Northern teams are not inferior

[Gerrit]

Stadia tend to be slightly more crowded here in the North, but that's probably because GAA is less present. Sectarianism chased people away and unfortunately the peace process did not bring many of them back to the stadia...

In general I find grounds here slightly better, but enough nice grounds in the EL as well (I think of Cork and Shels mainly, but also Longford and Bohs could have nice arena's -- to the latter two I have one word: ROOF )



The level of play: not too much difference, though it is definitely better in the South. Linfield would be the only team up here that would compete for the champions trophy in an all-Ireland league, Glens and Portadown at this moment would not be strong enough.

[Raheny Red]

Do the Northern clubs get investments from the British Governments for the improvements of their stadia??

Originally posted by Gerrit

UCD (although Belfield has other charms)

Please explain

[Gerrit]

Well, Belfield has something unreal. It;s away from the populated world, in a hidden corner of a desolate campus without any regular housing or pubs nearby, and from the stand all you see in the background is a few student homes and auditoriums. It's a unique decor, and it's cosy. It's a bizarre ground, but in some way I like it. And UCD are my fav EL team bar Shels, UCD fans are great chaps.


Now back on-topic

AFAIK some teams may get certain funds from the UK or Northern Irish government. Not too sure which ones do. Windsor may be expanded on costs of partly IFA and government, and Linfield of course would benefit from it as well.

[Dazzy]

There is grants availiable but these are being held back, £8 million was meant to be invested into stadia in the north but investigations started into clubs finances which held it up.

Not sure if this is the case, any IL or football whores wanna correct me

[ndrog]

[QUOTE=Gerrit]Stadia tend to be slightly more crowded here in the North, but that's probably because GAA is less present.


Ouite a strange statement gaa is huge in the north.Hence armagh and tyrone winning all Irelands recently.More people still watch gaa in the north than regulerly watch IL soccer.I am refering to county matched that pull in huge crowds.

[Gerrit]

Well, yes, but that's only the Nationalist part of the country. I still have not seen any loyalist pub broadcasting GAA games... Problem is that many soccer fans here prefer Rangers, Celtic or England of course.

But on-topic: Linfield is the best side in both parts of the isle. Period. Weaker opponents yes, but even then it's amazing to score an average of 4-5 goals per game and to dominate with such an ease. They're too good for the IL and would probably have more progression possibilities in the EL (but no Linfield fan will want that ). Still, they are my bet for winning the Setanta again, and seeing what I see now (and I can compare with EL) it'd be well deserved.