Article in Financial Times

[Stuttgart88]

Just as I said. Maybe it's not for you but I wasn't going to break the Tolka boycott and I developed an affection for UCD while I studied there. It wasn't always in the same league either as I watched UCD playing in the colleges leagues on Wednesdays or whenever it was.

I think dismissing this is churlish and isn't it better to support two rather than none?

[Billsthoughts]

there is no guarantee any Irish Franchise in whatever form would be successful.
what crowds do chaunnacht get?
-the main problems here is there is no culture of attending games on a regular basis.
-there are no irish businessmen investing in domestic football. (the sunderland thing was a disgrace)
-People have bought into myths concerning the eircom league which dont square with the modern day reality as a way of justifying their laziness of not attending games.
-Ollie Byrne gets media coverage.
-the too many clubs in dublin thing is another myth. so let me get this straight? because of the abundance of choice the would be football fan chooses not to watch anyone due to fact he doesnt want to hurt anyones feelings?
anyways with dublin traffic the way it is inchicore and drumcondra may as well be in different continents.

I went to dublin v donegal years ago in croker with its lovely stadium and 80000 crowd and went to pats v rovers afterwards up in tolka and there was way more atmosphere at the second game.

My mate always harks back to the one nil v brazil in 87. 20 odd thousand which he says is probably the core Irish fan base that will go if results go back to the way they were pre charlton. and thats the national team.

The Fai and government should be looking to help the clubs anyways they can. the sad thing is that delaney and our taoiseach probably thing more on the lines of Irishfan and stuttgart88(sorry your posts on this thread have been awful ) than any of the people who actually put their money were their mouth is and go and support football here.

[Stuttgart88]

Stuttgart as a dormant Rovers fan could we interest you in joining the SRFC Members Club? We have lots of english based members as well as from other European countries.

You know it makes sense as it's only £7 a week and it means you would be a part owner of the club.


KOH

I wouldn't rule it out. I got all nostalgic watching the FAI Cup semi final live on RTE's website!

[Stuttgart88]

there is no guarantee any Irish Franchise in whatever form would be successful.

Agree

(the sunderland thing was a disgrace)

Agree

stuttgart88(sorry your posts on this thread have been awful

Suggesting that change may just make the game better attended and more self-sustaining and able to keep our better players at home?

I don't know the answers and I'm happy to take on board the responses. As I said, I'm not saying I'm the oracle but I agree with what Marcotti wrote and think some application to Ireland makes sense in theory.

By the way, the eL team's improved standing in Europe has not gone unnoticed by me. Long may it continue. If the current steady improvement is all that it takes then so be it, a large slice of humble pie this way please. Maybe a combination of Bohs' windfall and a team actually making the UEFA Cup or CL group stages is all it'll take to kick things off a bit, but I can't change my lifelong conviction that football in Ireland is too localised and fragmented to have mass appeal.

[Real ale Madrid]

but the national team means something a lot more to me.

Ok Stuttgart. You have a passion for the national team.

Someone comes along in the morning and decides to scrap international football or better still only allows countries with populations of ten million or more participate in future international competition. His/Her justification for this move would be “well I know small countries like Ireland are not keen on this but hey they are not that numerous anyway”

Ridiculous isn’t it?

All this talk of provincial teams and Irish teams in the premiership is so much pie in the sky its not funny. Develop what we have and make it work. Don’t discard it for a few quid in the premiership. It will mean all the more after if we can be successful.

Football is a game first and a business second. Let the English clubs sell their souls if they want to. Lets develop and fund the game here so we can produce our own talent and not rely England or some pie-in-the-sky provincial set-up to do it for us.

[NY Hoop]

I wouldn't rule it out. I got all nostalgic watching the FAI Cup semi final live on RTE's website!

Good man. Email membership@shamrockrovers.ie for further info.

Thanks

[Stuttgart88]

Real Ale, I've never advocated anything like an Irish club in the premiership.

I'd just love to see Irish clubs or teams playing regularly at a standard that players with international aspirations are happy to play in and that Irish people are prepared to support in bigger numbers than they do already.

[Real ale Madrid]

I'd just love to see Irish clubs or teams playing regularly at a standard that players with international aspirations are happy to play in and that Irish people are prepared to support in bigger numbers than they do already.

Me too! Inventing another level of competition wont do that. Why cant everyone who claims to "love" the game get out and support an Irish team? We have seen improvements in the past 3/4 years in the league here why don't poeple row in behind that and give the game here the support it deserves - then your vision above will become a reality. We get 33,000 every international minimum at home. If 33,000 was the cumulative figure for attendances each week in the league - we would have a team or two in the champions league every year. anyway i'm going back over old ground now - i think you get what i'm saying

[Dazzy]

Sweden manage to keep the majority of their talent within their country until a good age, and you can see the success they've had as a result by qualifying for major tournaments on a consistent basis, and having clubs compete in the UEFA Cup group stages regularly.

They did good this year

You know how many people attended the Swedish Cup final recently? just over 3,000.

[galwayhoop]

Real Ale, I've never advocated anything like an Irish club in the premiership.

and i personally think that the idea is disgusting also.

however i think your original point has been lost on this thread - what i thought you were saying was the rugby model has actually proved successiful in it's own way so should the soccer people look at it as another option as the current set up is not self sustainable in the long run.

dublin city = folded
limerick = in dire straits
shels = cant even pay the tax man never mind their players.

we at least have to open our minds to other possibilities don't we - a lot of people on this forum refer to the GAA as bigoted and stubborn but their own 'absolutely no change stance' is reminisent of the 'no surrender' brigade up yonder never mind the GAA.

i am an eL suppporter - i attend my local club for all home games - it is plain to me that the public is not going to get behind the league in it's current guise so i accept that there needs to be a change of sorts - am i alone?

[bennocelt]

There aren't "dormant" fans out there, it's a myth. As Dodge and others have pointed out, Irish people will only watch winners and even then they get bored quickly.

Trying to appeal to the bandwagon, day-trippers is a Dublin Dons sized recipe for disaster. I've watched Leinster play in front of 4,000 and 40,000 in the last couple of years. Shels have played in front of similiar different sized crowds in the space of a week.

Bottom line is that eL fans are the only week-in-week-out fans in Ireland. We have, for want of a better phrase, an English attitude to supporting our teams - ie. we go all the time. And for that we get derision from barstoolers, bogballers and the media. How typically Irish is that?

KOH

i agree, all this fancyful notions of euroleagues, what a load of tripe
just look at the disaster that is the Uefa cup league system, its clearly overkill
we have a league that we should be proud of, but the irish public would rather support a british team over an irish team anyday of the week, and then they boo the england team!
if there was a super dub team, i still think the sad saps would be travelling in their droves to old trafford etc every week
saw a tricolour in stamford bridge the other day, what a ****!

[cavan_fan]

There was an article in When Saturday Comes this month about how the UEFA cup is a more exciting competition than the Champions League at the moment (with viewing figures around Europe which arent that different).

All that's needed is for a few EL clubs to get into the UEFA group stages. This is within touching distance now and I cant help feeling that a few million pounds invested in a couple of clubs would get them there over the next 3/4 years. If Shelbourne were able to bring e.g. Graham Kavanagh in for a few seasons I think they (or Derry, Cork ...) could make it through.

I think this would kick start what would become a virtuous circle. We dont need a root and branch overhaul just as the League is beginning to turn the corner. What is true unfortunately is that if we are to have Irish clubs succeed at a European level then the ineviatbale consequence is a huge level of disparity between clubs in the League. The best case for Ireland is 2 teams competing in UEFA Cup Group stages/Champions League. I guess if you're a Sligo Rovers fan this doesnt sound a great prospect.

[NY Hoop]

They did good this year

You know how many people attended the Swedish Cup final recently? just over 3,000.

And that's with Henrik Larsson playing. However they are light years ahead of us off the field and their fans support their clubs unlike here. I love Sweden!

KOH

[NeilMcD]

Great thread so far, makes great reading and fair play to all that have posted as it has made fascinating and informative reading.

[Dazzy]

And that's with Henrik Larsson playing. However they are light years ahead of us off the field and their fans support their clubs unlike here. I love Sweden!

KOH

Their league attracts huge numbers of fans, some of them derbies look good. Pity IFK only had 3,000 out for a uefa cup tie.

[Stuttgart88]

All that's needed is for a few EL clubs to get into the UEFA group stages. This is within touching distance now and I cant help feeling that a few million pounds invested in a couple of clubs would get them there over the next 3/4 years. If Shelbourne were able to bring e.g. Graham Kavanagh in for a few seasons I think they (or Derry, Cork ...) could make it through.

I think this would kick start what would become a virtuous circle. We dont need a root and branch overhaul just as the League is beginning to turn the corner.

I think that's a fair point.

[pineapple stu]

I'd love the Eircom League to be successful, and well supported by the Irish people, but it simply isn't happening, and thus realistic (if radical) alternatives need to be looked at if football in the country is to improve.

Ah, the good aul chestnut. I'd love to support a successful eL, but won't be bothered doing anything to make it successful. It'll just have to get that way on its own.

the current set up is not self sustainable in the long run.

dublin city = folded
limerick = in dire straits
shels = cant even pay the tax man never mind their players.

Just because some clubs have incompentent and idiotic officials who are let run riot by a governing body who don't care doesn't mean that the league isn't sustainable. If it were run properly, it's quite possible it'd improve to sustainability. Let's fix the problems with the current format before proposing huge and radical changes which would only pi$$ off everyone currently involved in the game.