Next Seasons Structure

**Rambler1** · 10/12/2004, 12:58 PM

Interesting to see that we will now play all teams twice home and away...

Season 2005 Start Date:
It was agreed that the eircom League 2005 season will commence on the weekend ending Sunday, March 20th 2005. The last series of fixtures will take place on the weekend ending Sunday, November 20th. There will be no mid-season break.

Promotion/Relegation:
It was agreed that the club finishing bottom of the Premier Division will be automatically relegated and the team finishing top of the First Division will be automatically promoted.

There will also be the possibility of a second club being promoted from the First Division via a play-off involving the eleventh-placed Premier Division club and the second-placed First Division club. This play-off will be a two-legged tie.

Premier Division Structure:
It was agreed that the Premier Division (12 clubs) will be a three-round (33 League dates) league for the 2005 season. With three (3) FAI Cup dates this will result in a total of 36 dates (36 weekends) to accommodate same. No scheduled midweek League dates will be required.

First Division Structure:
It was also agreed that the First Division (10 clubs) will be a four-round (36 League dates) league for the 2005 season. With three FAI Cup dates this will result in a total of 39 dates. With 36 weekends available, three (3) scheduled midweek League dates are required.

eircom League Cup Format:
It was agreed that as the two-year cycle of the eight three-club groups followed by the knock-out stages is now complete and given the introduction of the Setanta Cup, the following format for the 2005 season League Cup competition will be put in place:

The competition will be played on a knock-out basis from start to finish with the Kerry League and Mayo League again receiving invitations to compete. The First Round will comprise 8 matches and 8 byes.

The four clubs in European competition will receive byes due to their heavier fixture programme. The remaining 20 clubs will be divided into two pools of 10 clubs each on a geographical basis with four ties being drawn from each pool and with the remaining two clubs in each pool receiving a bye. Thereafter, the competition would continue on open draw knock-out basis.

Transfer Windows:
It was agreed that the first eircom League Transfer window will commence on Friday, January 7th 2005 and close on Friday, March 4th 2005. The second transfer window will run for the calendar month of July 2005.

**Comic Book Guy** · 10/12/2004, 6:21 PM

I think the format for the first division is a joke, if you get two runaway teams at the top of the first division then you are going to have a lot of teams with nothing to play for. It's obvious that the premier division is looking out for itself.
The old play off system of the second bottom team in the premier playing off against three first division teams was the best and generated some exciting games, but as ever in Irish football self interest wins the day.
This four round league is ridiculous and too much to ask of what are mostly part time players, how do these people who make these decisions get into the positions that they are in?