Eircom League votes on radical revamp

**gufct** · 26/01/2006, 3:30 PM

he is from Athlone not Galway.The Treasurer is from Galway but has no links with the club now and would not be very popular with a large section of our support.

Bald Student Galway are working to get everything right on and off the pitch which every other Team should be doing.Derry and Galway have done as much as humanely possible in the last 3 years to meet all the Licencing criteria and then had the FAI Fudge the licensing issue rather than enforce it strictly as they said they would.

**pineapple stu** · 26/01/2006, 3:33 PM

Originally Posted by Dodge

Rather damage them than have them killed

I agree. Preferably everyone head to the game anyway but stage a protest outside the ground. No money goes to clubs, fans stage a public, media friendly series of protests.

Originally Posted by Poor Student

I suppose the NLSA should get on it.

The NLSA are on it. Apologies for the lack of info... But - to parody your superhero-like call for help - the greatest superheroes work under this cloak of secrecy!

We'll fill people in after the AGM, I would hope. In the meantime, though, rest assured there is constructive action being taken.

**Bald Student** · 26/01/2006, 3:38 PM

Originally Posted by gufct

Bald Student Galway are working to get everything right on and off the pitch which every other Team should be doing.Derry and Galway have done as much as humanely possible in the last 3 years to meet all the Licencing criteria and then had the FAI Fudge the licensing issue rather than enforce it strictly as they said they would.

We agree on that much anyway. I've no problem with the licensing being enforced properly or with having the bar raised (at the moment the infrastructure bar is very low).

I do have a problem with a club being promoted or relegated on the basis of 'potenital support' or 'marketability', they're but psudonems for geography.

**Speranza** · 26/01/2006, 3:47 PM

With this being such a confusing proposal it has taken me two days to realise that the motion is an admission by the el/FAI that the licencing was a total shambles which was fudged to keep the league afloat.

WHy not ressurect the licencing but implement it seriously this time. IMO the new proposal offers more scope for the FAI to act on ideas they have had for a long long time i.e Ground Sharing in Dublin than the UEFA licencing ever did. That's why they will move heaven and earth to pass it on Saturday.

**pineapple stu** · 26/01/2006, 4:21 PM

Originally Posted by Speranza

IMO the new proposal offers more scope for the FAI to act on ideas they have had for a long long time i.e Ground Sharing in Dublin than the UEFA licencing ever did.

Do the FAI stand to gain if anyone sells their ground, I wonder?

**Passive** · 26/01/2006, 4:43 PM

I can understand people being concerned about these proposals but some comments here are ridiculous. Pineapple Stu, you claim to be happy that the EL is "the 27th best league in Europe". Are you joking me? That's a farcical statistic and shows exactly why we are in need of radical change.

BohDiddley made a similar comment about Genesis being wrong when they said the EL is dead. Dead might be going a bit far but it certainly is dying. Crowds are appalling bad and show no signs of increasing, stadiums are health hazards and clubs are being run as efficiently as Afghanistan under the Taliban. Anyone who thinks this league is in a remotely healthy state needs their heads examined. I've been going week-in, week-out for fifteen years and I would defend domestic football until I'm blue in the face, but even I can see what a joke it is.

The fact is that domestic football is a joke because we made it a joke. Clubs get Eur1 at the turnstiles and promise the next average footballer they can find Eur2 in wages. Then they either fail to pay him his Eur2 or else don't pay tax on it and give him under the counter top-ups whenever they can. Meanwhile, their crowds are falling and their stadiums - when the exist - are crumbling.

I don't know the detail of what the FAI are proposing - nor, incidentally, does anyone else, most of this thread is textbook internet waffle - but I agree with them when they say that things have to change. That's not to say I will support what they propose, in fact I'm pretty sure they will ruin it all by making one sensible suggestion and three absolutely crazy ones, but I'm very open to listening. I can't stand the FAI and I don't trust a single breathing soul inside Merrion Square but claiming that the EL is doing grand because it is the 27th best league in Europe is just insane.

**Magicme** · 26/01/2006, 4:47 PM

Passive not everyone here is as in the dark as you think.

**Bald Student** · 26/01/2006, 5:54 PM

Originally Posted by Passive

The fact is that domestic football is a joke because we made it a joke. Clubs get Eur1 at the turnstiles and promise the next average footballer they can find Eur2 in wages. Then they either fail to pay him his Eur2 or else don't pay tax on it and give him under the counter top-ups whenever they can. Meanwhile, their crowds are falling and their stadiums - when the exist - are crumbling.

Agreed,
You, me and pretty much everyone else involved with eL football can identify the problems in the league pretty easily. These problems should be fixed. The licensing was brought in to fix them but was fudged.

Aboloshing relegation for a season or shuffeling the league positions won't make any difference to the problems in the league.

**Passive** · 26/01/2006, 6:06 PM

Originally Posted by Magicme

Passive not everyone here is as in the dark as you think.

I know that there are a lot of people on here who are very involved in their clubs and do know what is going on, just as there are many who haven't got the slightest idea of what is going on.

I just don't like the 'sure everything's grand' attitude because, quite clearly, it is not.

**Magicme** · 26/01/2006, 7:05 PM

Originally Posted by Passive

I know that there are a lot of people on here who are very involved in their clubs and do know what is going on, just as there are many who haven't got the slightest idea of what is going on.

I just don't like the 'sure everything's grand' attitude because, quite clearly, it is not.

Totally agree....

**pineapple stu** · 26/01/2006, 8:43 PM

Originally Posted by Passive

Pineapple Stu, you claim to be happy that the EL is "the 27th best league in Europe". Are you joking me? That's a farcical statistic and shows exactly why we are in need of radical change.

I can't find that exact quote now - you might post it up so I can get the context. However, given that we're usually around 40th, yes, I am happy with the league being ranked 27th this season. It's a huge improvement and shows that the league is moving forward. Obviously I don't see that as the limit of the league's ambitions, but you have to be happy with the progress.

I should add that I intensely dislike statements such as the one above which take a fact and attach a meaning to it which is does not warrant and which does not stand up to any sort of scrutiny (i.e. the eL has had its most successful season even in Europe - we must be utterly p!ssed off with that and should change everything). I humbly suggest you re-evaluate where the league is in the greater scheme of things and acknowledge that progress such as we've had in the last two or three years shows that no major changs are necessary.

With regards your point about clubs overspending, stadia being cr@p, etc., of course I don't like it. I have never for one second argued that clubs shouldn't strive to improve. That's what UEFA Licencing is for. It's not the clubs' fault the FAI are f*cking it up (or maybe it is), but the solution isn't to take good teams and relegate them so we can promote teams who are supposedly bigger but have never had the wherewithal to capitalise on their potential. The 12 teams in the Premier are, by definition, the biggest and best-run in the country (not necessarily together), and that by definition is the best combination for the Premier Division and the league. To ask these clubs to re-apply is ridiculous. The clear intention - yes, you have to read between the lines to see this, but it is there - is that the FAI want clubs to reapply so they can cherrypick the teams. That is not sport. That's politics and backstabbing and is why I'm so opposed to the whole plan.

**Speranza** · 26/01/2006, 9:01 PM

Looks like Bohs fans have accepted they won't be part of this and have gone begging

http://www.irishleagueforums.net/for...ad.php?t=50342

**pineapple stu** · 26/01/2006, 9:05 PM

Not the only ones!

**Poor Student** · 26/01/2006, 9:07 PM

You know that might not be a bad idea for any disillusioned clubs as a final desperate measure. You'd probably find it not viable by UEFA but Bohs could argue that they are returning to their original association.

**pineapple stu** · 26/01/2006, 9:09 PM

Well, I made the point that if clubs are barred from entering their own league by their own association...

UCD won an IFA Intermediate Cup back in 1915, so we were involved too. Could be a goer as well!

**REVIP** · 26/01/2006, 9:36 PM

Originally Posted by Poor Student

Bohs could argue that they are returning to their original association.

When did the split take place?

I tried to find out the background one time and couldn't find much information.

Was it purely political?

**dcfc_1928** · 26/01/2006, 10:24 PM

Earlier tonight, Derry City's Jim Roddy and Gerry McDermott (Indo) took part in a discussion on the proposed League formats on BBC Radio Foyle.

You can listen at this link:

http://www.derrycityfc.net/audio/leaguedebate_foyle.mp3

I had to edit it slightly, as the streaming audio from the Radio Foyle website really screwed up at times - making the conversation inaudible.

**Roverstillidie** · 26/01/2006, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Speranza

Looks like Bohs fans have accepted they won't be part of this and have gone begging

http://www.irishleagueforums.net/for...ad.php?t=50342

interesting thats in the linfield section, not the general IL bit....

not loyalist bretheren at all

**A face** · 26/01/2006, 11:13 PM

To be honest ... the way the FAI are approaching this one, i'd wouldnt mind joining up either. The plans (from what i gather) by the FAI are very radical and once they start, they is NO going back. If it doesn't work out then what'll happen then, where will the FAI stand on the whole thing then ?

Why is it the clubs have to fork out/be put out ..... why cant the FAI sort out a proper policy on players leaving the island?

Why haven't they looked at other leagues that reformed successfully ??

**BohDiddley** · 27/01/2006, 9:23 AM

Originally Posted by Passive

BohDiddley made a similar comment about Genesis being wrong when they said the EL is dead. Dead might be going a bit far but it certainly is dying. Crowds are appalling bad and show no signs of increasing, stadiums are health hazards and clubs are being run as efficiently as Afghanistan under the Taliban. Anyone who thinks this league is in a remotely healthy state needs their heads examined. I've been going week-in, week-out for fifteen years and I would defend domestic football until I'm blue in the face, but even I can see what a joke it is.

Fair point Passive. I confess that I do not have the figures to hand to show that, despite all the gloom and doom, EL attendances have bottomed out and are starting to recover. Maybe I imagined it, but I thought such data came from none other than FAI three or four months back. If anyone can remember it -- there was a thread here about it -- feel free to link to it.
That said, the figures in Genesis have been discredited, and all of this flows from that document.
No one is arguing that the patient doesn't need help. My point is that, at least in Dublin, the cure, which it seems is effectively amputation, runs a serious risk of being worse than the illness, yet no one is questioning that.
I'm sorry I'm 'only' writing this on the Internet, and that that's not good enough for you. If you like, I'll write it out with a quill on a nice bit of vellum, and post it to your club's home address.