According to one of the papers today (I also heard this from a committee member at Harps) there will be no automatic relegation from Premier at end of this season. Top two in the First will be promoted, while last in the Premier will play third in the First in a two-legged play-off. Premier will therefore increase from 10 to 12 from 2012 season and First will reduce from 12 to 10 from 2012. Not sure what is happening at the bottom of the First, but 2011 will be the last year of the 'A' league.
Up the Harps!!
Now if only we knew the make up of the premier and first division...
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
dont think thats strictly true, depends on which premier team it is . some can play as many legs as required until they win.
I wish i did not know then what I dont know now
And if Bray come last, I think someone has to go bust, yeah?
Suggest we have a new thread on 'League Format 2011+2012' from harps1954's post instead of having it mixed with licensing. I appreciate that they're interrelated and all but it's really two topics.
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
It has been suggested on this forum that A Championship clubs will be invited to Division One. Anyone know for sure what is happening?
Legendz, I think you misunderstand how football in Ireland works.
No one knows anything. And anything we do know is subject to caveats. And when the FAI announce something we will have to make sure disbelief is suspended and our pinches of salt are at the ready.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
From Limericks perspective they could do with keeping the A league for the 2012 season. We have a lot of players signed up with the A team and we are regularly using it for fringe players and players coming back from injury. If the A league is gone at the end of this season it is just going to be a case of sending the A players back to junior if they are not yet ready to step up to the first team and are too old for the under 20 team which would not help with bringing players through and keeping fringe players playing regularly.
Agreed with Jofspring.
The main issue with the A Championship is some Premier clubs do not want to field an A side. I can't see why they cannot just remove the stipulation that Premier clubs have to field an A side. Some clubs will want to field a reserve side. Three first division clubs already field an A side despite not having to. If these three were joined by only 5 Premier clubs and 3 or 4 first team clubs looking to join the league, they A Championship can surely continue without being split into two groups.
For example:
Shamrock Rovers A
Sligo Rovers A
UCD A
Derry City A
Limerick A
Shelbourne A
Finn Harps A
Cobg Ramblers
FC Carlow
Tralee Dynamos
In this, if only 7 of the 22 LoI clubs fielded an A side and 3 other first team clubs wanted to be involved, the A Championsip can run as a single 10 team division. If more clubs join, they can vary the format. In last season's A Championship, clubs only got 16 league games. As long as they get 9 clubs in a single division, they will be on a par with that number of games.
It's odd that although the promotion places are expanded from 1 auto +1 via playoff to 2 auto +1 via playoff that the number of playoff spaces in the first has not been increased to give more first division clubs something to aim for. It'd be nice to see it go down to 4th at least- maybe have 3rd play 4th in a one off game with 3rd at home.
Glad to hear the extra premier playoff has been scrapped though, didn't like that one.
Edit- Legendz.. if the A league wasn't split you'd soon have more clubs looking to get out of it as the expenses for clubs and commitment necessary from players would go up.
Last edited by Mr A; 08/02/2011 at 2:49 PM.
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
You might be right Mr. A. I think it is something they should look at first though before they do look to scrap the A league. The FAI should at least consult all the club's involved in this year's A league and gauge the interest. If they can get 10 clubs who will participate, they should go with it, if not, that's the end of it.
Re. the extra premier play-off. I agree with that. I've always thought 4 in the division one should be involved instead of 8th in the Premier.
So with Galway United winning their appeal it looks like an 11 team first division this season. Limerick look to be fine as well.
With Drogheda having been promoted/unrelegated it now means Harps have to play their first three matches of the season away from home, with the first home match only being in April. If I have this right it also means we now have 14 home games, whereas some other clubs will have 16 (we were due to be 16 home but lost two, other clubs were due to have 17 but lost one).
Will the FAI redraft the fixture list?
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
They should redraft it a small bit. Salthill as the lowest club from last season should be the club not to play on the last day of the season.
https://foot.ie/forums/117-Kerry-FC
A Championship: 4 years - 8 first teams - 0 financially ruined. First Division '14: 7 first teams.
Opportunity lost for new clubs/regions to join the LoI family.
Further to what Mr. A was saying above:
Harps first four fixtures of the season (as it stands) are:
Mar 4 - Cork City (a)
Mar 11 - FREE weekend (due to Drogheda's promotion)
Mar 18 - Shelbourne (a)
Mar 25 - Waterford Utd. (a)
No matchday income for the entire first month of the season. Added to the fact in that opening four games of the season, two are away to Cork and Waterford - the furthest two away fixtures.
Also, out of the 22 clubs in the original fixture list issued by the FAI, Harps were the only team to have been given three of their first four games away from home. The other 21 clubs were all given 2 home and 2 away.
However, it gets worse in the middle of the season. Harps play Salthill Devon at home on 22nd July and their next scheduled home game is against Mervue United on 16th September - two months later. Granted, their is the possibility of a home game in the FAI Cup, but that only means 50% gate receipts due to the sharing of the gate.
The fixture list (as it stands) for that period for Harps is:
July 29 - FREE weekend (due to Dublin Super Cup)
Aug 5 - Limerick (a)
Aug 12 - Cork City (a)
Aug 19 - FREE weekend (due to Drogheda's promotion)
Aug 26 - FAI Cup (which we could already be out of, or could be given an away game if still in it)
Sep 3 - Shelbourne (a)
Sep 9 - Waterford Utd. (a)
Shels, for example, in the same seven week period listed above, have four home league games. How the hell do they expect a club to go seven weeks in the middle of the season without any matchday income, after asking the same club to start the season without any matchday income for the first month.
Up the Harps!!
Bookmarks