QuoteWell said.
Well said.
I think you're placing too much responsibility on the average LOI fan there. The letters page of a newspaper is a place to point out hypocrisy and double standards, and while it may not warm people's cockles to hear it, there is a certain hypocrisy to fans and the FAI basking in the adulation of UEFA while the domestic league is struggling as badly as ever, mainly due to lack of interest.Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
It would have been a far better letter if, instead of having a pop at the fans in Poland, the writer had invited them to attend an LoI game this weekend, and suggested that they might find a way to keep the good cheer going just a little longer. The writer struck me as being far too snide and not a little bitter. This is the letter, by the way:
Sir, – According to figures in The Irish Times on Saturday, the overall attendance at five Airtricity League of Ireland games on Friday night last amounted to a meagre 7,754.
The majority of the “wonderful” Irish supporters who caused so much merriment when celebrating the defeats at Euro 2012 obviously have not recovered from their exertions and long travelling to go out and support local soccer.
But, no doubt, these dedicated fans will soon turn out in big numbers, as they did thousands of miles away, to boost crowds at League of Ireland matches. – Yours, etc, (http://www.irishtimes.com/letters/in...#1224319264653)
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
Somebody who would use that letter as a reason not to go to a game would have a whole host of other reasons not to go even if that letter hadn't been written, ranging from the distance they are from the nearest LOI club, or the cost of a ticket, to their having other plans on a Friday night.
Is the letter snide and bsically pointless? Yes, definitely. But I honestly don't believe that people with a genuine interest in going along to a LOI game for the first time would be put off by it.
All too true - excuses are legion for those with no interest. But the league needs a constant stream of good publicity if it is ever to change people's perceptions, and pandering to the stereotype of the bitter, parochial LoI fan is not the best way to achieve it. It might seem inconsequential compared to clubs disappearing annually, or TV3-hyped small-fry hooligans, but over time lots of seemingly insignificant messages can contribute to building a better reputation for the league. At the moment, it's more 'great aches from little toecorns grow' than the proverb proper.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
True, one letter isn't going to be the reason someone doesn't go to a game, but it could very well be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I changed jobs last year, after nine years in my previous position. Had a whole host of issues with the job, but it wasn't any one of them that made me leave, it was all of them together.
Like I said above, the last thing any League of Ireland fan should be doing is giving people another reason not to go to games. On top of that, is that letter really the public face the League of Ireland fans want to put out?
I think letters are published to stir debate or to offer another perspective, rather than to be seen to be representative of all opinion. I don't think one guy toeing the same "local football is more worthy than international football" line expressed by some here is going to have any effect.
The FAI should post a questionnaire to everyone attending the Germany home game in October (presumably a big crowd) detailing a list of questions about the LOI and what ROI fans' attitudes are towards it, and what would make them attend LOI more regularly. Offer a range of half-decent prizes to encourage people to participate and preface the questionnaire with a statement like "strengthening support for the domestic game is an important ingredient in ultimately sercuring international success. Every response received will be invaluable". Each ROI ticket sold could come with a free voucher for one or more LOI games - the FAI to rebate each club for every voucher redeemed (OK, there may be issues about ROI and LOI regulars but not insurmountable).
Given that we're on the topic of The Irish Times, I think they are a culprit in the context of Eminence Grice's point about publicity. For years they allowed Tom Humphries run ripshod over the League and even the national team, and have bowed at the altar of England's league. What chance does any kid who reads the sports pages (as I used to) have of forming any opinion other than "English football is everything even to an Irishman, our own league is just a peripheral detail"?
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 04/07/2012 at 10:42 AM.
That’s a good point. Although I do think that some of their LoI coverage from their staffers (not their columnists/colour writers) is quite good. But it's buried beneath a pile of British football and rugby articles. Maybe equally problematic, though, is that the IT readership is less starry-eyed lads dreaming of being the next Irish legend, and more ABs (JICNARS scale) who influence sponsorship, advertising and marketing budgets in their businesses. They, as much as paying fans, are the people who need to see positive message about the league.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
If people don't want to attend matches, that's their business. But there's a number of current senior internationals that have a LOI background, and there is likely to be a number of future senior internationals currently plying their trade in the LOI. If you are an Irish fan isn't that reason enough to attend games? If you are a football fan do you really need a reason to attend games?
What would be the prize be? 2 tickets to UCD v Shels in November?
Those not interested in the LOI, see it the same way as LOI fans see the LSL. If someone offered me a questionnaire during a Rovers - bohs game in Tallaght, asking what I think could improve the LSL, I would find the nearest bin to put it in, after I stopped laughing.
The LOI has to sell itself to new customers, but the LOI still operates on the same lines it always did. "Me fein".
NL 1st Division Champions 2006
NL Premier Division Champions 2010
NL Premier Division Champions 2011
Keep Tallaght Tidy, Throw your rubbish in the Jodi
Ten Years Not Out
Yeah, you're right. There's no point tapping into the temporary surge in interest in Irish football to even try and get a marketeer's perspective on what a huge block of Irish football stakeholders think of the LOI and what could attract some of them to it.
Just as there's no point in using the disappointing performances in Poland to take stock and ask where we can improve anything.
You didn't work on the board at Kodak at any point did you?
Very well played sir.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
I see someone takes a different view, one I happen to share as it happens, in today's letter's page. Perhaps a letters page is also a place to point out flawed thinking?
Sir, – While I share Noel Coogan’s frustration that the League of Ireland is not better supported, it should be recognised that Irish football is a broad church, the league being just one member. Huge numbers participate in football in Ireland at many levels and in many ways. All are valid stakeholders in our game, as are the many ex-pats who travelled to Poland, and are entitled to support our national team without attracting criticism.
In December 2011, The Irish Times cited a survey showing football to be the country’s most popular sport. But unlike rugby, where the Irish can watch Europe’s best players and teams on their doorsteps, the structure and economics of European football dictate against anything like this being possible and conspire against the League of Ireland being more popular. As far as the higher levels of the professional game are involved, the Irish are usually on the outside of the party looking in, so on those rare occasions when we get an invitation, we gladly accept. Unfortunately we left this one early. – Yours, etc,
What temporary surge? There is none, not in domestic football anyway.
NL 1st Division Champions 2006
NL Premier Division Champions 2010
NL Premier Division Champions 2011
Keep Tallaght Tidy, Throw your rubbish in the Jodi
Ten Years Not Out
Not someone with a genuine interest, but I know from firsthand experience that the kind of tone that letter has - snide, condescending, holier-than-thou - doesn't help with a lot of people. I know several people, who just support English clubs, who dismiss the LoI as a league with a very cliquey atmosphere, due to their own (mostly online) interactions with people who only support an Irish club. No one wants to be lectured, looked down on or made to feel that their way of choosing/supporting a team is "wrong". It encourages nobody. I don’t want to be classed in the same group as the very bitter person who wrote that missive.
I'm guessing there is probably a large amount of people who support a team here and in England. I'm not sure what kind of promotion/marketing you could do to try and attract more support for the LoI of that variety. "Support your local team!" is all fine to say, but I think a message that emphasises the existence of a middle road between exclusively following one side of the Irish Sea or the other would be beneficial.
Last edited by NeverFeltBetter; 06/07/2012 at 12:33 PM.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
This one, presumably.
Very good post by NFB.
Personally ambivalent towards the LOI though have numerous pals who're 'exclusive' or 'joint' fans of current member clubs. I don't think any of them were expecting a surge of interest based on the Euros;personally I'm unsure why a national team should have any profound effect on its domestic league.
Especially when they played as poorly as we did.
Anyway, this thread was about how others, outside Ireland, saw us. Mainly during the Euros, not our own sometimes tedious introspection...
And despite the usual predictable begrudger on here, the external feedback has been shown to be about 95% positive?
Which is surely no bad thing.
have we all seen the thank you ad from Poznan on Stephen's Green - http://www.balls.ie/2012/07/05/have-...tephens-green/
I think it's fair to say our qualification for the Euros caused a huge surge in interest in our international team not seen since 2002. What I would like to see is the FAI, through promotional work, somehow exploiting this whilst still in the public spotlight by linking increasing interest in the League of Ireland to the league's future development and, in turn, a potentially stronger and more secure international side in the long term.
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