Galway United

[pineapple stu]

Well you're assuming you're going to have a couple of hundred on it. Is that reasonable? And a stocked drinks trolley brings other issues (as IÉ have shown by taking drink away from some trains), so potentially more cost in terms of cleaning.

And I don't think "What choice would they have" is really great public service. Plus you're delaying the train a lot longer than you think. The last service from Sligo to Dublin on a Saturday leaves at 7:05pm, for example. You want to delay that to what - 10:15pm? That'd then get in at 1:15am. You're going to lose as many passengers as you gain doing that I'd say.

Yes, a supporters' bus is higher carbon footprint than the train, but it's still mass transit and therefore worth flagging in the context of Stav's "the only way is to drive" option. And yes, football special trains are worth considering and would be nice to have, but I don't think your comment "that would require them to be arsed about doing a proper job" is at all fair. I don't think you've thought it through enough, and I don't think you've shown IÉ haven't thought it through and decided that actually it's not worth it.

(Back in the LSL in the day, Longford and Sligo used to charter trains for games in Dublin, and possibly vice versa too, and that may still be an option)

[EalingGreen]

There is nothing that humanity does which doesn't have some sort of energy requirement. The issue is where that energy comes from, and how sustainable it is.

As everything humans do has some sort of impact, no-one is suggestig that everyone just sit at home and do nothing. It's about transitioning to less harmful and zero-harm alternatives.

Having more energy efficient and sustainable power is obviously a huge contributor to where the planet needs to be.

But simply consuming less makes an even greater contribution, regardless of how the energy is generated. So that a football fan watching at home online is still "better" than travelling to an away game, even if it is on an electric train.

It might be after my time, but I can see the day when a number of activities we currently take for granted will be priced out of our reach (eg road-pricing, fuel duty, carbon taxes etc), or even curtailed completely (eg traffic free cities).

BTW - part of the reason why Spain doesn't have a large travelling club fan tradition is because fixtures in Spain often get changed at extremely short notice to facilitate live broadcast. As I found when I was in Cordoba on my way to see a game in Granada the following day, onyl to turn on the TV that night and discover the Granada game was being played 24hrs early.

Screwed-up TV scheduling has only exacerbated a problem which existed long before the regular televising of games, indeed before most homes even had a TV, never mind a mobile or a PC.

I've always assumed it was originally down to socio-economic factors (i.e. fans could just about afford to attend home games in what was long a very poor country); low car ownership; poor train services; large distances involved; and local/state rivalries and prejudices (i.e. Catalans or Basques not wanting to visit Castille or Andalucia and v.v.).

Meaning that Spanish fans never got into the habit of travelling away in numbers in the first place. And as with football everywhere, habit and tradition are huge factors in determining how fans behave.

[EalingGreen]

Well you're assuming you're going to have a couple of hundred on it. Is that reasonable? And a stocked drinks trolley brings other issues (as IÉ have shown by taking drink away from some trains), so potentially more cost in terms of cleaning.

And I don't think "What choice would they have" is really great public service. Plus you're delaying the train a lot longer than you think. The last service from Sligo to Dublin on a Saturday leaves at 7:05pm, for example. You want to delay that to what - 10:15pm? That'd then get in at 1:15am. You're going to lose as many passengers as you gain doing that I'd say.

Yes, a supporters' bus is higher carbon footprint than the train, but it's still mass transit and therefore worth flagging in the context of Stav's "the only way is to drive" option. And yes, football special trains are worth considering and would be nice to have, but I don't think your comment "that would require them to be arsed about doing a proper job" is at all fair. I don't think you've thought it through enough, and I don't think you've shown IÉ haven't thought it through and decided that actually it's not worth it.

With LOI attendances currently increasing at an impressive rate, shouldn't people be thinking about capitalising on that in any way possible, esp if in a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly manner?

Meaning that a proper trial for a season or two could surely be worth it. After all, if it turned out to be a non-runner, how much would you have lost?

But maybe you're right, those where just the speculative musings of a non-expert, so that if you have superior expertise in the field, I'll happily bow to that.

[pineapple stu]

I don't think a trial for a season or two makes sense; that's a very long trial. You could learn a lot trialing it for one match. They have trains to big matches in the GAA as far as I know, but I'd say evening kick-offs in the football means you're also having to work around night-time track maintenance.

So as you say, they're "speculative musings of a non-expert", which is why I think the "that would require them to be arsed about doing a proper job" comment is very unfair.

[Martinho II]

I know it's not really the point but there are late night buses that will take you to Dublin Airport if you're really against staying over in Galway! Obviously depending where you're from in Dublin it may be a 50 quid taxi fare from the airport so may not suit to end up there!

I got the Go Coach service a few weeks ago from Galway to Dublin and it doest stop at OConnell St at Eden Quay

[Martinho II]

I dont mean to be awkward but what has this debate anything to do with Galway Utd?

[sbgawa]

I dont mean to be awkward but what has this debate anything to do with Galway Utd?

We are debating how to get back from galway after they are promoted

[joey B]

We are debating how to get back from galway after they are promoted

*in 2024
They have to lose to Harps in a play off first!!

[Glen Of Aherlow]

It's all gone a bit Daniel Lambert here

[sbgawa]

It's all gone a bit Daniel Lambert here

Ah jaysus dont say that the Galway lads still have hope of winning something

[Eminence Grise]

Looks like the cost of promotion has increased from producing a DVD to running your own railway.

[EatYerGreens]

I dont mean to be awkward but what has this debate anything to do with Galway Utd?

Fair point. Talk of sustainability and treading lightly on the earth should be firmly reserved for Bohemians.

[Nesta99]

All this talk of trains and buses, when and where they go, what should be provided, well we are all doomed to climate crises as long as there are no direct routes and spaceships!!!

[Martinho II]

It's all gone a bit Daniel Lambert here

did anyone see Daniel Lambert on the Tonight Show on Virgin last nite by any chance?

[pineapple stu]

I googled Daniel Lambert and found this wiki article about a gaol keeper (not goal keeper) who got to 50 stone and didn't know why but said he didn't eat and drink all that much but modern view is that actually that's exactly what he did and I got thoroughly confused and entertained at the same time

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lambert

[sbgawa]

did anyone see Daniel Lambert on the Tonight Show on Virgin last nite by any chance?

no,,,, what non football topic was he discussing to please his woke buddies

[Mr A]

on one occasion he fought a bear in the streets of Leicester

As you do

[Nesta99]

I googled Daniel Lambert and found this wiki article about a gaol keeper (not goal keeper) who got to 50 stone and didn't know why but said he didn't eat and drink all that much but modern view is that actually that's exactly what he did and I got thoroughly confused and entertained at the same time

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lambert

Just wrong Stu in a cannot cant read way!

[pineapple stu]

Yup. I like this bit -

Sensitive about his weight, Daniel Lambert refused to allow himself to be weighed, but sometime around 1805, some friends persuaded him to come with them to a cock fight in Loughborough. Once he had squeezed his way into their carriage, the rest of the party drove the carriage onto a large scale and jumped out.

[Nesta99]

Well if I got a bonus for every time a fatiatric blamed things on their hormones rather than KFC I could retire, one person actually had a KFC family bucket with them (on their own) at a clinic, which is no exaggeration!!