The case for a National Academy

[Charlie Darwin]

A National Academy would be brilliant, but I think League Of Ireland clubs having proper academies is the logical next step. If the best young kids at Crumlin United, Lourdes Celtic, Cherry Orchard and the hundreds of other local clubs were going to Rovers or Pats, or the lads at Home Farm and St Kevin's etc were going to Bohs, then the standard of the LOI would ultimately improve immensely in the following years I think.

It will be a long, long time before LOI clubs will be able to compete with the transfer fees the English clubs pay for these kids, let alone be able to offer them a better standard of training.

[Bungle]

It will be a long, long time before LOI clubs will be able to compete with the transfer fees the English clubs pay for these kids, let alone be able to offer them a better standard of training.

Right now, if you are a young lad with great ability, you are not drawn to a league of Ireland club, but one of the top schoolboy clubs where you will be noticed. That has to change. The 16 year old Noe Baba's or Conor Cliffords may still go to England, but at least the youth set up in this country can be in place properly for all our other talented young players, with all the LOI teams having a good academy structure. Young players leave FC Copenhagen and Partizan Belgrade for Man City and Chelsea...it doesn't mean that those clubs don't have a proper youth set up.

Obviously, a club like Rovers would not be able to afford the coaches that an Arsenal would. However, it doesn't mean that a decent standard of coaching can't be produced. The reports I've heard about the coaches at clubs like St Kevin's and Crumlin have been nothing short of glowing, and i'm sure there are some very good foreign coaches in other countries like Argentina, Brazil, Croatia etc would be more than willing to coach a LOI academy for a good salary and living expenses all paid for.

[Crosby87]

As long as they don't use paper plates which would go against your whole hatred for littering.

[paul_oshea]

"If it was a fine summer's day and you had a crowd of 18,000 I would be concerned but I wouldn't be concerned about Sunday – 18,000 is a great crowd for a National League match – if League of Ireland clubs had that they'd be delighted.

Ha, great minds and all that, interesting he directly put that about LOI, especially after what we were saying. He obviously thinks that the main competitor to GAA at this time of year is the LOI.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurl...-29123356.html

It is a great crowd as he says, but you should expect that with the Dubs really.

[culloty82]

A number of regional academies would suit purposes better than a single national one - two would be required for Dublin (northside and southside), three for the rest of Leinster (north-east, midlands and south-east), two for Connacht-Ulster (west and north-west), along with two for Munster (mid-west and south, assuming that Tipp-Waterford is covered by the south-east). The areas would be of roughly equal population, and because of the regional divisions, no player would have to travel significant distances to benefit from the expert training.

[tetsujin1979]

sort of related, the development for a national sports campus at Abbotstown has been given the go ahead: http://irishsport.ie/wpress/index.ph...truction-plan/

[Charlie Darwin]

I always assumed the FAI owned the land out in Abbotstown. I suppose that was silly in hindsight.

[BonnieShels]

I always assumed the FAI owned the land out in Abbotstown. I suppose that was silly in hindsight.

What did they do with the Merrion Square cash?

[BonnieShels]

sort of related, the development for a national sports campus at Abbotstown has been given the go ahead: http://irishsport.ie/wpress/index.ph...truction-plan/

ICU not involved...