Watching an u-21 team recently and i personally thought the standard was quite poor. I thought the whole idea of the u21s was to bridge the gap between the 1st team but i can honestly say the players playing didnt look good enough.Maybe this is a bit harsh but I think there should be an eircom league from u-16 level right up to u-21s it should be from u-16s because the standard of football drops slightly after a lot of players are shipped abroad.This way the players will achieve good coaching(supposedly) and they will improve which will in turn improve the league because these will be the same players playing for the 1st team in 10 years (maybe less) which in turn will create bigger and better crowds which in turn will help keep hold of the players that do get shipped off abroad.
What do you think?
I agree Shells,Rovers,Bohs,Pats and EL teams all over the country should not be in the schoolboys league.That way teams like St.Josephs,Belvedere,Cherry Orchard etc could provide good players to EL teams.And to those who get scouted by english teams you could give them an option to stay here and play football or clean boots in england,not all of them will stay but for those who do would improve the EL
I'd imagine quite a few eL teams have underage teams like that already, but they're expensive to run and many clubs could do without the hassle. I think the eL should look at bringing in maybe an U-18 league next, and then in 3 years time an U-16 league, and so on every 3 years.
Well it would be regionalised(sp?) south leinster,northLeinster,Munster etc.Like the u-21 format
It all comes down to finance though so I can't see something like that happening for a long time.
I mean the likes of Ramblers and City will much rather have to travel around the County than having to trek round the country for an Under 18 game, same goes for the Dublin clubs and all the rest.
The cost of running underage teams would rocket.
I think the best way to go would be for the clubs to be forced to start underage teams (as I suggested above 1 team every 3 years) but that they be allowed play in regional competitions, with maybe a national cup competition organised as well or something.
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