Dear FAI, your league has started...

[adamd164]

http://backpagefootball.com/dear-fai...started/54959/

Dear FAI, your league has started…

The League of Ireland got underway last night but nobody told its governing body, the Football Association of Ireland.

While many other amateur outlets such as our friends at extratime.ie put in countless hours to bring us top notch coverage, the FAI continued its League of Ireland blackout with a grand total of zero mentions via Twitter or Facebook.

Indeed, the last tweet regarding the league came back on March 1st and since then the launch of yet another jersey for the national team (which will probably see the light of day twice at a push) has been the primary focus.
There are cynics out there who are of the opinion that the FAI sees the League of Ireland as nothing more than an inconvenience, a necessity to fall within FIFA’s remit, and it’s hard to prove them wrong.

The League of Ireland has only come under the FAI since 2006 having previously been governed solely by the clubs, and in 2010 the decision was made to renew the arrangement.

However, since then the FAI has shown almost no interest in the league, and not a year goes by without at least one club encountering serious financial difficulties, sometimes to the point of removal from the competition (Monaghan United in 2012 for example).

This is made even more frustrating by the fact that FAI’s Chief Executive John Delaney earns €400,000 while the total prize money for the League of Ireland is €241,000.

You’ll notice that I’ve not yet referred to the League of Ireland by its official title but I’m reluctant to give a plug to a company that, like the FAI, seems to care little about the competition which bears its name.

The official Airtricity League twitter account is nothing more than a vidiprinter; it churns out latest scores and results with no interaction whatsoever with any of its 4300+ followers.

Social media and public relations, you’re doing them wrong.

While other leagues across the globe, such as MLS and the A-League, continue to grow thanks to progressive attitudes, the League of Ireland stands still.

Of course, living in the shadow of the Premier League’s glitz and glamour is never easy but until the attitudes at the very top change, domestic football in Ireland will continue to be looked down upon by the masses.

[Guitd]

http://backpagefootball.com/dear-fai...started/54959/

OMG !! How true this is

[A face]

Its brutal ..... they are an absolute pity and no one seems to bother about it ...... and €400 a year, he'd seriously want to be coming up with the good like. International Team = Disaster, LOI = Neglected, Junior Football = Not fit for purpose ..... he is getting away with murder

[NeverFeltBetter]

The League of Ireland has only come under the FAI since 2006 having previously been governed solely by the clubs, and in 2010 the decision was made to renew the arrangement.

Maybe we should think about this.

[seanmac]

Still nothing posted up as of yet. They can't claim it's policy not to use the official FAI page to promote LOI because on March 1st they posted up a picture of the LOI start of season jersey photoshoot. It's as if they completely forgot LOI was starting at the weekend...

Having said that, even the airtricity league website is still showing the weekend's fixtures & kick off times on the homepage... shocking state of affairs...

[Dodge]

Maybe we should think about this.

Maybe we should think about the state of the league that meant the FAI HAD to take control of it. Look at the clubs involved. Most of them in bits.

The FAI's website and social media people are kind of left to their own devices I feel. It just so happens that none of them have any interest in the LOI. They tweeted a pic of them on 'national jersey day' for some charty and there wasn't one LOI jersey. Shame

IN general the league's twitter/facebook accounts are awful. They need to have a person in charge of that.

[adamd164]

IN general the league's twitter/facebook accounts are awful. They need to have a person in charge of that.

And the official league website.

Pay one of the guys from ExtraTime.ie to do the online stuff, it'd be a damn sight more professional.

[DannyInvincible]

They tweeted a pic of them on 'national jersey day' for some charty and there wasn't one LOI jersey. Shame

You got a link to this? Can't find it on the FAI's Twitter.

[Guitd]

IN general the league's twitter/facebook accounts are awful. They need to have a person in charge of that

The serious issue here is there is a person paid to do it but is not !!!

[A face]

The FAI's website and social media people are kind of left to their own devices I feel. It just so happens that none of them have any interest in the LOI. They tweeted a pic of them on 'national jersey day' for some charty and there wasn't one LOI jersey. Shame

Them being all the staff in the FAI Office? Seriously, not one LOI jersey? Can you dig out that picture be any chance?

[Dodge]

No, can't find that pic lads. It's usually around October (in aid of Goal) if anyone wants to have a closer look

BTW I did a bit of a snoop.

http://balls.ie/football/fai-airtric...-social-media/

At the very least its weird that the LOI official account follows Porto and Chelsea but not Bohs or Limerick (and 5 other LOI clubs)

[NeverFeltBetter]

This thread depresses me greatly. There's a decent product here, but the promotion is heartbreakingly awful.

[mypost]

The League of Ireland got underway last night but nobody told its governing body, the Football Association of Ireland.

However, since then the FAI has shown almost no interest in the league, and not a year goes by without at least one club encountering serious financial difficulties, sometimes to the point of removal from the competition (Monaghan United in 2012 for example).

This is made even more frustrating by the fact that FAI’s Chief Executive John Delaney earns €400,000 while the total prize money for the League of Ireland is €241,000.

Social media and public relations, you’re doing them wrong.

While other leagues across the globe, such as MLS and the A-League, continue to grow thanks to progressive attitudes, the League of Ireland stands still.

Of course, living in the shadow of the Premier League’s glitz and glamour is never easy but until the attitudes at the very top change, domestic football in Ireland will continue to be looked down upon by the masses.

Well at least they could get the figures right. The CEO takes home €360k a year, while the league champions accepted €18k as their cash prize just a few short years ago.

The MLS is a joke league with a few washed up Europeans (bar Robbie Keane) taking a wage at a joke standard of football. Who takes either that or the A-League seriously, or as a model to aspire to?

Clubs in the biggest of leagues and countries are in financial difficulty, (how many "administrations" have Portsmouth been in?) and will be the case as long as the game is played. It's just we obviously take more of an interest in who is facing oblivion at home, but that doesn't mean everywhere else is waterproof.

The FAI have to take an interest in it, as they run it, it's just they have other leagues to run as well and resources are tight. Sorry that it's not to everyone's satisfaction.

[BonnieShels]

Well at least they could get the figures right. The CEO takes home €360k a year, while the league champions accepted €18k as their cash prize just a few short years ago.

The MLS is a joke league with a few washed up Europeans (bar Robbie Keane) taking a wage at a joke standard of football. Who takes either that or the A-League seriously, or as a model to aspire to?

Clubs in the biggest of leagues and countries are in financial difficulty, (how many "administrations" have Portsmouth been in?) and will be the case as long as the game is played. It's just we obviously take more of an interest in who is facing oblivion at home, but that doesn't mean everywhere else is waterproof.

The FAI have to take an interest in it, as they run it, it's just they have other leagues to run as well and resources are tight. Sorry that it's not to everyone's satisfaction.

What other leagues are they running now?

[EAFC_rdfl]

keep replying and commenting on anything they post non-LOI asking why no mention. I started with the pic of the ladies team up on FB today.

[Dodge]

The MLS is a joke league with a few washed up Europeans (bar Robbie Keane) taking a wage at a joke standard of football. Who takes either that or the A-League seriously, or as a model to aspire to?

The team with the lowest average attendance in the MLS got an average of 13,000 last year. League average was over 18,000

http://mlsattendance.blogspot.ie/201...ce-update.html

But yeah, you can dismiss it all you like

As for this

The FAI have to take an interest in it, as they run it, it's just they have other leagues to run as well and resources are tight. Sorry that it's not to everyone's satisfaction.

Go on then, name the leagues they have to run.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Saw a couple of tweets promoting the Setanta Cup there, maybe someone's taken notice.

[PartySaint]

The team with the lowest average attendance in the MLS got an average of 13,000 last year. League average was over 18,000

250 million people in the US plus 2 Canadian teams. Hardly a fair comparison

[shantykelly]

In a country where football historically doesn't have strong roots, where american (& canadian) football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, athletics are the dominant sports (at least we only have to deal with the GAA), and where football has been seen as the preserve of children, women, and you-ro-peans. Hardly the strongest of bases to start from.

[legendz]

For everyone complaining about the FAI on this subject, are ye're own clubs providing updates via twitter and/or facebook? As for the comment on the sponsors, is there another sponsor looking to do different?