First post in a while. I've been off the grid for a while. Ive been following proceedings from the beaches of Australia. Came back last week and went to see the first game on the new AstroTurf in Adare. A mighty fine facility, pity the same can't be said for the soccer played on it. St Itas beat AK 4-0. No point giving a description of what I saw, lets just say it was not great. Some good finishes but 2 very poor sides.
Got me thinking, what are peoples opinions on amalgamations? AK are amalgamated under age but not at Junior level. Adare seem to be going quite well in division 2 and AK look to be doing just enough to possibly survive in division 1. If they joined at junior level surely they would be competitive. Their under age teams are unbelievably successful and this will surely feed top players into the junior team in time. I see their under 17 team are in the last 8 of the FAI and they are winning leagues at under 16, 15, 14 and 12 and very successful girls teams (including a national cup final) with the ladies winning their league also. Surely a big future for the junior club if Adare were on board. Anyone know why they aren't? GB Rovers another example of underage working, not to the same extent as AK Utd but going well. Surely if they joined at junior level it would make another competitive team in the premier.
I guess the question im asking is, should more teams be amalgamating? There are some obvious amalgamations that are working in GAA that should work in soccer. Granagh/Ballingarry, Kildimo/Pallaskenry,, Feenagh/Broadford, Askeaton/Ballysteen being some examples. Shannonside enjoyed brief success and seem to be on the way back to premier at least. The likes of abbeyfeale and NCW being big towns should need no amalgamation being big towns but the league would surely benefit hugely. If nearly every team amalgamated (I know its unlikely) but you would end up with half the amount of clubs but the same amount of teams as each team would have a B team. It would improve participation at munster and national level, it would mean much more competitive and enjoyable games in the premier and could only be good for the league. It would also massively improve the quality of the lower divisions
Best example for me would be Granagh Ballingarry. 2 very good junior teams, both will likely be in premier next year. 2 excellent underage set ups, they would surely excel at underage and junior and make the league representation far superior on both levels
Thoughts??
Sorry for long post, its been a while
Bookmarks