Eircom League/Irish Football Magazine

**GroundFootball** · 03/05/2006, 2:12 AM

Hi there guys this is a short post to inform you that there is a new Irish football magazine coming together. It is due out in early June and will cover all things Irish and football. It will be monthly thereafter an it'll be called Ground-football by the way.

The project is coming together and the layout and sections are mostly confirmed but if you guy's have any suggestions they are welcome.

We are also looking for contributors of articles so if any of you guys are interested and feel you have something of interest to contribute, like historical facts an tidbits about clubs/games/the league, feel free.

There are few sections which we'll need contributions from you guys for, details to follow and there will be a few competitions and stuff as well.

Well what are your thoughts???....

**Dodge** · 03/05/2006, 9:09 AM

Best of luck. I reckon there's a niche market there for you.

My suggestion would be to concentrate on the league (as opposed to international football) as that is covered extensively elsewhere. Also try to be grown up about it (Think 4-4-2 rather than Shoot!)

**John83** · 03/05/2006, 10:32 AM

Best of luck. A few of us at UCD considered this a number of times, but it didn't seem financially viable. Let me know if you need anything I can help with.

**Magicme** · 03/05/2006, 10:42 AM

Consider selling it at the various eL grounds....am sure the merchandising officers wont mind carrying a few copies each month if it is promoting the clubs.

**GroundFootball** · 03/05/2006, 11:49 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

Best of luck. I reckon there's a niche market there for you.

My suggestion would be to concentrate on the league (as opposed to international football) as that is covered extensively elsewhere. Also try to be grown up about it (Think 4-4-2 rather than Shoot!)

2 excellent suggestions Dodge both of which are (thankully) already our aims. It's th market we're aiming for exactly and it' good to know that we re in tune with customers.. ahem I mean fans!

Originally Posted by Magicme

Consider selling it at the various eL grounds....am sure the merchandising officers wont mind carrying a few copies each month if it is promoting the clubs.

Great moinds think alike!!! This is something we have already contacted a number of clubs about! We were thinking that it would also provide another revenue stream ffor the clubs. They would keep the percentage that would normally go to a newsagent etc.

I'll be posting details of a competition called RED CARD on here soon.
Basically it's a section on who deserves a "red card" in Irish football or indeed in wider football and why. To win the prize It needs to have a good/funny justification and needs to be a decent length (200 words at least longer is better) there will be a section for short funny reponses as well, no prize though. So get your thinking caps on! I'll get the details up as soon as possible.

**hoops1** · 03/05/2006, 11:58 AM

Make sure you have all your facts 100% right
becasue every EL fan knows everything about there team and the league
And will pick up on every lttle mistake however unimportant.
Try to cover all teams equally if there is any hint its covering one team
more than another it will be seen as there magazine and fans wont buy it
Good Luck

**Block G Raptor** · 03/05/2006, 12:04 PM

Great stuff stick me down for a subscription. About time there was a dedicated Eircom league Magazine. who knows maybe we'll get a panini Sticker album someday

Fair play lads all the best with it

**GroundFootball** · 03/05/2006, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by hoops1

Make sure you have all your facts 100% right
becasue every EL fan knows everything about there team and the league
And will pick up on every lttle mistake however unimportant.
Try to cover all teams equally if there is any hint its covering one team
more than another it will be seen as there magazine and fans wont buy it
Good Luck

It will cover every team equally but realistically we can't do them all at once. We'll be doing a profile on a club from each division every month. We're starting with Cork City as they're the League champions and Shamrock Rovers as they're relegation is such a big story.

Any historical facts/information we'll try to get double-checked by the clubs or other interested parties.

**A face** · 03/05/2006, 12:47 PM

PM sent with a few idea !!

**Dee75** · 03/05/2006, 12:50 PM

As part of your club focus you should get a submission from a fan on what it's like to follow the club. Maybe focus on a supporters club.

**pineapple stu** · 03/05/2006, 1:00 PM

Originally Posted by Dee75

As part of your club focus you should get a submission from a fan on what it's like to follow the club. Maybe focus on a supporters club.

Fanzines should get a bit of a mention there too. A good few fanzines around - a column on each would keep you going for six months anyway.

**Krstic** · 03/05/2006, 1:30 PM

Originally Posted by hoops1

Make sure you have all your facts 100% right
becasue every EL fan knows everything about there team and the league
And will pick up on every lttle mistake however unimportant.
Try to cover all teams equally if there is any hint its covering one team
more than another it will be seen as there magazine and fans wont buy it
Good Luck

But never worry about spelling and grammar

**Raheny Red** · 03/05/2006, 1:31 PM

So the Red Card comp. we all know who will win that one

**hamish** · 03/05/2006, 1:48 PM

Way to go - sign me up - how much??

**GroundFootball** · 03/05/2006, 1:49 PM

Originally Posted by Dee75

As part of your club focus you should get a submission from a fan on what it's like to follow the club. Maybe focus on a supporters club.

Already ahead of you there Dee75, but again it's great to hear we're in tune.
Also going to do a section Fans memories of Pivotal matches from the fans point of view (i.e. it may not have been pivotal for the club but is on a personal level to that particular fan)

**hoops1** · 03/05/2006, 2:04 PM

some are better at the Queens English than others

**Krstic** · 03/05/2006, 2:09 PM

Originally Posted by hoops1

some are better at the Queens English than others

"2Shay"

**Dodge** · 03/05/2006, 2:19 PM

I'd advise against going down the road of club focus. Would give me the impression of a periodical rather than a magazine. LAso doing a story on ROvers being relegated was up to date ilast november. You might get away with a thing on "life in the first division" but you should talk about how other big clubs are doing there (Dundalk)

Basically don't have a set format for each month. Unless its a news round up thing a the start of mag like pretty much every magazione in the world. If you're doing player features do proper interviews, don't do "favourite goal/music/tv" rubbish. Give Paul Osam a monthly comment. He's a football and comedic genius.

I presume you've seen the previous Irish football mags? Irish Soccer magazine was good but a little uptight. Kickin was rubbihs ans aimed at shoot readers. 11-a-side was from a GAA background and went down the formatted route witha club focus and player in profile lark. It got real boring, real quick. Remember there's only 22 clubs out there so spread them round.

**A face** · 03/05/2006, 2:58 PM

Originally Posted by Dodge

I presume you've seen the previous Irish football mags? Irish Soccer magazine was good but a little uptight. Kickin was rubbihs ans aimed at shoot readers. 11-a-side was from a GAA background and went down the formatted route witha club focus and player in profile lark. It got real boring, real quick. Remember there's only 22 clubs out there so spread them round.

Other mags recently ... 'Munster Football' and 'Spotter' .... Spotter looked the part and had some great columns and pieces in it.

Actually if it were something like spotter, then it would kick �ss .... really really was well done. It was advertising that left them down.