I'm really surprised that either a Tralee or Kerry side hasn't been brought into the LOI at this stage. I know Legendz is the oracle on Kerry football around here, but football is booming in the Kingdom, and they'd have a decent side at home at first division level all things considered. The problem I'd see would be that none of the clubs would be big enough in themselves (incl Dynamos and Park) to make a proper fist of first division, and whether all clubs would buy into a Tralee team or a Kerry team that incorporated the best talent in the county, I don't know.
I know that the A Championship idea suited them really well.
This is a very unfortunate situation in Irish football. If you were starting things with a blank canvas, then a one-division, centrally contracted franchise system with Northside & Southside Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Dundalk, Sligo, Donegal (the traditional areas) would probably be the easiest remedy, but you just cannot discount clubs that have been mainstays of the LOI, or supporters of those clubs, when those clubs have not done anything wrong so to speak.
UCD is a prime example. As a club that could grow to be a Rovers or a Dundalk, it's never going to happen, but they are well run, get on with their business and develop players, so why should they lose out.
Someone above made the point about co-habiting supporters in England. I've seen this first hand with a club called Eastbourne Borough. They're a 7th tier side with a tidy little ground and a social club, yet you would be hard-pressed to ever hear someone around the town call themselves a Boro' fan. It's all London clubs, Liverpool (weirdly) or Brighton.
The medicine is going to be very hard to swallow in the coming seasons for Irish football.
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