Athlone announce "strategic partnership" with Valeo FC

[culloty82]

Unlike Kerry's relationship with Boston, where the latter provided financial backing, but largely left the administration and player recruitment in local hands, Valeo appear to have attracted a number of new squad members to Lissywollen:

https://www.extratime.com/articles/3...o-futbol-club/

[sbgawa]

is there still a supporter boycott going on in Athlone or has that all been sorted?

[yurt]

It looks like this club are playing a level below UPSL2. Which is really low.

I'm probably a little biased because I'm involved in it but grassroots football in the US is growing so this level mightnt be a low as most would think , or at least as low as it would have been 5/10 years ago.

But since it appears that these will act as a feeder team to Athlone it would only be a problem if there's an obligation to take a certain amount of players and they aren't up to it.

I think getting in ambitious young american players is a decent route to go down. They tend to be well technically drilled and have a great attitude towards getting better. Of course that's a huge generalisation and it's still a lottery of how well any imports will workout.

[Burnsie]

Let's see now...

• "highest levels [of football] in Ireland and Europe"
• "top of the range player development program"
• "world-class training and development environment"
• "a global football development centre of excellence"

Amazing that there would be transformative breakthrough for Irish soccer, and not so much as a press release from the FAI, never mind the Minister for Sport

[Munster Saint]

Always accentuate the positives!

• "highest levels [of football] in Ireland and Europe" - Technically accurate (though stretching it...), since they're linking up with a team that plays in one of the top two divisions in Ireland (you'll occasionally see yanks turn up at Division 3 / 4 level in the likes of Sweden).

• "top of the range player development program" - Probably talking about themselves rather than Athlone.

• "world-class training and development environment" - from their website, in relation to the Portuguese set up: "VIA players live together in the chaperoned, state-of-the-art Rio Maior High Performance Center: one of the most versatile and advanced sports complexes in Europe that caters to the most demanding footballers, clubs, and teams. The facilities boasts a 7,300 seat stadium, 4 training fields, 1 beach soccer sand pitch, 2,200 seat futsal/ indoor arena, 3 pools, 2 strength training rooms, medical, rehabilitation facilities and state of the art performance lab. It is currently the home of the Portuguese Football Federation, where they prepare their football, futsal, and beach soccer teams for the European and World Championships." so they can probably get a pass on that claim too.

• "a global football development centre of excellence" - Again probably referring to themselves, as aside from their set ups in the US and Portugal (and Irish link up) their foundation appears to have ties with Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya and Cape Verde.

If I was to guess, I'd say their core talent base is US college players and scholarship athletes from various other places who have made it into the US colleges system. The rest of the setup appears to be a broad based academy system with some work in disadvantaged areas to supplement it. Athlone's goal scorer in the first two games of the season, Jamar Campion-Hinds is listed on their staff page, so must have been involved up until recently. I believe Matthew Leal's parents may also be involved in some way too. I think it's fair to be cautiously optimistic that Athlone could benefit from this partnership.

[Burnsie]

Always accentuate the positives!

• "highest levels [of football] in Ireland and Europe" - Technically accurate (though stretching it...), since they're linking up with a team that plays in one of the top two divisions in Ireland (you'll occasionally see yanks turn up at Division 3 / 4 level in the likes of Sweden).

• "top of the range player development program" - Probably talking about themselves rather than Athlone.

• "world-class training and development environment" - from their website, in relation to the Portuguese set up: "VIA players live together in the chaperoned, state-of-the-art Rio Maior High Performance Center: one of the most versatile and advanced sports complexes in Europe that caters to the most demanding footballers, clubs, and teams. The facilities boasts a 7,300 seat stadium, 4 training fields, 1 beach soccer sand pitch, 2,200 seat futsal/ indoor arena, 3 pools, 2 strength training rooms, medical, rehabilitation facilities and state of the art performance lab. It is currently the home of the Portuguese Football Federation, where they prepare their football, futsal, and beach soccer teams for the European and World Championships." so they can probably get a pass on that claim too.

• "a global football development centre of excellence" - Again probably referring to themselves, as aside from their set ups in the US and Portugal (and Irish link up) their foundation appears to have ties with Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya and Cape Verde.

If I was to guess, I'd say their core talent base is US college players and scholarship athletes from various other places who have made it into the US colleges system. The rest of the setup appears to be a broad based academy system with some work in disadvantaged areas to supplement it. Athlone's goal scorer in the first two games of the season, Jamar Campion-Hinds is listed on their staff page, so must have been involved up until recently. I believe Matthew Leal's parents may also be involved in some way too. I think it's fair to be cautiously optimistic that Athlone could benefit from this partnership.

"Leal" sounds familiar..... there's definitely a bang of Irish Sea FC off the whole thing. The same crowd that didn't get beyond running a twitter account and still made an absolute show of themselves.

[Battery Rover]

"Leal" sounds familiar..... there's definitely a bang of Irish Sea FC off the whole thing. The same crowd that didn't get beyond running a twitter account and still made an absolute show of themselves.

Probably a tie in with Irish Sea FC as Patrick Leal was a Valeo FC player before he moved to play with Venezia in Italian leagues. I did read somewhere that Irish Sea FC had ties to Porrugal as well as do Valeo.

[joey B]

The Leal’s were the investors in Irish Sea FC ,they’re definitely involved I’d say….

[nigel-harps1954]

Dennis Lukens had involvement in this too, midway through last season. Presumably when this crowd started getting involved.

http://hoff.ks.ua/kolyshnij-gravets-...n-afc-ireland/

[Burnsie]

I'm led to believe he was kicking other tyres up and down the First Division prior to that as well

[sidewayspasser]

Amazing that there would be transformative breakthrough for Irish soccer, and not so much as a press release from the FAI, never mind the Minister for Sport

Even Athlone themselves haven't put it up on their website or Twitter (only on FB, it seems). If it's such a big deal, shouldn't it be all over their web and social media presence?

[nigel-harps1954]

They barely have match information on their website, never mind anything else.

Genuinely the worst match night operations I've ever come across in the LOI too.

[cláirseach]

Are Athlone still a members club / co-op?

[Scrufil]

Boycott by previous fans still ongoing. Me included. Might be a new set of fans in place now.

In regards to the "oldest league of Ireland member," this is a bit of a lie as all Athlone's years have not been spent in LoI. Oldest senior level club possibly.

My niece was on the Athlone team that won the inaugural President's Cup. She lives in Athlone, so easier for her, than travelling to and from another club like she did in the past. My wife told me of the American link a few days prior to knowledge of it appearing on this site. New building is good idea. I had to look up Plant Room. I thought it was for wall flowers or pansies.

On a side note, do you think playing soccer on sand is almost the same impact as playing on an artifical surface?

[nigel-harps1954]

Boycott by previous fans still ongoing. Me included. Might be a new set of fans in place now.

In regards to the "oldest league of Ireland member," this is a bit of a lie as all Athlone's years have not been spent in LoI. Oldest senior level club possibly.

My niece was on the Athlone team that won the inaugural President's Cup. She lives in Athlone, so easier for her, than travelling to and from another club like she did in the past. My wife told me of the American link a few days prior to knowledge of it appearing on this site. New building is good idea. I had to look up Plant Room. I thought it was for wall flowers or pansies.

On a side note, do you think playing soccer on sand is almost the same impact as playing on an artifical surface?

No. There's more 'give' on a sand based pitch. To try and put it in basic terms, underneath the artificial surface is effectively hard compressed gravel. You've a couple of mm of rubber between the artificial grass and the gravel.

A sand pitch is solid, but not just as compressed, has multiple layers to it, still natural grass and much softer on the body.

[Scrufil]

Interesting, Nigel-Harps. I would have thought the artifical pitch would have had a good thick layer of sand atop the gravel. That is the way I was taught drainage ( + a second layer of sand and gravel again, with larger stones below that.) I will need to look up the process of artifical pitch laying.

[sbgawa]

Boycott by previous fans still ongoing. Me included. Might be a new set of fans in place now.

In regards to the "oldest league of Ireland member," this is a bit of a lie as all Athlone's years have not been spent in LoI. Oldest senior level club possibly.

My niece was on the Athlone team that won the inaugural President's Cup. She lives in Athlone, so easier for her, than travelling to and from another club like she did in the past. My wife told me of the American link a few days prior to knowledge of it appearing on this site. New building is good idea. I had to look up Plant Room. I thought it was for wall flowers or pansies.

On a side note, do you think playing soccer on sand is almost the same impact as playing on an artifical surface?

What is the boycott about? What needs to happen to get the people boycotting to go back?

[nigel-harps1954]

Interesting, Nigel-Harps. I would have thought the artifical pitch would have had a good thick layer of sand atop the gravel. That is the way I was taught drainage ( + a second layer of sand and gravel again, with larger stones below that.) I will need to look up the process of artifical pitch laying.

Nah, it's tightly compacted stone directly under an artificial pitch. Really sore on joints and it's why there's a completely unnatural grass bounce

[pateen]

Had a search but only 2 articles on this story in total.

Interesting to see how it pans out. Top of the league already.

[Scrufil]

The boycott is over more or less a coup by the chairman, so that Athlone is no longer a 'club belonging to the people of Athlone', think John Delaney version 2.0.1. Same man who didn't do due diligence when China betting scam took place, allegedly.