Treaty United

[EatYerGreens]

Cork was the ultimate phoenix club in fairness.

Derry - another phoenix club - joined in 85.

Bray and Longford also joined in 85 and while they're small, they're a step up from Cabo, Monaghan, etc

Longford joined along with Cork in 1984.

Where are the large population centres that don't already have an LOI team ? It's just Limerick, which will presumably get sorted for next year, and apart from that it's just small towns. Even somewhere like Navan only has 35,000 people. We need to be realistic about the fact that football is primarily an urban sport, and that small towns/population centres are extremely unlikely to be able to sustain a team in a very competitive professional environment. Sligo and Finn Harps perform miracles to remain competitive (with Harps not doing so consistently). The other competitive teams in the league are from relatively large population centres. And the other teams that aren't from large population centres just aren't consistently competitive.

[nigel-harps1954]

Longford joined along with Cork in 1984.

Where are the large population centres that don't already have an LOI team ? It's just Limerick, which will presumably get sorted for next year, and apart from that it's just small towns. Even somewhere like Navan only has 35,000 people. We need to be realistic about the fact that football is primarily an urban sport, and that small towns/population centres are extremely unlikely to be able to sustain a team in a very competitive professional environment. Sligo and Finn Harps perform miracles to remain competitive (with Harps not doing so consistently). The other competitive teams in the league are from relatively large population centres. And the other teams that aren't from large population centres just aren't consistently competitive.

In theory Carlow should be able to support a LOI side. There's a decent enough junior league, for such a small county, there's 25,000+ in the town, and the only dedicated football college course in Ireland within Carlow IT. The college itself already has facilities well capable of hosting LOI games, especially if they used the college GAA pitch as their ground.

But it's been done to death a million times over now, this discussion. It's not always about population, it's about location, and how you interact with the community. Any club within a reasonable sized area should be able to do it.

[Neish]

Will Treaty United be playing in Market's field ?

[Mr A]

Yeah they confirmed that in a press release Neish.

[Dr. football]

In theory Carlow should be able to support a LOI side. There's a decent enough junior league, for such a small county, there's 25,000+ in the town, and the only dedicated football college course in Ireland within Carlow IT. The college itself already has facilities well capable of hosting LOI games, especially if they used the college GAA pitch as their ground.

But it's been done to death a million times over now, this discussion. It's not always about population, it's about location, and how you interact with the community. Any club within a reasonable sized area should be able to do it.

Carlow IT should have a team in the LOI, the have facilities and the college scholarship already.

[Dr. football]

dont see what the big issue is with having a fan base for a new club, if you can finically afford a team in the LOI without a large fan base why should it matter? if a club is run right it can grow its fan base surly ? its not goin happen over night so it shouldnt effect another club, unless its YOLA and wexford but thats a sperate issue they haven openly said they are looking at replacing .

[Longfordian]

Some company called Irish Sea FC Ltd has expressed an interest it seems.

https://twitter.com/forgottenclubs/s...737976320?s=19

[Kiki Balboa]

dont see what the big issue is with having a fan base for a new club, if you can finically afford a team in the LOI without a large fan base why should it matter? if a club is run right it can grow its fan base surly ? its not goin happen over night so it shouldnt effect another club, unless its YOLA and wexford but thats a sperate issue they haven openly said they are looking at replacing .

Its not that a fan base matters as such in the short term, but long term survival definitely yes.

Plus its fans that make the league the league, so anyways to add a new group is always welcomed. If they have no fan base, it's much more like a junior team playing LOI.

Of course you cant expect any team to start in LOI to suddenly have fans. Its a long game, over generation or so. Hopefully clubs get tsupport to develop a fan base.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Some company called Irish Sea FC Ltd has expressed an interest it seems.

https://twitter.com/forgottenclubs/s...737976320?s=19

That's the same company that was involved with the takeover talks at Cabinteely a few months ago.

[Neish]

Yeah they confirmed that in a press release Neish.

Cheers, thought i had read i somewhere but then couldn't find it

[Lim till i die]

That's the same company that was involved with the takeover talks at Cabinteely a few months ago.

They actually tried Limerick first but couldn't come to an agreement on the valuation (presumably paud for some reason thought it was greater than zero)

The coach at the head of it basically comes across as a bit of a head the ball who buys clubs so he can manage them.

Which brings me to a curious detail.

The company is apparently registered in cork.

The homebase of beloved ex Limerick owner and sometimes manager Daniel Drew.

The same Daniel Drew who has been helping paud with his underage team expenses this year.

And now we have apparent word of two expressions of interest in the first division from Limerick

The thick plottens.

[GUFCghost]

Let's face it. There's nowhere that isn't currently in the league that's going to have decent support. These teams be no worse supported than some of the teams already there. Some of the teams in the NI Championship have little support but their league is improving. Good to see St Francis looking to get back in. Until there is a proper pyramid structure this is as good as we're going to get

That's just straight pessimism.
The league has been neglected for years now. With a bit of planning and consideration there's no reason we can't have a strong first division. The long term aim should be a division with no amateur teams

[thebronze14]

That's just straight pessimism.
The league has been neglected for years now. With a bit of planning and consideration there's no reason we can't have a strong first division. The long term aim should be a division with no amateur teams

That would be brilliant but you're right I am pessimistic. Sadly Irish people seem to just jump aboard the bandwagon and without future attitudal shifts sadly this will prevail. Letting a couple of extra teams with little fanbase in isn't going to harm the league longterm I'd say as long as they are sustainable in whatever model they go with

[Dr. football]

Its not that a fan base matters as such in the short term, but long term survival definitely yes.

Plus its fans that make the league the league, so anyways to add a new group is always welcomed. If they have no fan base, it's much more like a junior team playing LOI.

Of course you cant expect any team to start in LOI to suddenly have fans. Its a long game, over generation or so. Hopefully clubs get tsupport to develop a fan base.

That’s may point really, let them try start if it don’t work out noting lost!

[da bishop]

Whats with the names ,Yola fc,Treaty utd more like a gymnastic and basketball teams .are supporters going to identify with those names ,dont think so.

[Eminence Grise]

YOLA.

You Only Live ... Again?

Perfect name for half the clubs in the league, in fairness.

(And yes, I know Yola's a dialect. Can't throw a stone over a wall in some parts of Wexford without hitting a distant cousin.)

[nigel-harps1954]

These Irish Sea FC lads are involved in Dublin anyway, and are going to be revealing their club crest in the next couple of days..with a Dublin landmark.

What's the bets we see a Dublin City FC again out of Home Farm?

They're the same folks who own NJ Teamsters in the states, starting out in the third tier of American football next year.

[Nesta99]

These Irish Sea FC lads are involved in Dublin anyway, and are going to be revealing their club crest in the next couple of days..with a Dublin landmark.

What's the bets we see a Dublin City FC again out of Home Farm?

They're the same folks who own NJ Teamsters in the states, starting out in the third tier of American football next year.

Molly Malone statue?!

[EatYerGreens]

That would be brilliant but you're right I am pessimistic. Sadly Irish people seem to just jump aboard the bandwagon and without future attitudal shifts sadly this will prevail. Letting a couple of extra teams with little fanbase in isn't going to harm the league longterm I'd say as long as they are sustainable in whatever model they go with

But the point is - they never are sustainable. Kildare County, Sporting Fingal, St Francis, St James's Gate, Monaghan Town, Kilkenny City, NewcastleWest, Thurles Town, Home Farm, Mervue United, Salthill Devon etc etc etc. All joined the league, all had very limited support, and all ended up being unsustainable. The only clubs to join in the last 40 years that have remained in existence consistently are Derry, Cork, Bray and Longford. The first 3 all have large populations. And all 4 had a certain level of actual or potential support from within their community from before they joined to tap into (Longford had cup runs in the 1960s etc). Cobh is a great wee football town - but even they crashed out of the league for a few years because things just weren't working out.

And it's wrong to say that it doesn't harm the league when clubs join and fold, as it really does. It makes us look like a joke shop of a league and a financial mess. And it doubtless deters other clubs from joining when they see what a revolving door of failure the LOI is.

[passinginterest]

YOLA.

You Only Live ... Again?

Perfect name for half the clubs in the league, in fairness.

(And yes, I know Yola's a dialect. Can't throw a stone over a wall in some parts of Wexford without hitting a distant cousin.)

Haha, this is very true. As an example, I have a common south Wexford surname, in my primary school class of, I think, 22 students, 4 of us had the same surname, but I wasn't directly related to any of the other 3!

Going further off topic, I grew up in Yola country (even spent a childhood summer working in the Yola farmstead cafe), there's a lot of colloquialisms in South Wexford that come directly from the Yola dialect, I remember by Grandad and Great Grandad using a lot of them and some are still in common use today (quare being the most obvious example). South Wexford accent is still quite distinctive, closer to norther Irish than most other Southern accents, when we were away with the Youth Club at events wed regularly be asked what part of the north we were from.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yola_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_and_Bargy_dialect

Anyway, terrible name for a football club and will draw in zero extra support.