1st Division - Season 2022

**sullanefc** · 18/12/2021, 10:00 AM

9 team league playing 4 times. Thoughts?

I thought a 27 game season last year was amateur hour so at least they have upped it to 32 games, but having an uneven number of teams in it is a bit of a joke.

**sidewayspasser** · 18/12/2021, 11:19 AM

It seems to me the FAI didn't even try to find a 10th team. Maybe they didn't want to ask Rovers for a B team again after the debate it caused last time around, but they could at least have sought expressions of interest. Would be interesting to know how early Bray and Cabo might have flagged it to the FAI that they were going to merge. Did they leave it too late for the FAI to look for someone to fill the 10th place?

Looking beyond next season, if the third tier is introduced (don't hold your breath...) in 2023, they still would have to fill the 10th place in the FD, unless they reduce it to 8 and relegate one FD team to the third tier. So I don't think that would be a valid excuse not to fill the place now.

**total hoofball** · 18/12/2021, 12:52 PM

32 games with even amount of home/away games definitely better than 27 games though one team not playing every round is still not ideal but if it's only for one season and for 2023 with 10 teams/36 games that will be progress because I don't expect a 3rd tier will happen

The play-off structure that a team finishing 5th out of 9 teams can still secure promotion is a joke I had expected that would be changed with the expanded campaign

**Jd2793** · 18/12/2021, 1:38 PM

rovers II should have been allowed in , 9 teams is embarrassing. Giving 1 team per week a by is a terrible look for the league.

**Martinho II** · 18/12/2021, 4:01 PM

Irish Sea FC from Kildare wont be too happy with this. Its second season in a row that its happened to them.

**DCSIL** · 18/12/2021, 7:56 PM

Were Shamrock Rovers interested in a B team this time round? Seemed to be a favour to the FAI last time it was introduced.

**sullanefc** · 19/12/2021, 2:41 AM

Originally Posted by Jd2793

rovers II should have been allowed in , 9 teams is embarrassing. Giving 1 team per week a by is a terrible look for the league.

This. I can't understand the push back over B teams in the division.

**sbgawa** · 19/12/2021, 3:35 AM

Minnowisim and begrudgery.....I'm not bitter

**legendz** · 19/12/2021, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by total hoofball

The play-off structure that a team finishing 5th out of 9 teams can still secure promotion is a joke I had expected that would be changed with the expanded campaign

The playoff structure keeps more teams in the hunt. I can't see First Division clubs voting against it now that it is becoming an established format. They all know at the start that the winner is promoted. 2nd to 5th is a qualifying competition.
All playoff rounds should be over 2 legs in my humble opinion. It'll give more high profile home games, which you think would have a financial benefit as well as boosting the profile of the clubs locally, mainly through local media.

**total hoofball** · 19/12/2021, 1:30 PM

Originally Posted by legendz

The playoff structure keeps more teams in the hunt. I can't see First Division clubs voting against it now that it is becoming an established format. They all know at the start that the winner is promoted. 2nd to 5th is a qualifying competition.
All playoff rounds should be over 2 legs in my humble opinion. It'll give more high profile home games, which you think would have a financial benefit as well as boosting the profile of the clubs locally, mainly through local media.

Remember in 2022 that 15th place out of 19 clubs can end up in the Premier Division

With Longford finishing 4th and stinking up the Premier Division the following season that's all the evidence the FAI needs that the play-off structure is not improving the Premier Division or the First Division that the majority of First Division clubs know mediocrity over a campaign and a hot run in the play-offs is the standard to aspire to

**Longfordian** · 19/12/2021, 4:09 PM

That was Shels fault for playing so crap that we managed to win.

**NeverFeltBetter** · 20/12/2021, 9:15 PM

Sad state of affairs that we've gotten to this point. As I said in the other thread, the inability of the FAI to make the league attractive to new clubs is one of its great failures.

**yurt** · 20/12/2021, 10:54 PM

I must be the only one who is feeling in any way positive about what the first division has to offer going forward. Sure the 9 teams isn't an ideal situation but at least its due to clubs merging to become stronger instead of going to the wall due to pathetic management. At least there is clarity early too, I don't remember the timings but remember the **** show of having 2 sets of fixtures released based on licensing which hadn't been decided yet. Trying to shoehorn in a 10th team could easily end up doing more harm than good to the competition.

Probably too early to say with any certainty just yet but I think the FD is no longer the graveyard that it had been for so so long. With Cork, Galway, Waterford, Bray/Cabo and Treaty all in this league the average attendance should be pretty decent for the division this season. Having 4 playoff spots does minimize the amount of pointless game come the end of the season. I would expect this to reduce if/when relegation is introduced to the first division. I do think that there should be a better reward given to the team coming in 2nd vs 5th. Like giving home advantage to the higher seed in the one off playoff games.

We're really lucky to have the summer season. I can only imagine the nightmare the FAI/LOI would be having right now if we were mid season.

**pineapple stu** · 21/12/2021, 7:39 AM

Originally Posted by yurt

We're really lucky to have the summer season. I can only imagine the nightmare the FAI/LOI would be having right now if we were mid season.

I don't get the relevance of this? Unless you're suggesting Cabo were going to drop out in November regardless of the season - but that doesn't make any sense.

The summer season is the single stupidest, most short-sighted decision the FAI ever made. It's probably the single biggest stumbling block to getting new clubs into the league. We've gone from 22 senior clubs in 2010 to 19 now and it's harder than ever to see where a new club is going to come from.

Galway/Cork/Treaty/Waterford in the First Division just speaks volumes about how badly many clubs are run tbh. (Bit harsh on Treaty I guess, but I'm counting them as Limerick football in general)

There's nothing at all positive about this (other than getting rid of that Irish Sea FC numpty)

**Jd2793** · 21/12/2021, 7:46 AM

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

I don't get the relevance of this? Unless you're suggesting Cabo were going to drop out in November regardless of the season - but that doesn't make any sense.

The summer season is the single stupidest, most short-sighted decision the FAI ever made. It's probably the single biggest stumbling block to getting new clubs into the league. We've gone from 22 senior clubs in 2010 to 19 now and it's harder than ever to see where a new club is going to come from.

Summer season has improved the product massively. Dont think theres a doubt about that.

**pineapple stu** · 21/12/2021, 7:56 AM

I don't think that's as clear cut as you're making out, but regardless, it doesn't stop the decision being the stupidest, most short-sighted decision the FAI ever made. Even you're just thinking about it in an LoI context without considering the damaging impact of the complete and unique separation between senior and intermediate/junior football which is a primary reason why the league is shrinking

Move all football seasons or move none. Chasing Euro money with summer football at the expense of the structure and possibly the sustainability of the league - which is what we've done - is the problem.

**sbgawa** · 21/12/2021, 8:25 AM

The FAI should have insisted in the past on ALL leagues moving to Summer Season.....they should do it now if they had any sense.
The DDSL sabotaged the Trial summer season they had deliberately and used Delaney's removal to go back to the School year when the FAI were in disarray.

The kids don't play in the winter anyway and are now on a break until Feb since two weekends ago.
The current debacle where with squads picked for the u14 LOI season and started training the season has been postponed until July with zero notice to
allow the SFAI to have their Kennedy cup competition at under 14 in June is ominous for the weakness of the FAI board.
This Kennedy cup used to be the shop window for sending our young kids off to England for pennies and then see 95% of them back with no education and broken but is now pointless. No surprise it happened within weeks of Rued Dokter leaving the FAI....
The tinpot blazers in the SFAI ....."They havent gone away you know"

**Stav** · 21/12/2021, 10:10 AM

First time Rovers had a B team in league they pulled out after a season so maybe that caused some of the problem. Are teams looking at getting some of these players in on loan and if B team in First division it would close that door.
Fai need to have a real look at the game across the country.
Rovers won the league for the last two years and the prize money for that would hardly pay for the pizzas.

**yurt** · 21/12/2021, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

I don't get the relevance of this? Unless you're suggesting Cabo were going to drop out in November regardless of the season - but that doesn't make any sense.

The summer season is the single stupidest, most short-sighted decision the FAI ever made. It's probably the single biggest stumbling block to getting new clubs into the league. We've gone from 22 senior clubs in 2010 to 19 now and it's harder than ever to see where a new club is going to come from.

Galway/Cork/Treaty/Waterford in the First Division just speaks volumes about how badly many clubs are run tbh. (Bit harsh on Treaty I guess, but I'm counting them as Limerick football in general)

There's nothing at all positive about this (other than getting rid of that Irish Sea FC numpty)

I'm guessing you meant to call out the merger as not being of any relevance? My point is fairly straightforward, teams linking up and sharing resources to become stronger in the long term is a far better situation than teams being denied a license.

On the summer season, it was just a fairly basic observation that our season ending in November meant we've avoided the current mess which is playing out in British football and European Rugby currently. Hopefully we will be somewhere near full capacity in stadiums again come summer time and the covid disruption will be minimized.

Fair enough if you don't see any positives in anything ever. It's just my opinion the First Division is in a better place than it was say, 5 years ago.

**pineapple stu** · 21/12/2021, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by yurt

I'm guessing you meant to call out the merger as not being of any relevance?

No, the timing. I hadn't linked it with covid tbh. Certainly a once-in-a-lifetime (I hope!) pandemic isn't a reason to justify the season being as it is. We also got stuck right in the mess last March don't forget.

I do see positives in things - but the First Division containing Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick isn't one of them. Clubs like that should be challenging for the Euro spots in the Premier, not messing about in the First unable to get out of it. The LoI as a whole is weaker for having those clubs in the First Division.