well they dont but to everyone else they areOriginally Posted by red bellied
Dont think they class themselves as scousers across the river in Birkenhead
The fact that you equate supporting a football team with going to see a gig sums up the whole problem. It is indeed consumerism vs support, which is a point that has been made already. A trip to Old Trafford might as well be a night at the cinema.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
For me its an absolute passion and will continue to be!
Going over is a break from the stresses of work and life and I've made some great friends over there. I'm going over on Saturday and cannot wait!
The point I am making is for some people, in fact alot of people, football is just another pass time or a semi passion. I consider myself a Dublin GAA supporter but not in the same league as people who go home and away to League games. I like watching the Irish rugby team but wouldn't go to a club or provincial game. You cannot become passionate for all sports you follow.
However consider these issues:
1) What about people who support their League of Ireland club and an English club?
2) What about those who invest time and effort in Junior Soccer and support an English club?
3) Why not spend time promoting what's great about the LOI and ignore supporters of English/Scottish clubs?
4) Are GAA supporters better patriots? Is football/soccer a foreign game anyway? What is your view on this?
This has a slight scent of a troll about it however I actually sorta agree with point 3! I think it is better to spend our energies exalting the good things about our teams and league. We have to continue to improve facilities and increase advertising to help persuade more people that they should support their local team. I think this is much more worthwhile than trying to convince some of those that come to this thread with no wish to change their opinion on the game here at home.
Although then again why would they change their opinion? It's a forum, if they really went to have an informed opinion on the league they should be getting down to their local LOI ground and finding out what a great experience it is if only they would give it a chance.
Last edited by DSandy; 01/05/2007 at 4:31 PM.
Genuinely not trolling!
I think the LOI will improve and grow over the next few seasons and I don't see any reasons why supporters of both English football and LOI football cannot co-exist. The reality is you can't force something on people if they don't want it.
Summer football has been a great innovation although taking the GAA on head to head is difficult. The reality is football/Soccer will remain the 2nd sport and may even slip to third if Rugby keeps on growing.
Rugby has grown as far as it can IMO (reached its elasticity of demand - to borrow terminoligy from Economics).
TO TELL THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY
The ONLY foot.ie user with a type of logic named after them!
All of this has happened before. All of it will happen again.
An interesting viewpoint on this debate from the eleven-a-side.com chat centre*:
*mods - please feel free to edit if quoting the whole post is against foot.ie rules.Sunderland Not Bad For League Of Ireland?
I find it interesting that so many are seething about Sunderland getting such support at what they interpret as the expense of the League Of Ireland. However, it seems to me that Sunderland and the League Of Ireland are not competitive products. If I were running Celtic, I would be worried about what Nial Quinn and Roy Keane are putting together in Northeast England. Sunderland are competition for Irish fans who might otherwise support Celtic with their merchandise-buying euros (though I’m sure many will do both). The League Of Ireland’s position in the soccer marketplace versus the English or Scottish leagues reminds me more of the situation of Major League Baseball versus Minor League Baseball here in the USA. The minor leagues don’t take the majors head-on. They work in the grassroots, at the community level and provide a relatively cost-effective, family-friendly atmosphere. The minor leagues are hugely successful and have been making money hand-over-fist since adopting this approach. The League Of Ireland would do well to follow this formula for success (this would mean cracking down on thugs and family-oriented promotions must be a major initiative). LoI fans shouldn’t worry so much about people cheering for foreign teams. They aren’t the real competition. Gaelic Football, Hurling and other local entertainment options are the real competition for the League of Ireland. If nothing else the Sunderland/Ireland phenomenon may get more people into soccer in Ireland, which will lead the same people to want to attend a local match, and maybe that takes them to the Showgrounds in Sligo, Tolka Park in Dublin or Turner’s Cross in Cork. Maybe those people fall in love with the League Of Ireland when they get there. Sunderland’s Irish revolution may actually be an opportunity for the LoI. Threats and opportunities can be one in the same, it is just a matter of how you interpret and act on the situation. Some reading on the topic of how minor league baseball successfully marketed itself in the face of competition with larger, more glamorous leagues:
http://www.recmanagement.com/200203fe04.php
Roll on September!
Fans at Ireland games wearing Sunderland jerseys (Reg Vardy rules!)
Sunderland Tricolours hanging out of the Cusack
'Come on you boys in green' replaced by 'Haway the lads'
Jesus wept, doesn't bear thinking about.
Honest! I am not a secret Tim nor a closet Sham - I really am a Seagull.
I really hope Manchester get through to the final. It will be a pantomime in Derry. I'll bring out the camcorder for that one for everyone here. The best about it they will all be so called republicans knocking 6 bells out of each other, fighting for their rights of North West England.
As Irishmen we dilute our sense of nation by depending on the English to bring us our balls
I think the real point is that anyone who genuinely supports a club hates bandwagon-jumpers. And all those new Irish Sunderland fans are just that and it's truly pathetic.
It's not about supporting someone just cos they're Irish - if that was the case, we'd love all 22 LoI teams equally. It's about supporting your local team and all that comes with that - pride, identity, belonging, home.
Revenge for 2002
I take your point but what I'm getting at is with most sports you have the mentality of the better supporters and the better fan.
I've been involved in GAA and listened to viewpoints where soccer was the great evil, certain sections of the LOI support deride supporters of English clubs, some supporters of English clubs unfairly slag off the LOI. Basically you have certain people trying to prove and justify why they support a particular club/sport.
I respect those who support their locals clubs, give time to it and go to games. However for many others including myself my club is that bit further away, it's never going to change and all the sneering in World won't make a difference.
The concept of demand elasticity is all about demand in relation to price - nothing too do with the growth of demand in isolation. It therefore constantly changes (dependent upon price).
Trust a socialist to get that wrong.....
But rugby is price inelastic. people are willing to pay the exhorbitant cost of following big-day-out rugby. if you then drasticly reduce the prices, you might get another couple of percent of people out, but not enough to justify the price drop.The concept of demand elasticity is all about demand in relation to price - nothing too do with the growth of demand in isolation. It therefore constantly changes (dependent upon price).
Trust a socialist to get that wrong.....
Your Chairperson,
Gavin
Membership Advisory Board
"Ex Bardus , Vicis"
In reality nothing is price inelastic. Charge €1m for a ticket and see how many people go.
Relatively inelastic goods are those without a substitute - as there is no alternative. There are numerous alternatives to Irish rugby, both in and out of sport.
I just raised this as I found it amusing that a socialist was quoting economic theory - badly. Not the first time that's ever happened......
The concept of demand elasticity is all about demand in relation to price - nothing too do with the growth of demand in isolation. It therefore constantly changes (dependent upon price).
Trust a socialist to get that wrong.....
I said I was borrowing terminology, not the concept. I'm fully aware of the concept of Price Elasticity of Demand as my Economics teacher at school was constantly telling us that people would never pay 60P for a Mars Bar. Of course that was before the devil may care extrevagant attitude to spending of the tigercubs.
My point however was that Rugby as a sport has limited appeal in this country. There is a certain amount of people in the country who are open to going to see the provincial sides as long as they are doing well. That zenith has already been reached as there is nowhere else for the provincial sides to go. If the controversies between the French and English clubs, for example where to spell the demise of the Heineken cup, that would effectively be the end of the Irish public's fascination with the game.
TO TELL THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY
The ONLY foot.ie user with a type of logic named after them!
All of this has happened before. All of it will happen again.
If your a supporter you can, if your a consumer you cant.
Larry Be Wyse
www.acsportsimages.com
A life saving drug is.
I believe in supporting the EL but you cant argue that football is more culturally represetative of a country than music is. Music is just as important culturally as any sport is. You may see it as consumer base but I am sure many muscians see football as consumer based.
In Trap we trust
Yeah but you can't be a member of U2 (unless you actually are a member of U2)
TO TELL THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY
The ONLY foot.ie user with a type of logic named after them!
All of this has happened before. All of it will happen again.
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