Congratulations

**Tir Oilean** · 19/12/2007, 7:27 PM

To Salthill Devon and Mervue United football clubs on getting chosen for the new A League. It'll be a great boost for soccer in Galway and who knows we could end up with two or three Galway teams in the Premier Division in years to come!

**gufct** · 19/12/2007, 8:08 PM

I hope that was said with Tongue in cheek. Galway cant afford one team never mind three . Both Teams dallied with the u21 league with Mervue dropping out of it.There are not eneough players in Galway to keep three A League teams going.

**Terry** · 19/12/2007, 8:13 PM

I agree, whatever about salthill, Mervue will get feed up with the summer footie yet again after a couple of month and will probably pull out!

**Tir Oilean** · 19/12/2007, 9:00 PM

Originally Posted by gufct

I hope that was said with Tongue in cheek.

Fcukin right it was! A substantial amount of our support hail from Salthill not to mention our board (AFAIK a few live in Salthill) We can barely sustain United as it is!

**Patrick Dunne** · 19/12/2007, 9:16 PM

Bizarre decision by the FAI, presumably there was very little interest from
other parts of the country.

gufct is correct - are there 50 players of adequate standard in Galway ?

Implications for GUFC in terms of player resources, and the use of these clubs
pitches.

**geezer** · 19/12/2007, 11:39 PM

it seems the fai heavies from galway who have done f all for GUFC over the years have gone to the politically motivated junior clubs in Galway to help fill the numbers. I have no doubt that the 2 junior clubs in Galway have better facilities than most LOI clubs. Im from Mervue myself and this can only divide the city in 3 and doesnt say a lot for the partnership put in place by UTD and the galway fa which was trumpeted as the way to go and was fundamental we were told in obtaining the premier licence. It seems its a fill the numbers exercise by delanys 2 sergeants in Galway. If Athenry go this route in 3 years time we will have 4 teams in County Galway in the LOI and this is daft.
All the marketing of UTD is a waste of effort really if the 2 former officers of UTD now heavily involved in the fai and practically left UTD for dead have truly took out the steak knife this time and ripped the heart out of progress and the plan for a Galway team to compete representing the region with the support of the region... Black Day....it completely undermines the Galway Utd Business plan in progress for the last 2 years and which Genisis report laughably lauded only 18months ago, also bar a few power mad individuals in Mervue I cant see a lot of the ordinary day to day lotto sellers of that club sell tickets supporting mercenary players for very long at the expense of the juvenile section. It happened in the Connaught senior league and it will happen again. Make you wonder is it a get back ploy by the fai at utd to scupper any breakaway all ireland league ideas... mooted in the last few months. Also PD put my season ticket application on hold until I get better clarification on this. 30 years supporting LOI i think this is the final straw for me. Id prefer to invest in a season ticket for villa in the premiership

**WoodquayBoy** · 20/12/2007, 7:03 AM

You do that, you go running and support a Brit team just when things look like they could be getting a bit tough for the club ya hero ya

**Tir Oilean** · 20/12/2007, 7:52 AM

Originally Posted by Patrick Dunne

gufct is correct - are there 50 players of adequate standard in Galway ?

No there isnt even 20.

I'm not worried about them getting into the Premier or anything like that but what about the work that Daniel, Nick and Nick have been doing to build up support and sponsorship? There will be a major strain for 3 clubs to secure sponsorship from a small city. Obviously we will be at the high end of the scale in terms of what money we seek so these other clubs will start to chip away at our list of business people we can raise money from. We really need to put in a good season in 08 to ensure that the crowds dont start to dwindle and to ensure a value for money for GUFC.

**MyTown** · 20/12/2007, 9:21 AM

Myself and Galway Hoop contributed to this thread started by Magicme a month ago.

**GuisaSaigon** · 20/12/2007, 9:40 AM

Is this a fcuking joke? what are the FAI playing at? The A League was a stupid idea in the first place, but having 3 teams from Galway is just braindead.

**Tribesman** · 20/12/2007, 9:59 AM

Seems a bit crazy. Three teams from the one area. Maybe one of the two new applicants should have been admitted, I would like to see the logic behind the admission of two new teams.

I just hope it is not the usual political/FAI favours in use again before COMMON SENCE!

**MyTown** · 20/12/2007, 10:55 AM

Check out the photograph on Page 119 of today's Galway Advertiser.

It's another case of a picture painting 1,000 words. The only one missing is Bertie & the FF logo...or should that be the FFS logo.

**Patrick Dunne** · 20/12/2007, 11:25 AM

There is no point overestimating the entry of these two clubs into the "A" League, either. Salthill willl play their matches in front of 30 people in Drum.
Mervue might pull in 100.

Given that there will be six teams (One Premier, 3 A, 3 U20) operating at national level in Galway next year, the standard at the lower six will be quite low. The better players will still gravitate to professional football at GUFC.

**JC_GUFC** · 20/12/2007, 12:43 PM

Will Salthill/Mervue be resigning from the Galway Junior Leagues because of this?

I don't know anything about Junior Football in Galway but to be fair both clubs look to be pretty progressive so maybe they feel that they're going nowhere playing in that league and this is another challenge, however if either them does reach Division 1, which I assume has to be their aim, they will find it very difficult to avoid finishing bottom, let alone survive.

**galwayhoop** · 20/12/2007, 1:11 PM

Originally Posted by Patrick Dunne

There is no point overestimating the entry of these two clubs into the "A" League, either. Salthill willl play their matches in front of 30 people in Drum.
Mervue might pull in 100.

Given that there will be six teams (One Premier, 3 A, 3 U20) operating at national level in Galway next year, the standard at the lower six will be quite low. The better players will still gravitate to professional football at GUFC.

exactly. the inclusion of both clubs will only effect the local players, not those lining out week-in week out for GUFC.

it will give local players an opportunity to play against better players at a higher standard.

there won't be 6 teams either. afaik the A league season and U20 will not be run at the same time as each other. apparantely the u20 season will be split in 2 with the A league sandwiched in between. i would expect both mervue and salthill to field a lot of the same players in both sides. GUFC will also do this. so it will really only be 3 teams and not 6.

this will increase the amount of players playing senior soccer in the county (and perhaps the likes of mayo too - btw i'm shocked castlebar or westport didn't enter) with the GUFC premier division team cherry picking the best from all 3 teams for full time football.

the cream will rise to the top in the A league, GUFC will not care about it but i reckon the other two will, as it is a way into the LoI proper. they will fight it out with each other to be the top placed non-LoI team for a shot at making the first division.

again i'm surprised both got in but the doom and gloom on here (people moving over to birmingham for their team to support

etc..) is totallly misplaced.

the phrase moutntain out of a molehill springs to mind!!!!

**Patrick Dunne** · 20/12/2007, 3:04 PM

Bazza,

Anyone who believes GUFC ever be playing in First Division against Kildare at an empty Station Rd, while back in Galway, thousands flock to see Mervue play Salthill in Terryland in the Premier Division, is living in cloud cuckoo land !

You are correct, 30 people at a Salthill vs Tullamore A match in Drum is bullsh!t. I would say that a more realistic figure would be 10.

The biggest ever game in the history of Salthill Devon, a home draw vs a Premier Division team in the FAI Cup, attracted 150 people. Half of them were Galway United supporters up for a look.

Let the children have a shot with playing with the adults for a while, when they get tired, they'll go back to playing with their toys.

**MyTown** · 20/12/2007, 3:41 PM

The only problem with that analogy Pa (apart from it being unnecessarily condescending

) is that the "children" seem to have no problem getting the Big Mummies and Daddies to loosen the public purse strings, and as one who has given so much time and energy to voluntary fund raising on behalf of GUFC, I'm sure you'd welcome us getting a piece of that action too.

**geezer** · 20/12/2007, 10:27 PM

serious challenge to GUFC future. Its no coincidence that power is going to the heads of influential people in the fai and who have had a, lets call it "past" with united. All the old blindness, befuddled trenchcoat pettiness is there, grudges and whatever your having yourself political shagging is written all over this one. Its to the detriment of a serious regional challenge that utd were building towards that i was beginning to believe would allow utd to once again play on a european stage in a 3-4 year timescale and requiring annual budgets of 3-4 million to sustain. That why i question my 31 year allegiance to a one man and his dog league that with the help of these backstabbers looks likely to continue indefinitely despite, Technical plans, genesis reports and summer soccer. Its a war out there and you better believe it. Teams in Ennis and Castlebar would make a lot of sense but this is madness. The only thing that will stop this though is the costs and when juvenile players parents have to fund budgets of 1-200k a year the same old history will repeat itself at these clubs. The lunatic fringe of the fai will smirk at the fact they put a spoke in the wheel for a time and prevent others doing what they wouldnt achieve in a million years.

**Mr A** · 21/12/2007, 8:05 AM

How do you know that they won't progress like Galway Rovers did??

It's one thing to build up an LOI club in a city with no senior team, it is quite another to build one up in a city with a high profile, well established team already.

**Patrick Dunne** · 21/12/2007, 11:20 AM

Thank you, Mr A.

Last weekend, Mervue United lost 5-1 to Manorhamilton in the FAI Junior Cup. Salthill Devon are midtable in the G&D League. The last match report I saw was a draw against Kiltullagh.

Think of the worst Galway United sides of the past 5-10 years. Now think of the worst players on those sides. These are the best players on the above two teams.

They will be up against other "A" sides made up mainly of full-time pros.
Clubs like Drogheda, Bohs, Pats, Cork and GUFC will have strong "A" teams.