CHF request fixture cancellation

**harpskid** · 08/11/2004, 6:06 PM

From soccercentral:
Dublin City FC will tonight request that all their games be suspended with immediate effect due to the fall out of the unsavoury events that has devastated the club since the departure of Roddy Collins to Shamrock Rovers.

Two of the clubs English based players have refused to travel for tomorrow nights game against Longford Town.

The club feels that the actions of certain parties have left the club with no option but to take this unfortunate step.

The club are requesting that the league investigates the events of the last few days and that they should not be required to play any more games until the findings of the investigation are completed.
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Ok, now this has gone beyond a joke!!

**Longfordian** · 08/11/2004, 6:16 PM

I can tell you 100% here and now we won't be calling off our match tomorrow, they can play their U-14s if they like but we've no room for manoeuvre with fixtures whatsoever. They can demand compensation off the Rod and Rovers if they want but cancelling games will never happen

**Poor Student** · 08/11/2004, 6:30 PM

If it's at Flancare I can't see this happening. It's too close to the game to be messing around with Longford. I guess Rod's departure is royally screwing this club in every way. Now their some of their players can't be bothered to come. As Seery said the move was a very calculated one to maximise the negative effect to Dub City.

**joey B** · 08/11/2004, 6:31 PM

DOES anybody really care about dublin city no fans,a complete dingus for a chairman and about to get relegated back to division 1 hopefully never to be heard of again i mean if any had the choice between rovers and city they would choose rovers.FINN HARPS ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

**Poor Student** · 08/11/2004, 6:40 PM

Originally Posted by joey B

DOES anybody really care about dublin city no fans,a complete dingus for a chairman and about to get relegated back to division 1 hopefully never to be heard of again i mean if any had the choice between rovers and city they would choose rovers.FINN HARPS ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

Dub City got there on merit. They are only a new club. I know they were Home Farm before but MK Dons are hardly Wimbledon and effectively a new club. Of course as a new club they will have squat fans. They hardly deserve all this abuse. I know Seery can be a knob but at least he has a hell of a passion to make the club work and it seems to at least pay its players on time which is admirable. People say Dublin has too many clubs but Dub City are stealing no one's fans and if they can get extra people to football and build on that, good luck to them. We shouldn't be knocking them as a club in genisis. All great clubs start from humble beginings.

**Bald Student** · 08/11/2004, 6:46 PM

I have a lot of patience for Dublin City, they have done a lot in the past few years with little resources but this is a step to far. They have no grounds for having the games postponed. If they have problems internal to their club it shouldn't be allowed to disrupt the rest of the league.

**Longfordian** · 08/11/2004, 8:30 PM

What's the betting Rod has tapped up some of these guys already..Our match is in Flancare tomorrow and if Dublin City feel like giving us we'll say �15,000 and three points by tomorrow night maybe we'll think about cancelling

Seriously though ya cant be feckin around other clubs like that..Seery has done it to us before though, us and Harps in the 2002 play-off

**Poor Student** · 08/11/2004, 8:36 PM

Originally Posted by Longfordian

What's the betting Rod has tapped up some of these guys already..Our match is in Flancare tomorrow and if Dublin City feel like giving us we'll say �15,000 and three points by tomorrow night maybe we'll think about cancelling

Seriously though ya cant be feckin around other clubs like that..Seery has done it to us before though, us and Harps in the 2002 play-off

What was the story there? I don't really remember the full gist of that story.

**dcfcsteve** · 08/11/2004, 8:56 PM

Originally Posted by Poor Student

Dub City got there on merit. They are only a new club. I know they were Home Farm before but MK Dons are hardly Wimbledon and effectively a new club. Of course as a new club they will have squat fans. They hardly deserve all this abuse. I know Seery can be a knob but at least he has a hell of a passion to make the club work and it seems to at least pay its players on time which is admirable. People say Dublin has too many clubs but Dub City are stealing no one's fans and if they can get extra people to football and build on that, good luck to them. We shouldn't be knocking them as a club in genisis. All great clubs start from humble beginings.

I love the comparison to MK Dons, as CHF are equally as disliked by fans of all clubs and anyone who cares aboutnfootball.

MK Dons are also (hopefully) going down this season, and will die before the decade is out. I'll offer you whatever money you want as a bet of that.

Steve
Derry City fan and AFC Wimbledon shareholder

**Longfordian** · 08/11/2004, 8:58 PM

It revolved around Noel Hunt when he was with Waterford on loan, technically his loan period had ended when he I think played against Dublin City and Waterford beat them so Rocky was going to go to court to try and claim the play-off place instead of Harps, held the play-off up for three weeks or so while it was all settled, cost us extra wages

**CollegeTillIDie** · 08/11/2004, 10:23 PM

The antipathy towards Dublin City truly puzzles me. They are not a threat to any existing clubs. Without them you would have 21 teams in the League and a club in one division would be idle each week.

The general gist of a lot of the threads in foot.ie at the moment is it is ok to crap on a small club ... sure who gives a schitt anyway?

They have brought some new fans to the EL. They have this deal with Carroll's Irish Gift Shops to sell their merchandise. This is an excellent marketing ploy, loads of gormless Americans are wearing their gear across the USA. But it doesn't matter they are selling more replica shirts than clubs with 5 times their support and good luck to them.

**Mr A** · 08/11/2004, 11:28 PM

To me my outlook on this story all depends. If those players refusing to line out for Dublin should ever appear in a Rovers shirt next year then it obviously stinks of Roddy having caused the whole thing by tapping up the players and telling them not to play. If that happens it's cheating, pure and simple. If not it appears to be a contractual dispute between Dublin and their players. I don't know about you lot but I'm tending towards believeing the former.

There is a lot of bad feeling towards Dublin City and Ronan Seery but they did not deserve what happened to them. Seery puts his heart and soul into Dublin City and makes most boards, especially that of Shamrock Rovers, look like total muppets. He's ****ed me off in the past with the Noel Hunt affair but in this case I think he's in the right.

Any club in the league would be glad to have Seery involved with them, whatever anyone thinks of him as a person.

**dcfcsteve** · 09/11/2004, 1:24 AM

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

The antipathy towards Dublin City truly puzzles me. They are not a threat to any existing clubs. Without them you would have 21 teams in the League and a club in one division would be idle each week.

The general gist of a lot of the threads in foot.ie at the moment is it is ok to crap on a small club ... sure who gives a schitt anyway?

They have brought some new fans to the EL. They have this deal with Carroll's Irish Gift Shops to sell their merchandise. This is an excellent marketing ploy, loads of gormless Americans are wearing their gear across the USA. But it doesn't matter they are selling more replica shirts than clubs with 5 times their support and good luck to them.

The antipathy towards CHF is very, very simple. Dublin City is a marketing entity, not a football team. It took the place of a long-standing member of the league, with a proud footballing record at all levels (Home Farm). Rather than follow football's traditional route of building-up support slowly through your on-the-field exploits, Seery instead tried a cynical but clever marketing ploy by naming the team Dublin City, and having them play in the Dublin county colours. He is attempting to create support for a club out of nothing by borrowing someone else's identity (Dublin GAA).

It is in effect football franchising. Take a team, change its name, colours, geographical location etc, all with the aim of cashing-in. Meanwhile, the rest of the league is going about football in the traditional way - building-up support slowly. Strong roots that will last through good and bad.

As a side note, I am personally convinced that Seery has his eyes on the bigger picture here - Champions League football, and any future European league(s). I don't believe for one minute that he gives a feck about the Eircom League, and would not only jump ship at the first opportunity, but has had the aim of leaving us behind as soon as possible since day one. (Ironically, similar actions to Roddy...)

Hell - why didn't we just let Wimbledon move to Dublin and call themselves Dublin City anyway.....

**dcfcsteve** · 09/11/2004, 1:30 AM

And on the point that we need Dublin City to make-up the numbers. Yeah right - like we needed St Francis and NewcastleWest....?

Mullingar Town were mad keen to get the old St Francis slot in the league that rightly went to Kildare County instead (a new team, I might add, with more fans than CHF). Therefore, there was at leat one team in a decent position with a significant financial backer in a new Eircom League market who could've taken Home Farm's slot, rather than have it just awarded/transfered/franchised to Dublin City.

It's not as if everyone would have stood around scratching their heads wondering what to do with that magical 22nd spot in the league..... !

**Macy** · 09/11/2004, 7:51 AM

Originally Posted by Longfordian

It revolved around Noel Hunt when he was with Waterford on loan, technically his loan period had ended when he I think played against Dublin City and Waterford beat them so Rocky was going to go to court to try and claim the play-off place instead of Harps, held the play-off up for three weeks or so while it was all settled, cost us extra wages

Waterford were deducted 3 points, as per the rules. Seery reckoned that CHF should be awarded the points (which had absolutely no basis in the laws of the game, or common sense). He threatened to go to court, delaying the game for several weeks, and costing Town and Harps those weeks wages, as well as dragging the leagues name through the media for the wrong reasons.

Now the little gobsh�te is banging on about integrity and the spirit of the game - good karma for most Town and Harps fans I'd say...

Mullingar Town are still looking for the spot afaik. I mean, they have actually served their time in the U21 league...

**patsh** · 09/11/2004, 8:01 AM

Well DC gained a lot of sympathy over Collins, it will quickly evaporate if Seery persists with this utter bullsh*t.

**observer** · 09/11/2004, 9:45 AM

I cannot understand why people are getting their knickers in a twist because Seery came up with a good marketing ploy for his club. fair play to anyone who uses inititive to bring money into their club.

He is on the wrong track however if he messes with the remaining fixtures and causes problems for other clubs. Dublin City should be fined �20k if they do not field in Longford tonight. This is our final home appearance of the season and the fans wish to pay tribute to their heroes. Do not rain on our parade Seery!

In relation to the players refusing to line out for City, surely their is some way that these mercenaries can be permanently barred from ever playing in our leagues again. If they ever sign for Shamrock Rovers then this whole distasteful scenario takes an even more sinister twist, which cannot be permitted by the administration.

**NY Hoop** · 09/11/2004, 9:47 AM

Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

The antipathy towards CHF is very, very simple. Dublin City is a marketing entity, not a football team. It took the place of a long-standing member of the league, with a proud footballing record at all levels (Home Farm). Rather than follow football's traditional route of building-up support slowly through your on-the-field exploits, Seery instead tried a cynical but clever marketing ploy by naming the team Dublin City, and having them play in the Dublin county colours. He is attempting to create support for a club out of nothing by borrowing someone else's identity (Dublin GAA).

It is in effect football franchising. Take a team, change its name, colours, geographical location etc, all with the aim of cashing-in. Meanwhile, the rest of the league is going about football in the traditional way - building-up support slowly. Strong roots that will last through good and bad.

As a side note, I am personally convinced that Seery has his eyes on the bigger picture here - Champions League football, and any future European league(s). I don't believe for one minute that he gives a feck about the Eircom League, and would not only jump ship at the first opportunity, but has had the aim of leaving us behind as soon as possible since day one. (Ironically, similar actions to Roddy...)

Hell - why didn't we just let Wimbledon move to Dublin and call themselves Dublin City anyway.....

Best post on CHF.

And BTW seery did have his eyes on the bigger picture. When they were formed he said his ambition was the CL. When I picked myself up off the floor I realised he was serious!

Replace them with Mullingar Town.

And on another point if you think Roddy hasnt already tapped up CHF players you are simply naive.

A longford draw tonight and they are gone forever hopefully.

KOH