Open question

**Festus** · 30/07/2004, 6:55 PM

Why are Irish teams generally so lame in Europe? With some honourable exceptions (Cork and Shels, take a bow) the performances suck. Losing at home to teams from the backwaters of european soccer is too embarassing for words. Does anyone know why? Surely Estonia isn't so much wealthier than Ireland that they have the resources to produce better teams? Surely Liechtenstein doesn't have a larger population than Ireland that it can produce more players, and have a larger fan base to support the local team? So why is it that the Irish are still the runt of the litter? Is it really because we have less resources, are less prepared, less professional, or are the Irish just so much congenitally more lazy and stupid than everyone else in Europe that anyone can beat us? I would be interested to know what the rest of you think...

**Enda M** · 30/07/2004, 11:01 PM

in fairness festus fc vaduz had players from switz brazil spain france and italy and each year get two million to spend on players something longford town can only dream of

**harry crumb** · 30/07/2004, 11:53 PM

REsults in Europe is only one way of comparing ourlselves. An even more important way would be to compare facilities, technical development of young players...etc.

The rest will follow....I think?

**sullanefc** · 31/07/2004, 1:43 AM

How many Liechtenstien or Estonians are playin in the premiership in England??? How many of them are playing football or hurling?? There are many reasons why these countries are doing better than us.

thecorner · 31/07/2004, 3:00 AM

Originally Posted by Enda M

in fairness festus fc vaduz had players from switz brazil spain france and italy and each year get two million to spend on players something longford town can only dream of

excuses,excuses. u were the seeded team and you lot disgraced the league

**eoinh** · 31/07/2004, 7:50 AM

Originally Posted by sullanefc

How many Liechtenstien or Estonians are playin in the premiership in England??? How many of them are playing football or hurling?? There are many reasons why these countries are doing better than us.

How many irish people play ice hockey? Skiing ? The Luge ? Biathalon ? Ski Jumping ?

The whole country of Liectenstein contains 25,000 people and is TINY - you could fit it into Mahon. The amount of people that play football in Ireland is huge. I saw figures recently for the amount of regestered players in this country - bigger than places like scotland, sweden etc.

In places like Norway they have statues up to famous speed skaters. They have their sports too that we dont play.

**Festus** · 31/07/2004, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by Enda M

in fairness festus fc vaduz had players from switz brazil spain france and italy and each year get two million to spend on players something longford town can only dream of

So can I ask why a team from a place the size of Vaduz has such a large budget and so many foreign players? We are supposed to be one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, and soccer is massively popular and widely played here. Plus we have a population of about 4 million, while L'stein has 20k, Malta 300k, Iceland 600k etc.

Why are there so little resouces in the game at every level? I'm trying to work out why it seems that everybody else, I mean absolutely everybody in Europe is better than us, whether they are from Liechetenstein, Malta or wherever? We're half way through our domestic season for chrissakes, that in itself should handicap even the better teams who are just back in pre-season training???

**the 12 th man** · 31/07/2004, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by thecorner

excuses,excuses. u were the seeded team and you lot disgraced the league

i think people are getting carried away here with their critisism of longford after this match.i will admit that it was a very dissapointing result but on the night the team form vaduz played really well.

they had 7 starters on the team that gave england a hard time before succumbing 0-2 in a euro championship match for euro 2004.the rest of their starting 11 were from brazil,nigeria,italy and germany.that kind of experience gained in international matches is invaluable.

these guys were no soft touch.read any posts by non longford fans who were actually AT THE GAME.

**Festus** · 31/07/2004, 11:29 AM

I agree. It is grossly unfair to single out Longford. The standard of the league in general is a disgrace when our teams are well and truly beaten like both Longford and Bohs were this week. Both teams are quite good in the context of the eL but we see the comparison when we venture abroad.

**eoinh** · 31/07/2004, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by the 12 th man

they had 7 starters on the team that gave england a hard time before sucumbing 0-2 in a euro championship match for euro 2004.

But thats defending with no intention of trying to win games. Trying to keep the score down.

These guys scored 4 goals aginst you.

**the 12 th man** · 31/07/2004, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by eoinh

These guys scored 4 goals aginst you.

i hate using cliches but in this case i will forgive myself.
football as you know can be "funny".we dominated over there but were caught with an undeserved breakaway goal.

so when they scored at flancare we had to throw caution to the wind and try and get something back.you are always going to get holes in your defence in this situation.

the crossbar saved them at the end of the match as town almost made it 3-3 on the night.

football..........you learn by experience.......