Secret All-Ireland League talks to resume
Secret talks on an All-Ireland League will restart on Tuesday if Derry City’s historic clash with Linfield passes off peacefully.
Preliminary discussions were held in December between some of the biggest clubs in Ireland though those talks were shelved until now because all the clubs wanted to see would there be any trouble during the Setanta Sports Cup.
So far, there has been no problems with Derry visiting Linfield for the first time in 35 years for a competitive game passing without incident and now Monday’s return is being seen as the litmus test for an All-Ireland League.
*Got this from Bohs board, so i dont know where it is from originally*
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.
Well a decently run All-Ireland League is preferable to a cherry picked FAIreland Eircom Premier Division League where incompetently run clubs with poor teams get elevated to the top flight purely on the basis of location and I exclude Cork City from that for the record.
A big thumbs up
I've been really impressed by the Setanta.
Some good clubs with good stadiums up there.
I'm all for it.
Richardson said lately that there's a few people against the idea up North but that he would expect that to change over the next couple of years.
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 am not optimistic that Irish League teams will join an All-Ireland League. They seem to feel have to move to fulltime status & maybe only Linfield & Glentoran would be willing to change...
OFFICIALLY, Linfield are not supporting an All-Ireland league (an extension of the Setanta Cup, maybe). My own club are more cosied up to the idea, partly accelerated by the IFA's shabby treatment of GFC, post 'Kilmartingate' (02/03) and post-23/4/05.Originally Posted by pete
The only Irish club to win a European trophy.
Must be bad if ye willing to talk to our own idiots here...
To be fair, I expect the proposed 'weeding-out' of clubs to happen - whether there's an all-island league or not.
In fact - some might say the Genesis-endorseed weeding out is part and parcel of the gradual move to an AIL.
Any process that ignores on the field achievement and League table positions has no credibility. And if it becomes impossible for any club not included in year 1 to aspire to get into it in future years that just compounds the problem!
From what I've heard, an all-Ireland league would only include Linfield and Glentoran; maybe Portadown. The rest would be left to die. The big clubs talking money again with no care about anyone other than themselves. Our own little G14.
Speaking of which, a very interesting comment from the UEFA Congress during the week where they passed a resolution saying -
This was about the G14, but doesn't mention them specifically, so it can apply to any association or club under UEFA's arm. Sounds like a legal challenge against any sort of invitational breakaway league (or "weeding-out", if you want), north or south. I don't know what sort of sanctions UEFA could or would issue though.
Ideally if there were an AIL, it would be what a majority of the stakeholders want in both leagues and both parties work together for the benfit of ALL clubs. The cherrypicking isnt the way to go imo.
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.
Why do people seem so willing to join an AIL. The same apathy will exist nation-wide as the novelty will not spread beyond those who already attend LoI and IL games. Just look at the pitiful attendance at the Oval on Monday night for how things would end up.
"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
I think any All Ireland league would need to be maybe no more than 10-12 team league & be a lot more than just adding a few IL sides to existing eL Premier. Would need a massive relaunch of with
- tv deal (weekly Setanta Sports live ),
- big name sponsor (willing to link product to the league)
- addition of better players (maybe league paying wages of big name player parachuted into each team)
- professional run media campaign & website advertising...
Its debatable what IL sides would really bring to the league if only going to be 2-3 of them.
The new FAI eL Premier SuperLeague will come first anyway & if thats successful maybe won't be huge demand for extra IL sides...
Good to see these talks are being kept secret.
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
An AIL cannot happen without political unity.
KOH
...you know that is complete ********, all other sports are unified why not soccer. Lets keep politics out of it..& lets have some quality soccer on this island
What the feck ?!?!?!
Care to explain why ??
To be honest .... i think they should be kept seperate to be fair.
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.
How can these talks be secret if everyone knows about them?
Lads we already have an All-Ireland league, Derry are fron Northern Ireland the rest from the Republic.
We don't need them, they don't want us.
So lets move on and make our own All-Ireland league bigger and better.
rubbish
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