2022 FAI Cup

[sbgawa]

Tell Ronan Finn, Greg bolger , Conan Byrne and dozens of other top loi players who when they retire have an education to fall back on that UCD aren't good for the league..
Kilkenny , monaghan, mervue, sporting fingal , salt Hill, the list is a long one if you want to see who has less to offer

[colonelwest]

One of the greatest indictments of the dysfunctional regime at UCD is that they have no student fan base. They have no interest in marketing and promo, no interest in filling the place with their own fans, which is badly needed when they are in the 1st Division. They do an utterly poxy job at social media, last night being the perfect example, no team sheet posted pre match, so waiting for LOITV 2 minutes before the ko to find out who is playing. Its simply a personal hobby for a bunch of old geezers and a small number of staff who have controlled UCD AFC for years now, who like to win the Collingwood Cup, and appear answerable to nobody. Even Myler is in on it now, the background to his original appointment being subject of much chatter in the stands at the time. Nice cosy set up for all. Must try harder.

It always baffled me that the club wasn't more integrated with the college off the pitch with regard to student involvement for course credits, it's an easy thing to do and seems an absolute no brainer. Yes there's a production line of players who leave with a degree in their back pocket etc. but there's a massive production line of students from multimedia & film production to fitness, nutrition, physiotherapy and so on that in theory should be mad to get a bit of practical experience as part of their courses.

[Poor Student]

I think they've every right to be in LOI, plenty of begrudgers who simply slag them off for being different and not always nearly bankrupt (jealousy), the model is perfect for Irish football, especially 1st Div. As to why they got into LOI, its a perfect way to attract high quality young players who want to get a decent education at the same time as playing top level ball. At least it was, but I think they've shot themselves in the foot on that this last couple of seasons, so many of the players aren't UCD students these days, and other clubs have wised up by offering to pay college/leaving cert grind school fees and uni fees for some of the players they might have originally lost to UCD u17s U19s. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see UCD pulling back from LOI at some stage, they seem disinterested compared to previous years, and they have zero recruitment/scouting policy outside of Myler sucking up to Rovers and signing their underage castoffs. With smart commercially minded people in charge their, they could have a brilliant small stadium developed, a full house every week. They have a huge catchment area not catering for LOI in any way.

It is incredibly challenging to get people interested in the club. Back when the FAI was providing grants we had a full time Club Promotion Officer, who had fairly extensive experience in marketing sports goods, for at least a couple of seasons. He tried to attack both angles in the local catchment area and the college. I hammered away as a volunteer postering and trying to engage with the Students Union and there's just zero interest. People here don't feel a connection to their college in the way people would in America and don't feel any inclination to attend games just because they attend UCD for a number of years. Thursday and Saturday kick offs were attempted over the years. I'm not saying the Committee are flawless and I am sure they could do with fresh impetus and ideas but what looks like lack of effort is the result of decades of seeing all attempts to boost attendances come to no fruition. The lack of supporters and volunteers in the first instance also makes it hard to harness any volunteer manpower to carry out any promotion of the club. It's a viscous circle.

[EatYerGreens]

We got into the LoI the same way ye got in - we asked and there was no-one else interested really.

That's fairly disingenuous. Longford came into the LOI for the 1984/5 season as stage one of a two stage process of significant expansion of the league leading up to the introduction of the second tier in 1985/6. And they were a fairly obvious choice, as they had a good record over the years in the LSL and had made numerous FAI Cup appearances - including reaching the quarter-final in 1969. UCD, on the other hand, got into the LOI at short notice when Cork Celtic resigned in 1979. They were selected through a cobination of being an LOI B Division team (where they struggled), and having attracted a lot of attention with their grand footballing tours of the world most Summers.

So one joining was a planned process in which teams with decent records were elevated. The other was essentially a case of grabbing the first club they thought of to fill an unexpected gap.

[EatYerGreens]

It is incredibly challenging to get people interested in the club. Back when the FAI was providing grants we had a full time Club Promotion Officer, who had fairly extensive experience in marketing sports goods, for at least a couple of seasons. He tried to attack both angles in the local catchment area and the college. I hammered away as a volunteer postering and trying to engage with the Students Union and there's just zero interest. People here don't feel a connection to their college in the way people would in America and don't feel any inclination to attend games just because they attend UCD for a number of years. Thursday and Saturday kick offs were attempted over the years. I'm not saying the Committee are flawless and I am sure they could do with fresh impetus and ideas but what looks like lack of effort is the result of decades of seeing all attempts to boost attendances come to no fruition. The lack of supporters and volunteers in the first instance also makes it hard to harness any volunteer manpower to carry out any promotion of the club. It's a viscous circle.

Ireland is definotely at the opposite end of the spectrum from America when it comes to emotionl connection to one's alma matre. But you'd think that this is something the uni would be seeking to change. They've got students in their hands for 3-4yrs, and a lot of them will go on to forge good careers, make good money etc. It is completely in the university's interests to strengthen the bond those people feel towards UCD - if only to maximie the ability to tap them for money, internships, sponsorship, pro-bono help etc later down the line.

[pineapple stu]

That's fairly disingenuous.

Not disingenuous at all. We were both LoI B clubs - one aim of the LoI B being to support potential new LoI clubs. We also had numerous FAI Cup appearances as a non-league side. We didn't struggle in the LoI B - we were promoted from eighth, which was a bad season, but had been top half each of the previous six years, and had been title contenders in 1975/76. Longford's record in the B division wasn't dissimilar to ours.

Can you show me why you think our summer tours had any impact on our election? UCD were always a fairly well-regarded club down the years, as evidenced by being elected to the LoI in 1922 and being admitted to the 1934/35 FAI Cup as the leading fully-amateur side in the country.

And while we were elected to fill the gap left by Cork, you could argue Longford were elected to fill the gap that Cork's re-election brought about.

[EatYerGreens]

Can you show me why you think our summer tours had any impact on our election?

The tours gave UCD a glamour and high profile beyond a 'normal' LOI B club, and made the club seem ambitious and progressive. ANY Irish club going on tours in that era to the USA, Canada, India, Hong Kong,Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Macao, Kenya,Sudan, Malaysia, Australia, Jordan and Norway (almost all prior to joining the LOI) would have been fairly big news and very impressive - never mind a B Diviison club doing it. UCD even became the first western football team allowed to play in China (1976). There is no way that this wouldn't have been noticed or have impressed people within the Irish game, which was pretty shambolic at the time.

UCD were always a fairly well-regarded club down the years, as evidenced by being elected to the LoI in 1922 and being admitted to the 1934/35 FAI Cup as the leading fully-amateur side in the country.

Pretty much anyone who wanted to join the league in the early 1920s was let in sooner or later. UCD didn't exactly cover themselves in glory by seeking membership, getting it, and then realising that the students wouldn't be back when the season started in August (d'oh!). And then, after causing everything to be delayed until September to accommodate them, still dropping out at the 11th hour anyway (leading to a further delay). The club was lucky memories of that rigmarole didn't extend to the 1970s

And while we were elected to fill the gap left by Cork, you could argue Longford were elected to fill the gap that Cork's re-election brought about.

That doesn't make a lot of sense tbh. They could just have left it one more year before letting Cork City in along with everyone else for the 1985/6. The idea that Longford were just ballast for Cork City is seriously disingenous. In reality they needed the numbers in the 1984/5 league to then be able to relegate enough teams to the new second tier below whilst keeping the new PD at 12 teams. Adding 2 clubs as phase 1 of the expansion was a useful stepping stone and made it less of a huge 'big bang' in 1985-6. Interesting to note that, whilst half the teams added in 1985/6 didn't remain in the game (Monaghan, EMFA, Newcastle United - Cobh too if you include their years out), both Longford and Cork City have remained despite only one year separatig all the accessionss. Which suggests a big influx may not be the most enduirng way to expand

[pineapple stu]

Ah, so you're saying we got elected for being a well-run club? But that's also evident from our relatively sound performances in the LoI B (where, despite what you think, we didn't struggle) and general club growth in the previous decade under a competent, progressive head in the Doc. So I don't know why you focus on the first part of that when really it's just a symptom of the latter, more important, factors.

Ultimately though, UCD and Longford were elected to the league in very similar circumstances. We had a very similar history, crossing paths many times going back to our first meeting in 1935. We were both elected from the LoI B, a common source for new LoI clubs. The only other non-B teams in the LoI B when we were elected were Trinity College, CYM, Belgrove and Tullamore, and we'd finished ahead of the latter two. Longford finished behind Belgrove, but ahead of CYM, Tullamore, Trinity and St Brendan's Hospital. All remarkably similar.

So when a gap came about, we both put our hands up and got in. Nothing disingenuous about that at all.

[EatYerGreens]

Ah, so you're saying we got elected for being a well-run club? But that's also evident from our relatively sound performances in the LoI B (where, despite what you think, we didn't struggle) and general club growth in the previous decade under a competent, progressive head in the Doc. So I don't know why you focus on the first part of that when really it's just a symptom of the latter, more important, factors.

Ultimately though, UCD and Longford were elected to the league in very similar circumstances. We had a very similar history, crossing paths many times going back to our first meeting in 1935. We were both elected from the LoI B, a common source for new LoI clubs. The only other non-B teams in the LoI B when we were elected were Trinity College, CYM, Belgrove and Tullamore, and we'd finished ahead of the latter two. Longford finished behind Belgrove, but ahead of CYM, Tullamore, Trinity and St Brendan's Hospital. All remarkably similar.

So when a gap came about, we both put our hands up and got in. Nothing disingenuous about that at all.

We'll have to agree to disagree - because as stated previously there was one key difference. Longford joined as part of a planned process of expanding the league. UCD joined at the last minute as the league needed to plug a gap after Cork Celtic were expelled at the end of July 1979. That is undeniably two very different sets of circumstances. The question remians as to whether or not UCD would ever have joined the league had Cork Celtic not been hoofed out at the last minute. Which, of course, we'll never know.

[pineapple stu]

That's not a key difference at all.

There league wanted a new member and a long-standing, ambitious non-league club was chosen in both cases. Still there's nothing disingenuous about that fact

Also, there was no particular reason to expand the league in two steps. More likely is that Cork/Longford were elected to replace Cork/Thurles, who had withdrawn two years earlier. They could easily have just relegated two sides in 84, elected six (including Cork and Longford) to the First Division and carried on. But why tell Cork that you're not ready to have them back in the league yet and could they wait another year? It makes more sense to get a Cork side back ASAP.

(And a proper pyramid would make even more sense, but that can be taken as read)

[nr637]

Have RTE picked a game for TV?

What would anyone's preference be?

Shels v Bohs, a tasty local Dublin derby rivalry.
Derry v Shams, probably the best two teams in the league.
Waterford v Dundalk, can the Blues follow on from their St. Pats win.
Treaty v UCD, a possible upset or not!

I

[total hoofball]

Both Derry/Rovers and Shels/Bohs are scheduled for the Sunday 18th so unlikely RTE will show those live on that day

Shels/Bohs has been moved from the usual Friday night at Tolka Park to Sunday 2pm thanks to Garth Brooks, not sure why kick off is so early and clashes with EPL games

[nigel-harps1954]

Derry v Rovers is being shown on RTE.

[brendy_éire]

Derry v Rovers is being shown on RTE.

At an annoying KO time of 5 o'clock.
Would rather it was earlier or later. Still will sell out, mind.

[Dermobohs]

Both Derry/Rovers and Shels/Bohs are scheduled for the Sunday 18th so unlikely RTE will show those live on that day

Shels/Bohs has been moved from the usual Friday night at Tolka Park to Sunday 2pm thanks to Garth Brooks, not sure why kick off is so early and clashes with EPL games

AGS decision, they won’t have anyone available as they’re all “policing “ the gig in croke pk/ they don’t want bohs and shels commoners mixing with the salt o the earth country folk exiting the event of the decade at culchie central.

[nigel-harps1954]

Seen an advert for tickets on sale for FAI Cup final in November.

Tickets starting at €20 this year. Weren't they a tenner for ages now?

[Martinho II]

Seen an advert for tickets on sale for FAI Cup final in November.

Tickets starting at €20 this year. Weren't they a tenner for ages now?

Yeah that sounds right Nigel!

[ger121]

Seen an advert for tickets on sale for FAI Cup final in November.

Tickets starting at €20 this year. Weren't they a tenner for ages now?

Could have sworn it was more than €10 last year.

[2 Year Contract]

Yeah they were €15 for adults last year

[brendy_éire]

Derry-Rovers sold out this weekend.
Haven't seen this sort of scramble for tickets in a while. Facebook is flooded with ones looking for spares.
There's even some random scammers on trying to sell tickets for ridiculous prices, often in stands that don't exist.