A Rant!

[wws]

,........and BBC

[geysir]

Would more people watch a game on RTE2 than the same game on TG4?
I much prefer TG4's coverage.

[Dodge]

Would more people watch a game on RTE2 than the same game on TG4?

Course they would. The average football fan wouldn't even think to check if tg4 showed a game or not. sad but true

[Dave77]

Dont know where the people get the idea that this is just an Irish thing, its not. I have lived and worked as a teacher in Scotland. Most students support the big two (Celtic Rangers) or an English side. At PE the lads all wore old firm jersies (we were around 150miles from Glasgow) or liverpool and Man u shirts. Its very simple people support whats glamourous and succesful. If you support EL club what chance is there of seeing your club in TV properly (mind you thought the coverage of setanta cup with Drogs and Linfield was heading in the right direction), what chance do you have of seeing your club compete at the highest European level. NONE!

I personally love wathchin EL games, why, because I love wathching live games. the atmosphere at soccer mathches even with 2000 supporters is much better then GAA or Rugby.

another point is, a friend of mine is from KIlkenny and is a keen GAA supporter, have brought him to tolka and dalyer. two good games Shels-Bohs, Drogs-IK Start. He said and in my opinion he is correct, the grounds looked run down and it was in no way inviting. until there is money put into places like tolka, dalymount and others the league does not seem inviting.

[BohsPartisan]

another point is, a friend of mine is from KIlkenny and is a keen GAA supporter, have brought him to tolka and dalyer. two good games Shels-Bohs, Drogs-IK Start. He said and in my opinion he is correct, the grounds looked run down and it was in no way inviting. until there is money put into places like tolka, dalymount and others the league does not seem inviting.

Thats a fair point but other than Croker, most GAA grounds look rubbish too.

[Lim till i die]

Thats a fair point but other than Croker, most GAA grounds look rubbish too.

Pairc na nGael, Semple Stadium, Fitzgerald Stadium, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Nowlan Park, Pearse Stadium, Clones while lagging behind the athmosphere killing comfort of the English Premiership are still light years ahead of anything the LoI has to offer

And that's just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more

[Kingdom]

Pairc na nGael, Semple Stadium, Fitzgerald Stadium, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Nowlan Park, Pearse Stadium, Clones while lagging behind the athmosphere killing comfort of the English Premiership are still light years ahead of anything the LoI has to offer

And that's just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more

Thats the big one for me. Another reason why the thread on stadium improvements is so Important. Turners Cross looking so well is great for the league. Its disappointing that the big clubs in the league have such poor facilities, or only 1 decent side that a camera can look on. Richmond had potential to be a great little stadium but the ends make it look stupid. Dalymount should be the pride of the country. If a bit of money was spent on it potentially its a cracker. Both ends are decent enough sized and there is loads of room for developing the connaght st stand. Would you fit 20k into a fully finished Dalymount?
Even tolka is a kip.
Limeirck 37 seem to have plans for development down there in Jackman. That should help them entice new fans if they've a good little ground.

[wws]

Thats the big one for me. Another reason why the thread on stadium improvements is so Important. Turners Cross looking so well is great for the league. Its disappointing that the big clubs in the league have such poor facilities, or only 1 decent side that a camera can look on. Richmond had potential to be a great little stadium but the ends make it look stupid. Dalymount should be the pride of the country. If a bit of money was spent on it potentially its a cracker. Both ends are decent enough sized and there is loads of room for developing the connaght st stand. Would you fit 20k into a fully finished Dalymount?
Even tolka is a kip.
Limeirck 37 seem to have plans for development down there in Jackman. That should help them entice new fans if they've a good little ground.

huh?

bohs sold dalymount
they are not gonna waste millions developing it for the short term - plus they never fill a ground that had two sides - why would they need to refurbish the rest?

I take your main point though - tragedy to see dalymount go

A very interesting piece on the radio last week by a Man City fan/journo - about the devastating effect soul less new stadia are having on clubs like Man City.

Raised an interesting point that more Manchester United jersies than everton are sold to the youth of Liverpool these days - as ordinary kids are just priced out of following their local teams they just follow the popular sides on TV.

[Magicme]

Magic Me

Now that you've been in the paper and you're famous everyone will want to come along to the games

[jebus]

Think there was an article in FourFourTwo a while back where a supporter of one of the Premierhsip clubs (can't remember which) had started going to watch League Two matches because they are affordable and he needs live football in his life. He said that he was starting to get into the club (think it was Macclesfield) and was starting to consider himself a Macclesfield supporter as he never got to watch his Premiership club anymore. I think this will start happening in England more and more

[pete]

Richmond Park & Tolka look so much better on tv than live.
Dalymount is poor overall but the stand is comfortable live.
Turners Cross is better live than on tv as unfortunately the small stand is opposite the tv cameras.
United Park while poor is probably better live than on tv.

Its been said many times before but Irish sport has no history of support over a season. GAA Championship & Rugby provinicial games are not that plentiful. Maybe Football (soccer) is just the most popular sport in the country due to saturation tv coverage?

[CharlesThompson]

Richmond Park & Tolka look so much better on tv than live.
Dalymount is poor overall but the stand is comfortable live.
Turners Cross is better live than on tv as unfortunately the small stand is opposite the tv cameras.
United Park while poor is probably better live than on tv.

Its been said many times before but Irish sport has no history of support over a season. GAA Championship & Rugby provinicial games are not that plentiful. Maybe Football (soccer) is just the most popular sport in the country due to saturation tv coverage?

Pete, what's to stop Cork City from putting up a TV gantry behind the small stand we normally see on TV and have it facing the main stand for live matches at Turners Cross. With both ends now fully seated I think it would look great for the TV viewer and present a positive image to Corkonians who normally do not attend the Cross for matches?

[BohsPartisan]

Turners Cross is better live than on tv as unfortunately the small stand is opposite the tv cameras.

Thought it looked fantastic the night ye beat Derry to win the league though.

[micls]

Thought it looked fantastic the night ye beat Derry to win the league though.

Would have looked a lot better had it been facing the Donie Forde. DUnno what the story is with why its set up as it is though

[Lim till i die]

Would have looked a lot better had it been facing the Donie Forde. DUnno what the story is with why its set up as it is though

Wasn't there something about not being able to have a gantry on the "small stand" side because you wouldn't be able to get planning permission with the houses backing onto it??

[micls]

Wasn't there something about not being able to have a gantry on the "small stand" side because you wouldn't be able to get planning permission with the houses backing onto it??

Could be. Honestly don't know but that does make sense

[NY Hoop]

What I don't get is how Irish peopkle who have nevered lived in Britain or contributed to a British club can actually feel an affinity to it. The use of "we" and "us" when talking about Man Utd or Liverpool is very odd.

I think its actually more of a group mentality thing and identifying with peers more than an anti eircom league thing.

Nail on the head there. It is the sheep mentality. Why do the majority of barstoolers "support" liverpool? Because everyone else does.

Facilities would be the main reason followed by the lack of a decent tv show.

Turners Cross is now the best ground in the league and others should follow suit.

Having a Wayne's World type show on at midnight showing only some of the premier games is laughable in this day and age. I've said it before but it wont matter if you show 200 games live if there is no proper highlights programme at a proper hour weekly. Also the fact that 3 clubs in the premier do not even have a gantry for cameras shows how far we have to go. Having highlights of a game being done by some guy with a handicam in with the fans is amateur hour stuff.

An example here is the Dutch or German football on Setanta. It's a one hour show shown in the evening featuring ALL of the games.

Stupid decisions like playing on thursday nights doesnt help either.

KOH

[Sumac]

A lot of people (including me) support an English club because that is what you are exposed to when you are younger (On TV, in the paper, magazines etc). Luckily for me my father brought me to Galway United games when I was younger so I developed a love for them (And his first love is the GAA)
Because of the wall to wall coverage of the English Premiership most youngsetrs will develop a bond one of teh English clubs. At that age it doesn't make a difference whether the team is 5 miles or 500 miles down the road.
However the trick is to get these kids to EL games at least once and many will be fascinated by live football -
Also newcomers at EL games should always be felt welcome - People often slag supporters that only start going when a team is successful - Remember, you want these people to come back
Any, thats my rant over

[jebus]

People often slag supporters that only start going when a team is successful - Remember, you want these people to come back

Explains why Galway never get any new supporters anyway, the words successful and Galway never seem to meet in the same sentence, well unless your talking about buisness matters anyway

[charliesboots]

Because of the wall to wall coverage of the English Premiership most youngsetrs will develop a bond one of teh English clubs. At that age it doesn't make a difference whether the team is 5 miles or 500 miles down the road.

What's the excuse when they start thinking for themselves?

I was a Man United fan until I was about 13 or 14 and then actually realised that Manchester United didn't actually give a **** about me, that I couldn't contribute to them in any meaningful way and that there isn't really a reason to support a club in a different country who I could identify with in no way other than they were on tv every week.

However the trick is to get these kids to EL games at least once and many will be fascinated by live football -
Also newcomers at EL games should always be felt welcome - People often slag supporters that only start going when a team is successful - Remember, you want these people to come back

Agree 100% with this.