How's this going to work? The new format allows for a top non-league side to challenge the bottom First Division team. Raises some interesting questions...
(a) Who decides this team? Do random clubs apply and whoever finished higher in the regional senior league gets chosen? How do you judge 5th in the LSL and 5th in the MSL?
(b) Will anybody take this up? There were no applications for membership to the league at the AGM. This is nothing new. It'll be even more awkward to move from non-league to league with the seasons running at different times. Will one team gain an advantage due to timings? (e.g. league team tired after a long season while the non-league side is just starting its season).
(c) If the non-league side wins, do they then pull out of their league, which they'd have already started? What happens the league team - are they to be left without a game until the new non-league season starts the following August?
I'd imagine it goes along the lines of teams applying and generally being assessed on non-sporting criteria such as stadium, finances, budgets etc.
Your last question poses something obvious which never occured to me before and I have no good answer.
That article in the Ire on Sunday disturbingly mentioned both divisions could be cut down to 10. Are two teams for the chopping block entirely?
Kildare and Home FarmOriginally Posted by Poor Student
Don't know where you got that from, but it's not there anyway.
Really? Maybe I read it wrong, it was this morning.
No i dont think so...
I read the same thing in todays news of the world paper
The statement made in the News of the World is a comment made by the writer. Note the word MAY.
The very next paragraph is Delaney stating that the FAI are not in the business of putting clubs out of business.
Regarding clubs looking to join the league Leterkenny Rovers announced that they are to sell their current ground and build a new one. They stated their ultimate goal is to join the eL.
Harps fans were genuinly nervous about this last week because it is likely Rovers will have building commenced ontheir ground before Harps do on their site in Stranorlar. There is a huge untapped market in the town that could be brought into the eL if a club were on their doorstep. Rovers for the Donegal franchise???
"The Derry fans were fantastic in both matches. They sang their hearts out all the time and created an even better atmosphere than the Cup Final. They were brilliant. - David Graham, Gretna striker
Will there be 2 teams chopped from the league then? What will happen to them?
Did the genesis report not call for a 30 team league in 2007? What happened to that?
same thing as the "further study" that genesis called for
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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Good questions. They'll need to provide clarity on this.
The fact there were no applications to join at the AGM is irrelevant. Firstly - if there are no upcoming slots available, it would be highly unlikely that a club would seek election at the expense of an existing member. The gamble involved in getting their facilities up to scratch, funding and a team in-place etc etc, with no guarantee of getting voted-in, is just far too big a risk for a junior club to take. Secondly - every single time the League has sought new members previously, it has always been able to find them. 11 new clubs have joined since 1984 - including 6 at one time in 1985/6 - and there has never been a single year where the league has had a league slot empty through lack of suitors. Therefore - why should there suddenly be a lack of interested parties now if slots were to arise ? Particularly at a time when the League is healthier than it has been in decades ? It is well known that the 2 Mullingar teams have been keen to join, with one of them actively applying for membership only 3 years ago. There were also news reports of businessmen in Letterkenny looking to have a team in the league. I have no doubt that, if the slots became available, more interested parties would surface. Historically, they have consistently done so.
This will obviously need addressing. The main issue is not one of clubs having any advantage re timings - but one of sheer synchonicity and logistics. Also - if the leagues are out of synch timing-wise, then there may also be the issue of having no timely correlation between success and participation :
1) Junior Team X wins the MSL 2004/5 title in May 2005, and makes its desire to join the EL known.
2) At end of the EL season (Dec 2005), the weakest EL team gets voted out. Team X is voted to take their place.
3) Team X would therefore have to decide when to drop-out of their 2005/6 MSL season in order to be ready for the new EL season in March 2006.
4) This would therefore leave Team X's Junior league a team short for a chunk of their year.
5) Furthermore - in the intervening period between Team X winning the MSL in May 2005, and being elected to join the EL in the middle of the following season (Dec 2005), they are no longer the best team in the MSL - and are languishing in mid-table.
In reality, Point 5 above is 'just one of those things'. Summer football creates a similar problem for us in Europe - we decide in Autumn, at the end of one season, who will represent us in Europe in the middle of the next season, in the following Summer. We've seen big slumps in league performances arise across that intervening period (e.g. Bohs, Longford, Shels).
Ascension to the senior ranks having the potential to muck-up junior league schedules will need to be ironed out somehow. If the FAI do a good job of this whole process (and we can all be cynical) then rising to Senior status will be more and more 'understandable/acceptable'. E.g. If an English Conference club was given the chance to join the Football League mid-season, I suspect their peers would understand if they accepted it. They would doubtless be jealous and miffed about the impact on their schedules, but it's be a perfectly understandable thing for the Conference club to do.
Last edited by dcfcsteve; 30/01/2006 at 1:13 AM.
Heard their current ground Leckview Park is worth €5 million which they plan to sell to devolpers and build a new Stadium.
“Jockey Wilson . . . What an athlete.” - Sid Waddell
www.donegaldarts.com
The other problem is that everyone focuses on the MSl and LSL. These are ork and Dublin leagues respectively. For example there are no MSl teasm in Limerick, Waterford or Tipperary. However, the top clubs in any of these leagues are on a par with the top in the MSL (maybe not LSL but oly because of Dublin's significantly larger catchment area). St Michael's in Tipp have fantastic facilities. Pike Rovers in Limerick also have better facilities than most MSL teams. However, these clubs are junior only becaus eof their location and the lack of an intermediate league in their area.
So, now how are the round-robin teams decided? And the FAI Cups can't really be used - surely no football person believes that the best teams win the Cup?
"It's impossible to make a man understand something when his livelihood depends on him not understanding" Upton Sinclair
The real problem is with the clubs who have been mentioned as possible applicants for this play-off. Mullingar (x2) - unnecessary surely in a league that has teams from Athlone and Longford; ditto for Letterkenny with Harps. And many of the other big clubs in non-league are based in Dublin, Limerick, Cork. Just shows the typical twisted thinking of the FAI when they would float the idea to demote/disband clubs on the grounds of "potential support", while at the same time seeking to promote even smaller clubs from small catchment areas or locations that are already well-served.
SIGNATURESCOPE
Kerry and Mayo would surely be best positioned, with their involvement in the League Cup and
their own large catchment areas.
City definetly have the best bands playing at half-time.
O'Bama - "Eerah yeah, I'd say we can alright!"
G.O'Mahoney Trapattoni'll sort ém out!!
I think Mayo are gone and from what I hear it'll be unlikely if they'll make a return. Better off trying to get one of the bigger clubs to join than a messy representative side anyway.
Ironically, Mayo should be the area best suited to produce an eL team, since they've been playing summer football for years.
I don't know what the situation is with the Kerry League but they didn't take part in the League Cup this year so they too seem to have taken a step back.
Last edited by tomsoc; 30/01/2006 at 9:43 AM.
Castlebar Celtic have a nice little ground, 400 seated stand..etc. would suit first division starting off. Gavin Dykes is manager there too along with some other former eircom league representives at the club, so surely they wouldnt have to much of a problem acclimatising to senior football?
Freudian slip?
Under NO circumstances should any club be admitted to the league for the foreseeable future. This should be obvious
Firstly we have a "club" already in the league with no fans, spiralling debts and no plans to ever have a home ground so why would the league admit entrance to another club?
Unless I cant believe its not home farm are rightly told to fcuk off and stop wasting everyones time and are replaced by a club that does not have a senior team in their county e.g. Kerry or Mayo. This new club MUST have decent facilities and potential support however.
KOH
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