Why Ireland are Crap at Soccer

**finnpark** · 09/09/2007, 12:44 PM

(1) Government: Lack of investment in soccer is unreal. GAA is their priority followed by horse racing Fixing. They are destroying proper competitive international sport in this country.

(2) Support of UK football clubs by "Irish" soccer "fans". We promote English and Scottish soccer, lets start supporting our home teams , buy Irish teams' merchantdise etc. UK clubs pulling th p*ss out of Irish people by cashing in.

(3) Youth structure: Not one professional youth academy in Ireland. All our 13, 14, 15 year olds are promised the world from UK clubs only to find that they are just making up numbers and are not cared about. England are not even developing youth, so how do we expect to compete over there?

(4) FAI Policy: Employing people who are also agents for UK clubs, promoting the export of our youth talent to the UK, lack of capability to secure meaningfull Government funding, lack of interest in setting up professional youth academies, lack of protection of Irish soccer clubs from UK market, youth development strategy and lack of accountability of underage managers such as Don Givens , Vinny Butler etc.

(5) GAA: We are a small country and unfortunately our culture is on a collision force with our development of other sports.

Until the above issues are sorted there is no future for Irish soccer, we will not win anything. The best we can hope for is qualification for competitions.

The Eircom league is ranked higher than the International team in the equivalent rankings. Both our clubs and national side cannot qualify for competitions.

THE SOLUTION:

(1) Stop promoting and supporting British clubs. Start supporting Irish clubs.

(2) Stop supporting GAA.

(3) Lobby Government for funding.

(4) Set up professional youth academies in each province and in Dublin.

(5) Ban FAI staff at all levels from acting as agents for UK clubs.

(6) Stop the exploitation of our young players by UK clubs.

Stop exporting and promote sustainability. We are one of the wealthiest nations in the world per capita but we have soccer federation who lack accountability and intellect.

**sligoman** · 09/09/2007, 12:47 PM

Football.

**finnpark** · 09/09/2007, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by sligoman

Football.

? Football=soccer as opposed to other football games such as Gaelic and Rugby etc

**Lionel Ritchie** · 09/09/2007, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by finnpark

(2) Stop supporting GAA.

Agreed. But why the half measure? If it's not to be supported why not just ban it?

Originally Posted by finnpark

(3) Lobby Government for funding.

.

Best of luck. Let us know how that goes for you.

Originally Posted by finnpark

(6) Stop the exploitation of our young players by UK clubs.
.

what -do they have them stitching cheap leather wallets or assembling DVD players after training or something?

**hoops1** · 09/09/2007, 1:34 PM

(5) Ban FAI staff at all levels from acting as agents for UK clubs

Excellent point there finnpark. Something that never dawned on me before.
Scandolous when you think about it

**Torn-Ado** · 09/09/2007, 1:45 PM

We're Irish.

We do sporting failure in a dramatic fashion. Its no ones fault. Its just our sh*tty destiny.

**kingdomkerry** · 09/09/2007, 1:52 PM

THE SOLUTION:

(1) Stop promoting and supporting British clubs. Start supporting Irish clubs.

(2) Stop supporting GAA.

(3) Lobby Government for funding.

(4) Set up professional youth academies in each province and in Dublin.

(5) Ban FAI staff at all levels from acting as agents for UK clubs.

(6) Stop the exploitation of our young players by UK clubs.

Stop exporting and promote sustainability. We are one of the wealthiest nations in the world per capita but we have soccer federation who lack accountability and intellect.[/quote]

All great points except for No. 2. The GAA will always be supported and it does'nt have to be at the expense of Soccer. I dont support any English Soccer team. I would'nt like to feel like a hypocrit cheering for players that i hope will break their legs when playing for England.

The way I see it Im not from Manchester or Liverpool so I would feel like a fool supporting Utd or Liverpool. Whats my alternative support my local team in Ireland.............O wait Kerry dont have a team in the LOI. Plan b support Kerry in the football!!! 35 All Irelands!!!!!!!!!

**Torn-Ado** · 09/09/2007, 2:12 PM

Another point. All this bullsh*t blaming the Government, the GAA, UK football etc is all very tiresome and convenient.

Did a GAA player score the last minute equaliser against us last night? Or a Government minister perhaps?

The truth is, the problem with the Irish football team is not any of the factors that Finnpark mentions. They majority of our players play in one of the best leagues in the world and we have players playing in the champions league too. The reason we are ****e is down to bad management, lack of leadership and general incompetence on the field by our underperforming players.

So save your blame of GAA/Government/UK football for something else.

**backstothewall** · 09/09/2007, 2:48 PM

(1) Stop promoting and supporting British clubs. Start supporting Irish clubs.

The product simply isn't good enough. Why should fans spend a saturday afternoon at Turners Cross at �16 when they can sit warm in their living room on a comfortable sofa and have Setanta beam in the finest league in the world at �18 per month.

Its pie in the sky to suggest that any Irish league could ever match the English premier league in terms of quality, but there is no reason why it couldn't match the likes of Scotland or Portugal's leagues.

But for this to happen requires the suits in both Merrion Square and Windsor Avenue to stop squabling over who gets to fly first class, and 19 year old Man United reserve players, and do something for the benefit of the irish game.

Irish football needs an all ireland premier league, of 12-16 clubs, with proper youth academys and decent comfortable stadiums. This would be to the benefit of the top sides and youth development on both sides of the border.

Cork City: Turners Cross (7485)
Derry City: The Brandwell (7,700) - 8000 all seater maybe one day
Galway United: Terryland (5000)
Linfield: Windsor Park (20,332)
Glentoran: The Oval (14,000) at present
Belfast Celtic - Bring them back!! Belfast Celtic v Linfield was the biggest fixture in Irish football.
Shamrock Rovers: Tallaght (when its done) 6000
Shelbourne: Tolka Park (9,700)
St. Pats: Richmond Park (5,500)
Bohemians: Dalymount (8,000)

*(Capacitys have been lifted from wikipedia and Worldstadiums.com)

Realistically these clubs for reasons of infastrucure, geography, history and finance, have to be the backbone of irish foootball. Only Linfield has a stadium with any sort of a capacity, end it is in a bad way. The fact some of these clubs can't fill the stadiums they have would suggest to me the product is very overpriced. With the Dublin clubs it would surely be possible to move out of the city centre to Greenfield sites, build 20,000+ stadiums with the proceeds of the sale of the land

To have these clubs split between two leagues makes it impossible for a competative league with enough revenue running through it to have a product worth me leaving the house on a saturday. Living in Belfast yesterday i had the choice of Crusaders beating Limavady 1-0 or Cliftonville beating Donegal Celtic 1-0. I watched the All Blacks.

If for example Belfast Celtic had been playing Cork City in a nice modern stadium, i could get in for less than a �10/�15, there was a couple of decent young local players, a few experienced former premiership players (the likes of Nick Barmby, Robbie Fowler, Mark Burchill who are all still playing) etc or entertaining foreigners (i.e. a Brazilian with a funny name), i might have made a different decision. Especially if it is played during the summer when there is no English or Scottish leagues,

I don't think any of this is out of the realms of possibility with the right co-operation between both governments, FAI, IFA and TV companies.

**eekers** · 09/09/2007, 3:19 PM

its because if anything the enphasis on winning at a youth level in irish football.
in reality it doesnt matter if you win a u14s match.
at that age you should be concentrating on learning your skills.
i mean foreign teams come over for the milk cup etc and we occasionally give them a pasting and feel real proud of ourselves. but it adds up to nothing. it just means we have a team of gaa hoofers able to knock skillful little fellas off the ball. we're not developing football player of any technical ability this way.

**bobloblaw** · 09/09/2007, 3:40 PM

Crap manager. That's why.. We've a good bunch of players that just need some proper guidance and a manager that isn't completely inept at this level. I'd sack Steve already if it was up to me.

**Qwerty** · 09/09/2007, 3:43 PM

It's not that complicated lads. It's just down to tactics and players knowing what to do. We've gotten into a rut where we always sit back on a lead, and we don't have the players to defend like that. At least under Charlton we used route 1 so we could take pressure off, now that we play football it's not as easy and takes a bit of smarts. We had nobody in midfield who can dictate a game, slow it down etc

I take it this thread is due to Douglas's error in not picking up Cech, that was a Stan mistake as far as I'm concerned, putting on a destructive player was always just going to just put more pressure on us as Douglas would just give away possession. In the end he didn't do the part of the job he was put on to do, pick up players and snuff out threats.

**Bucky-O'Hare** · 09/09/2007, 3:57 PM

"If for example Belfast Celtic had been playing Cork City in a nice modern stadium, i could get in for less than a �10/€15, there was a couple of decent young local players, a few experienced former premiership players (the likes of Nick Barmby, Robbie Fowler, Mark Burchill who are all still playing) etc or entertaining foreigners (i.e. a Brazilian with a funny name), i might have made a different decision."

You want to pay �10/15euro to get and and at the same time expect to see ex premiership players. Good luck with that wee fantasy!

**dfx-** · 09/09/2007, 4:21 PM

Originally Posted by backtowalsall

The product simply isn't good enough. Why should fans spend a saturday afternoon at Turners Cross at �16 when they can sit warm in their living room on a comfortable sofa and have Setanta beam in the finest league in the world at �18 per month.

*bites*

They should because if they want Ireland to be better at football and not play like they are, then they have to be prepared to sacrifice their best league in the world and their comfy sofa and state-of-the-art remote control with satellite navigation.

I know it's hard to bother with long term goals and sacrifice and something the FAI have never encouraged, but there you go.

**finnpark** · 09/09/2007, 6:35 PM

Originally Posted by kingdomkerry

All great points except for No. 2. The GAA will always be supported and it does'nt have to be at the expense of Soccer. I dont support any English Soccer team. I would'nt like to feel like a hypocrit cheering for players that i hope will break their legs when playing for England.

The way I see it Im not from Manchester or Liverpool so I would feel like a fool supporting Utd or Liverpool. Whats my alternative support my local team in Ireland.............O wait Kerry dont have a team in the LOI. Plan b support Kerry in the football!!! 35 All Irelands!!!!!!!!!

Fair point. Yes, its a pity the FAI don't see the marketability for a county versus county sort of thing even at Intermediate/Junior level to see which county has the best amateur players.

I think it is a joke that the pale have about 10 teams in the league, Cork two and so many other counties with none in sight.

**finnpark** · 09/09/2007, 6:40 PM

Originally Posted by Torn-Ado

Another point. All this bullsh*t blaming the Government, the GAA, UK football etc is all very tiresome and convenient.

Did a GAA player score the last minute equaliser against us last night? Or a Government minister perhaps?

You have missed the point totally.

So lets say we get the best manager in the world and all the current players get their act togetehr and start trying, give up the booze etc. Let say we were getting the best of the players.

We would still win nothing and still would only qualify every so often. To me that is not good enough and I want to see bigger progress. I want to be proud of a team that has actually won something , not some team that goes out with heads held high and forgotten about by the rest of the world. What I am suggesting is attainable but the mindset of the Irish public needs to change.

To answer your question the points I made at the start are responsible for what happened last night and what is going to happen for the rest of our lifetimes unless significant change is presented by forward thinking people.

If the highlight of your supporting your country is to manage to beat Slovakia then you don't hold the same aspirations as myself.

**finnpark** · 09/09/2007, 6:43 PM

Originally Posted by backtowalsall

The product simply isn't good enough.

That is what I am trying to point out and I have given the reasoning, in my opinion, behind why the product is not good enough and what we need to do.

**finnpark** · 09/09/2007, 6:45 PM

Originally Posted by bobloblaw

Crap manager. That's why.. We've a good bunch of players that just need some proper guidance and a manager that isn't completely inept at this level. I'd sack Steve already if it was up to me.

So if we get a good manager we will be capable of winning what? A qualification group?

Yipee

**half_full** · 09/09/2007, 8:43 PM

Originally Posted by kingdomkerry

THE SOLUTION:

(1) Stop promoting and supporting British clubs. Start supporting Irish clubs.

(2) Stop supporting GAA.

(3) Lobby Government for funding.

(4) Set up professional youth academies in each province and in Dublin.

(5) Ban FAI staff at all levels from acting as agents for UK clubs.

(6) Stop the exploitation of our young players by UK clubs.

Stop exporting and promote sustainability. We are one of the wealthiest nations in the world per capita but we have soccer federation who lack accountability and intellect.

All great points except for No. 2. The GAA will always be supported and it does'nt have to be at the expense of Soccer. I dont support any English Soccer team. I would'nt like to feel like a hypocrit cheering for players that i hope will break their legs when playing for England.

The way I see it Im not from Manchester or Liverpool so I would feel like a fool supporting Utd or Liverpool. Whats my alternative support my local team in Ireland.............O wait Kerry dont have a team in the LOI. Plan b support Kerry in the football!!! 35 All Irelands!!!!!!!!!

[/QUOTE]

Cork or Cobh for you then