We are where we are - Speculate wildly about next season

[Terry]

GUST will be back next season in the u19 competition with there home games played out of Eamon Deacy park (formerly Terryland park). Next is the application for the LOI come the end of the current season.

[prince20]

GUST will be back next season in the u19 competition with there home games played out of Eamon Deacy park (formerly Terryland park). Next is the application for the LOI come the end of the current season.

Congrats to all involved. A first step for ye on the road to your rightful place. Silly as it may seem i believe the year out of football will actually serve you better in the long run.

[sullanefc]

People keep referring to the thousands in Poland as Irish fans who support English teams. It's not even that. I was over there. A lot of lads that were there didn't even support English teams, many only had what could only be described as a casual interest in soccer. There were rugby lads there, GAA lads there, some of whom were attending their first major game of football! They were there on a jolly, because they're event junkies. That's what Ireland is, a nation of event junkies. It's not even a football thing. Rugby - Heineken Cup, full houses. Magners/Rabo League, can't give tickets away. GAA - Championship, decent crowds. National League, two men and a dog. And even in the GAA now, fans aren't bothering their arse until the All-Ireland Q/F stage. Look at the Irish national side - Qualifiers, rows of empty seats at every game. Euro 2012, 4/5 of the stadium is Green for all 3 games. Event junkies. Shels, Cork, Derry and Rovers have all attracted huge crowds during their European runs in recent years - despite the grounds the games were played in. Again, event junkies and bandwagoners. My point is if the league was marketed properly and with the right partners, and the right campaigns were run, bigger crowds are possible. It might even appeal to the event junkie.

Said this numerous times in the Ireland forum. I know a good few lads that went over that hardly ever watch soccer except for the super Sundays on sky. The Utd V City, Utd V Liverpool, Utd V Arsenal, Arsenal V Chelsea etc. They are not even into soccer in a big way. Most of them will spend their super Sunday giving out about the diving and the rolling around and how you wouldn't see that in a GAA match!!!

A good chunk of the 20-30,000 Irish fans in Poland would never dream of going to a LOI ground. The only thing that might get them there would be Cork City V Barcelona in the Champions League. Anything else wouldn't cut it for them.

[Dodge]

Mention the League of Ireland to the wider sporting/football public in this country and you're laughed at. Bear that in mind.

I didn't disagree with that. I'm saying the problems are far wider than branding.

The Titanic sank. Didn't stop them building ships did it? This is 2012, not 2007.

Its the same people in charge. have they done enough since to make you think they'd get it right. Do you think there are any clubs/structures willing to step up?

Why has no one thought of getting the right profile commercial sponsor/partner and market it properly like it's done in England? Like it's done in Portugal? Airtricity may have put in the best bid, but what coverage do they give the league on an every day basis? Like for example Carling or Barclay's have done in the UK? Or Tennants in Scotland? The only time you ever see or hear airtricity linked to the League of Ireland is when you're, er, in a LOI ground. Poor commercial partner that gives the league no prominence, coverage or kudos.

EVERYONE has thought about it. Getting it is the problem.

What it really needs is marketing, and even more than that, perhaps a persistent media campaign to almost shame Irish football fans to start supporting their local club.

You might get them in for one game. But whats going to keep them coming in? Mass marketing these LOI grounds is pointless. The ol' 'lipstick on a pig enalogy'.

What's your solution? That every club get's a Roman Abramovich who invests his oil money in to building super duper stadiums for all the lost sheep to flock to? Where's this investment that you mentioned going to come from? You have to stimulate people in to going to games. The LOI in it's current format is not doing that and imo, never will. The LOI has an image problem whether we like it or not. So moving deck chairs and building it up organically it is then...

The solution is for clubs to budget properly, pay their way and stop ****ing off potential fans and sponsors with their shoddy practices. We need stability first before we can think about growing. The biggest problem with some irish clubs in the last few years has been thinking they're too big and striving for achievements they had no right to get.

And regards facilities, Cork City, Shams, Waterford have lovely stadiums - all seater with good facilities. Loads of empty seats at games though, more than half the stadium in a lot of cases. So it is not facilities. I can guarantee you if every LOI club had a shiny all seater tomorrow morning, there'd still be a sea of empty seats every Friday night.

Cork and ROvers are the 2 best supported teams in the country. Rovers are getting about 4 times what they got in Tolka. You honestly don't think the stadium has anything to do with that? Wouldn't put Waterford 's ground in the same class as the other two. Being in the first divisin doens't help them either

I'm not trying to say we should give up, or not dream about 3,000 at every game. But IMO its more important to try and get the 'product' right before we start to sell it hard.

[Partizan]

In all fairness Dodge, the RSC looks a helluva lot better than the 'Stadium of Light' in Inchicore

[osarusan]

In all fairness Dodge, the RSC looks a helluva lot better than the 'Stadium of Light' in Inchicore

Yeah, that's what Dodge was trying to say alright.

[Dodge]

In all fairness Dodge, the RSC looks a helluva lot better than the 'Stadium of Light' in Inchicore

Lovely little stand the opposit side of the main stand. Personally don't like running tracks so I'd prefer Richmond but I'll admit to unwavering bias there.

Tallaght and Turners Cross still a good bit ahead of the rest though.