I'd agree with you there, but i'd really really hope it doesn't come to that. I'd like to see the associations moving with the times, i mean they actually are meant to be leading the way imo.Originally Posted by BohsFan
The FAI and eL are due to merge hopefully within two years time. When (if) that happens, then i think it'll make anything down south more mobile and easier to shuffle around.
The SFAI are the governing body for grassroots football in Ireland, not the FAI. Its success or the lack of is all down to them.
Linfield, officially, are NOT up for an A-IL.
Apologies, if already been posted.
The only Irish club to win a European trophy.
IFA and Il combined up here now and its all still a joke. Hopefully when your amalgamation goes ahead its more benificial than the s..t we have.
Nail on head, here.
I don't know what contempt the FAI has for it's senior members but I do know the IFA has thrown (almost all) it's lot in with the national side, whilst continuing to maladminister the local league. We have been allocated £8million govt. money for the sport (at all levels) but on the proviso that the IFA is re-organised root and canal.
This has been ongoing for TWO years and clubs are deprived of much needed cash whilst the suits bicker over which gravy train to de-rail.
"Times up, we've had enough". Yeah, but the loss of European places will hit the Glens hard, particularly as we qualify virtually every year (and made a tidy sum this year with minimal travelling costs to Dublin, rather than, say, Israel). Personally, I like a trip to Europe but it's a one/two game excursion and I'd much rather watch a higher standard of football each week.
The issue of national sides shouldn't be side-stepped. Feelings run deeper here than whether we play Loughgall or Bohs.
The only Irish club to win a European trophy.
Dassa, if anything it's got progressively worse because the contempt for the irish League, displayed by the new streamlined suit, was never more obvious than the ridiculous fines totalling £26k handed out to Glentoran and Linfield lst week.
Particularly after the shabby and shady way they managed the whole affair.
The only Irish club to win a European trophy.
lets face it there are no big trips around the world for free connected to IL or EL football so many within the associations just dont give a f..k. you know who were talking about.
With a much more successful team it has to be said.
Attendances seem to be up at successful clubs, down at the rest especially rural clubs. So pretty much the same as it ever was. It certainly hasn't been the great benefit that some proponates claim - has to be taken as part of more professional clubs, better players, as well as better pitches and better weather.
I was at a game in england over the weekend, and give me Saturday afternoon, 3pm kick off, winter football on crisp afternoons like that rather than summer football, but that's just me.
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
ya know i doubt it would even take that many clubs to force change, id hazard a guess that if any two of the big three up north were to back such a proposal combined with any three of shels, bohs, cork and derry the ifa and fai would be facing a serious problem..
and as regards fifa and uefa blocking it, i fail to see how they could, as was mentioned before the combination of our entitlement to dual nationality under the gfa, and the eu's restraint of trade laws suggests, to me at least, that they could be sucesfully challenged on this.
and as regards this opening the floodgates for other clubs such as celtic to join bigger leagues, surely this would be seen as an exceptional case given the political situation in this country?
or course im far from an expert on any of the aforementioned issues, and thay may well be not that simple, here but im starting to think that an AIL may not be all that difficult to achieve
arent we all just magic little monkeys...
Correct. The Linfield Chairman has denied being involved in any talks and I was at a meeting recently where he stated he was against it.
What level of success would we need to achieve in Europe to be give another UEFA place?
To make up another 20 positions in the co-efficent thing! good group stage should do the trick!!
i think northern clubs will have no option but to beg to join a sucessful southern league. There will be far more money down south, better facilites and bigger crowds and teams who can actually make group stages of the UEFA CUP / C.L.
Who would want to play in a nightmare northern ireland back water anyway
Posts like this are totally unhelpful. It seems to be that both leagues need each other. The facilities in both leagues I would say leave a lot to be desired with Windsor and Mourneview a match for any EL stadium. In recent years the EL grounds that I have been at are minimal (Derry City, Longford, Tolka and Dalymount but in the past I have been at Sligo, Dundalk, Finn Harps and Athlone Town. Tolka looks decent but some of the facilities there are awful. When we were there the toilets were a disgrace so I certainly do not think that EL league clubs can claim much superiority with facilities.
A few years ago, the big teams in Europe wnated more chances to play each other and rake in cash, but no one wanted to lose out on their existing markets....hence the revamped European Cup/Champions League system. This more or less guarantees the big teams some mini league football in the autumn and then a few more games after Xmas. Lots of tv exposure and lots of cash.
Would it surprise anyone to see the Setanta Cup extended to include a league format, while preserving the existing doemstic leagues. Include more teams and play mid-week over several months from Jan-June or whatever suits. Maybe have the league section in Autumn and play offs in Feb-March? That way, we get our AI league, we retain Eurpean spots and the clubs get more cash.
Should please everyone and that's what I expect to see happening.
I would agree that this would probably be the next step and something that I would expect to happen in the next couple of years.
what you on about bohsfan ? Give it a few years and you would have no facilites if it werent for the government money and shels offering a ground share with you lot. The amount of money you were spending on players wages and yet couldnt afford it.
By right Shels should move to Abbotstown or Lissadel since the Metro will be operating there in the next 6 years. That gives us enough time to save up , get planning permission, build the stadium and move in. We could concentrate on growing our fan base there liek what the Shams are doing..
thats off topic though. The fact of the matter is that the northern irish teams are vastly inferior both technically and physically to the EL sides. Everyone knows Shels gave Linfield the Setanta Cup last year out of good will. It was a sop to the northerns to get them intrested.
If any of those clubs like Glentoran, Linfield etc joined the EL they would be mid table at best and probably fighting relegation
I look forward to seeing if anyone bites for you on this one....
I'm happy to take a bite on this one myself. If any of the 'big' clubs in the south should be worried about their future in an all-island league, it's Shels !
Linfield and Glens have very big active, passive and potential fan bases. You can hardly scrape 1,800 for your first home game of the new season against the Northern Irish Champions, ffs !
Once playing in a league with greater competition and more money available, the inherent strengths of teams like Linfield and Glentoran will propel them to the fore. The inherent weaknesses of teams like Shels (namely a low fanbase) will see them pushed down the pecking order by the bigger clubs...
But the Bohs merger will be nearly complete soon so that should raise the attendance a bit though yeah !?!
The SFAI are the governing body for grassroots football in Ireland, not the FAI. Its success or the lack of is all down to them.
rodger, there are two clubs in the "northern backwater" with away followings EVERY EL club chairman / treasurer would happily embrace.
The only Irish club to win a European trophy.
Yeah, possibly (in our case, at the mo, definitely).
But only for a few seasons at best.
After that, order restored
The only Irish club to win a European trophy.
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