https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
From what i hear, and see in terms of media comments by people from the club's, Cabo are the biggest objector with longford and drogs. Seen nothing from UCD and rovers are playing Galway next weekend.
The simple compromise, if it hasnt been agreed already, is to just not allow senior squad players drop to the B team. I can see why clubs are objecting to a situation where one side could face Rovers II with a Jack Byrne or Ronan Finn one week and maybe a title rival not facing that additional quality a week later. If it is only about prividing a development pathway for academy players to senior football and the squad is set once transfer windows close then I cant see a big problem. If there are other issues for 1st Division clubs i'd be interested in hearing them.
There are rules in place and if rovers have gone through the right channels and are prepared to incur the costs they should be allowed the flexibility in the rules , same as any other team. In practise based on the last time I don't see it being an issue.
I think ultimately on a very unspoken level what most people feel is that it’s very sad that we can’t muster as few as 20 senior clubs in the country and that the national league fails to represent a good swath of the country currently. I look at the way that the NIFL have grabbed their league by the scruff of the neck in recent years and put a structure in place that seems to work and is a pyramid and is determined to increase standards and make me envious. Their intermediate football project to rationalise the leagues, put a promotion structure in place and have a rational number of intermediate clubs at 68 (?) is an impressive attempt to make necessary changes despite how they might anger some people. I don’t really have a strong feeling about a b team a second team one way or the other but I do think it sends the message that the national league isn’t healthy which it isn’t.
my feeling was that given what a lost year this already likely is for the FAI/the League, it might have better to just get through the First Division season with a blank page view to a long term solution to the struggles of the graveyard division. I look the way they are doing promotion in Pro D2 in Rugby in France currently as a means of achieving genuine regional representation in a pyramid system. I don’t know what the answers to any of the questions around the first division are, I just know that this doesn’t feel like it
Licencing is a bit of a contradiction here, as system to increase standards but serves to be prohibitive to new regional clubs stepping up. Participation fees also when a club is already taking on the financial burden of running a senior team. The abortive efforts of Kildare County, efforts in Mullingar to make the step up but were blocked. Applications from Tralee that were rejected maybe legitimately but it gives the impression of a closed shop. The folding of established teams like Limerick, Monaghan, Kilkenny, a moneybag club like Fingal with European income and folding also, emphasises the risk involved. Throw in the determination in some quarters not to align league seasons etc etc. We all know the issues and have spoken about the ad nauseum but its clear why we struggle to attract clubs to step up. There is a silver bullet that doesnt look likely to happen any time soon and that is to make league membership a financial positive for prospective clubs via 'prizemoney'. Until it happens all the will in the world, effective administration, restructuring to create a pyrimad wont make the LoI any more attractive. In saying all that it should be possible to lay some groundwork by (re)creating a system whereby intermediate clubs play beneath the senior leagues but opt out of promotion until such time as support for a transition to the senior league is there. Have we moved past the old intermediate club attitude that there is little difference between the standard of their leagues and LoI? All old hat I know.
Last edited by Nesta99; 12/01/2020 at 8:55 PM.
Good piece from Neil O Riordan on this. https://www.thesun.ie/sport/football...irst-division/
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
Since then, all First Division clubs came together, voiced their strong opposition and expressed their preference to have only nine of them in the league this year."They say they are not there to help top-flight clubs ‘develop their players at First Division clubs’ expense’."
LOI clubs talking to each other ?
That'll be a first.
Not there to help top flight clubs ?
No but they'll happily take their players when the top flight clubs release them because they have no where to play them
Most LOI clubs aren't in any position to help anyone & the 1st Div is as bad as it gets. They can't even help themselves.
I do however agree that the rules that apply to the 1st Div clubs should apply to all 1st Div clubs whether they are B teams or not. You can't have one team operating to a different set of rules compared to the rest of the clubs in that division.You just can't have B teams bringing in players from their Premier Div squads whenever they want if that is to be the situation ?
Clubs talking to each other is a good thing that should be welcomed. A majority of league clubs, never mind just first division clubs are against this. The fact that clubs are struggling makes it more important that ill thought out changes are not imposed on them, not less.
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
Absolutely agree.
For a hundred years LOI clubs have pis**d on each other & the results are clear to see today.
I had high hopes for the PCA but it seems to have gone nowhere.
I also think that any club organisation like the PCA should represent all clubs in LOI competition & not just the Premier Div.
The problem with football in Ireland is that its all Me Me Me.
Clubs are so concerned with their own little corner that they can't see the big picture.
What results is the disorganised & chaotic state that we see today.
I think long term we will have more B teams given the underage structure & clubs having to release players at the end of the player pathway. And to be honest I don't mind it if gives an avenue for these players to go on playing.
While it didn't work at the time as the B teams for all clubs was a bit forced, but bring back the A Championship as 3rd tier, you can have your B teams & an avenue for all 'new clubs' in the underage set up to ease into the LOI with proper promotion/relegation to the First Division.
I actually think there might an attraction to an all amateur 3rd tier, basically a junior club operating at a national level but not having to overextend, a more suitable home for Wexford & Athlone than their current situation but a chance to grow & get promoted to the first when they get their house in order
If Pat O'Sullivan has his way tomorrow the FD clubs might get their wish. I wonder if the legal process could delay the start of the season?
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