Hard to blame the IFA really. But we have to get our own house in order first anyway. This league isn't exactly growing as it is. We have lost Kilkenny, Kildare, Monaghan, Dublin City etc over the years. Teams in this country don't want to join, you can hardly blame the Irish League teams for not wanting to join either.
I also don't think adding IL clubs to this league is the silver bullet that Lucid thinks it will be. The IL's biggest club, Linfield, didn't exactly sell out TX in Europe did it? Also, the setanta cup had very poor attendances. The likes of Dungannon at home weren't exactly mouth watering fixtures. You'd also imagine the media hyping up the Shamrock v Linfield fixture as the Irish old firm fixture and getting all sorts of sectarian nonsense involved.
Let's grow our own league first. Let's get the Lucid type money for a LOI league first. Improve facilities, make the 1st division a league that new teams want to be part of. Have strict licensing that prevents cowboys from running clubs into the ground that makes a farce of the league.
The likes of Lucid would want more concrete proposals with solid backers before any club could sign up with his plans. A lot more due diligence required. Can't blame the IL clubs and the IFA for taking a cautious approach.
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