United League

[dean02]

Now ... that is a question of substance !!
If Fran Rooney gets the chop .... it be one of the biggest injustices that the FAI have ever done to the people of Ireland.
QUOTE]

Please, please tell me what exactly has Fran Rooney done in this regard that if he gets the chop that this is one of the biggest injustices that the FAI have ever done to the people of Ireland?

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

ShelsTim and crc, I think ye are being very idealistic. I just cant see large numbers of fans coming out for an all-Ireland league. We already know what football "fans" are like on this island. The Premiership will always be more attractive to these idiots. I would fear that we would have a situation whereby it is the same loyal supporters following their teams. An all-Ireland league would simply increase the expense on these supporters and their clubs.

I think you are being very naiive if you think security would not be a problem. We are not talking about one-off games here. We are talking about a weekly situation where a number of teams from the Republic would play a number of teams from the North in a number of venues. Im afraid neither the EL nor the IL have a particularly good record when it comes to security. We cant even keep control of Shamrock Rovers supporters in run-of-the-mill games so how can we keep control on supporters in highly-charged games with a sectarian undercurrent.

As for building quality stadia in different parts of the country, nice thought but it aint gona happen. We cant even build a football stadium of international quality in our capital so what chance have we of doing it somewheere else.

By the way, some people might think that it is not a big deal losing 4 places in Europe for clubs on this island. That is rubbish. Sponsorship and commercial support would need to be massive to make up for the loss of European revenue. Clubs like Shels and Bohs need the revenue from European games to support full-time structures. If these clubs were to lose their full-time status, surely that would be a step back for football on this island.

Lets be more realistic from now on. As someone already pointed out, lets wait and see how the Setanta Cup goes before we start harping on about this all-Ireland sh!te.

[Slash/ED]

We already know what football "fans" are like on this island.

I think football "fans" on this island aren't automatically supporters of the premiership but will go wherever there's a bit of hype. I think an all ireland league will create that hype and that's what's missing from the EL at the moment and that's what's keeping attendences down.

[dean02]

I think football "fans" on this island aren't automatically supporters of the premiership but will go wherever there's a bit of hype. I think an all ireland league will create that hype and that's what's missing from the EL at the moment and that's what's keeping attendences down.

I'd have to agree with the P.M, a trial run may tell us more but can't help feeling that it would be the normal seasoned fans of clubs attending. Hype may work for Ireland matches or some of the more choice matches but overall, potential security issues would put these hype susceptibles off. Especially if it security is handled by the clubs and not by the authorities. There's been some incidents recently at LOI games but some of the violence shown on TV at matches in the North looks frightening.

[crc]

I tend to agree that the hype needs to be based on something more fundamental than the novelty of playing northern clubs, which will wear off after a while. For example Derry got huge attendances after they joined the LoI, but since the mid-90s they have been similar to the average LoI club.

I remember a few years ago, I saw posters springing up around Cork advertising the next home game. For some reason they stopped, but I thought this was a very good way to bring eL football to the wider public's attention.

They only seem to work if they are updated regularly and on time (and taken down on time). I also remember seeing the same poster advertising a Cork City v St. Pat's game that was months out of date - this does nothing for the league.

The hype needs to be immediate. e.g. People need to see the posters (or whatever else) starting on Monday morning, building up to the big game on Friday night. The game needs to permiate the public consciouslness.

[ShelsTim]

ShelsTim and crc, I think ye are being very idealistic. I just cant see large numbers of fans coming out for an all-Ireland league. We already know what football "fans" are like on this island. The Premiership will always be more attractive to these idiots. I would fear that we would have a situation whereby it is the same loyal supporters following their teams. An all-Ireland league would simply increase the expense on these supporters and their clubs.

You fears are well founded, but if we pool the funds of the two organisations and the merger results in a more streamline association, who's to say we couldn't generate the hype needed to bring in the crowds. Fans would increase initially and it would be easier to increase on them if we make gains in Europe which we look likely to do.

I think you are being very naiive if you think security would not be a problem. We are not talking about one-off games here. We are talking about a weekly situation where a number of teams from the Republic would play a number of teams from the North in a number of venues. Im afraid neither the EL nor the IL have a particularly good record when it comes to security. We cant even keep control of Shamrock Rovers supporters in run-of-the-mill games so how can we keep control on supporters in highly-charged games with a sectarian undercurrent.

If there is a real threat to security, the guards and PSNI will become involved and if they handle it properly, which they should do, the PSNI would be very experienced, I don't see why security can't be overcome.

As for building quality stadia in different parts of the country, nice thought but it aint gona happen. We cant even build a football stadium of international quality in our capital so what chance have we of doing it somewheere else.

Yes we can, we are in the process of doing it right now. I'm not saying build quality stadia in the four corners of the country, just a decent one in Belfast, if there's a demand to have home internationals played there, with a bit of cash from the British government it shouldn't be too hard to manage.

By the way, some people might think that it is not a big deal losing 4 places in Europe for clubs on this island. That is rubbish. Sponsorship and commercial support would need to be massive to make up for the loss of European revenue. Clubs like Shels and Bohs need the revenue from European games to support full-time structures. If these clubs were to lose their full-time status, surely that would be a step back for football on this island.

Not really, Shels made 400,000 from the CL shenanigans, the IL clubs(and let's face it, they'll be the ones losing out), generally don't pass the first round, which is against tiny teams that no one cares about. The gates wouldn't be huge for those games and I sponsors would hardly pay out millions for them. So, if gates went up 1,000-2,000 a game on average with double the sponsorship, why couldn't the revenue be reclaimed?

Lets be more realistic from now on. As someone already pointed out, lets wait and see how the Setanta Cup goes before we start harping on about this all-Ireland sh!te.

It is far from ****e, let's take in everyone's argument before calling things ****e. And yes, let's see how the Setanta Cup goes, though I believe that's a testing ground for Setanta to see if there's money in the eL and cross-border competitions.