think that should happen. Teams should be playing in a national league before getting to the Premier. The A Championship is more a regional league split north and south.
The 5 A Championship clubs are looking to build. They are playing at their level. They can't be kicked out just because they are not all ready for a leap to the national league.

[pineapple stu]

Why bring in more as bad or worse?

Because they can improve and grow.

[Dodge]

The problem with salthill or mervue is location. There smily aren't enough players in Galway to service the three teams playing at LOI level.

Other teams don't have that particular problem

If clubs aren't willing to pit themselves against the bottom 6 teams in the first division, they shouldn't be allowed in the league.

If they 6 new teams are all the same level, then they'll at least havea fighting chance in most games.

[legendz]

I think the top 2 would join and lets say for example both Cobh and Carlow were willing to join the league. Do they get put into Division One and the A Championship then get discarded with? I would think the A Championship has to exist for clubs looking to join the league in the future and the current 5 or less if some join Division One.

[culloty82]

I think the top 2 would join and lets say for example both Cobh and Carlow were willing to join the league. Do they get put into Division One and the A Championship then get discarded with? I would think the A Championship has to exist for clubs looking to join the league in the future and the current 5 or less if some join Division One.

I agree the format should be kept going, for argument's sake, we'll say that the final plan will be the 16 team Premier and the 11 others in Division 1. Even then, there's still room for a 20-team 2 section A Championship with 4 non-league teams. The aim will be to expand D1 to 16 teams, so there would only be promotion, no relegation, and even when the First Division quota would be filled, new A teams could be accepted to build that into a pyramid.

[legendz]

If the final plan is a 16 team Premier and 11 in Division One. The A Championship isn't guaranteed any new clubs so it will probably contain the 16 A sides of the Premier. If 1 or 2 of the sides find it's a bit too much, the division could be cut to 9 or 10 which will only undermine the league.
I think they should look to have a minimum of 2 first team sides left in the A Championship before they look at promoting sides. In 2012, if 2 A sides have gained promotion, there'll be at least 3 first team sides left behind. If 1 or more sides join the A Championship and seem to settle in ok getting used to the standards – both on and off the pitch etc., they could look at adding two extra clubs at a time to Division One, leaving at least 2 first team sides in the A Championship in case sides happen to pull out. If Division One was to get to 14 clubs, it wouldn't be so bad.

[FlapjackJoe]

If there are 16 teams in a new Premier League, there will only be 11 teams left at national level below the Premier League - and, let's be honest, other teams aren't really falling over themselves to try and join the League of Ireland / A Championship, so it wouldn't be much more than that. It would make no sense in having a Premier Division of 16 teams, but then splitting 11 teams into 2 different divisions. So I think it will be the end of the A Championship as we know it. Either it will become a reserve team only competition or it will be absorbed by the First Division (i.e. the First Division might have 2 regional groups with some reserve teams playing in it).

[legendz]

It could well go that way. The 6 clubs left behind will have to be listened to though. If they don't want to be absorbed in to the A Championship or a regional split, bringing up 2 A Championship clubs would at least give a division of 8 and after 4 series only 2 games less than the Premier.

[BonnieShels]

I had a plan that could counteract this issue. It's somewhere on the C drive here. Basically it involved a provincial pre season competition for entry into Division 1.
I'll root it out.