Sporting Fingal to be offered First Division place

[osarusan]

Absolutely. We should have a team a county. Perhaps some kind of all-Ireland final.

And I've always thought it would be a better sport if all players could handle the ball, not just the goalkeeper.

[Schumi]

Absolutely. We should have a team a county. Perhaps some kind of all-Ireland final.

And none of this 'hand ball' rule.

[Buller]

And none of this 'hand ball' rule.

And we'll called the box a.... parallelogram! In geometry, a parallelogram is a quadrilateral with two sets of parallel sides. The opposite sides of a parallelogram are of equal length, and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are congruent.

Also we could make the pitch so ridiculously big that it would not fit in our new stadium in Tallaght.... oh wait...

[passerrby]

And we'll called the box a.... parallelogram! In geometry, a parallelogram is a quadrilateral with two sets of parallel sides. The opposite sides of a parallelogram are of equal length, and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are congruent.

:

there was I just about keeping up with this discussion and buller has to knock me out of the ball park your just like my wife using words i dont understand

[Buller]

there was I just about keeping up with this discussion and buller has to knock me out of the ball park your just like my wife using words i dont understand

Ahaha, dont worry - I dont understand them either... Continue Discussion!
I think Sporting Fingal will be different to what was the meaningless Dublin City. They've got a spacific catchment area and are hoping to build a stadium with FCC's backing. I think they are a completely different prospect and worthy of a first division place. Very sad to hear Kilkenny resigning...

[pineapple stu]

Possibly, but there are similarities in that they're an ego trip who seem to be quite happy to run up large costs without any solid basis for knowing what their income is going to be. In addition, they're a franchise team set up with no history and, regardless of how big your catchment area, in Dublin anyways, that just ain't going to work very well. If nothing else, recent eL history tells us that.

[Lim till i die]

Last year Dublin had between 1/3 and 1/4 of the population and roughly those percentages in league clubs.

A good point well made and one which the more vocal members (ie Cork fans) of the "Too many Dublin Clubs" brigade often overlook.

Having said that if you gave me a choice between Morton Stadium and Buckley Park next year I know what I'd pick

[monutdfc]

And we'll call the goalkeeper ..... a custodian

(I always wanted to write a match report in the style of a gaa report...Williamson at top of the left evaded stalwart defender Doyle and progressed into the large parallelogram where he rifled the leather past Murphy the custodian and into the back of the onion bag.... I'm sure these terms were original once, but they are now hackneyed cliches)

[Réiteoir]

One thing which troubles me somewhat.

How can a club which never existed 3 months or so ago (Fingal) be top of the IAG rankings ahead of established and trophy winning clubs such as Salthill Devon and Tullamore?

Something don't add up here

[L37Ultra]

7 in Dublin?????????????????

Bohs, Shelbourne, Bray, Shamrock Rovers, Sporting Fingal, St. Pats, UCD.

[pineapple stu]

One thing which troubles me somewhat.

How can a club which never existed 3 months or so ago (Fingal) be top of the IAG rankings ahead of established and trophy winning clubs such as Salthill Devon and Tullamore?

Something don't add up here

Because they have PLANS.

Do you not remember what a load of ****** it was from the last time?

Also, this means that there's going to be one less team in the A League. How's that going to work? Is there another team going to come in and take Fingal's place (assuming they take the First Division spot, which I'm sure they will), or will we have one team less than originally planned and so (presumably) an odd number of teams in one league?

[pete]

The first division in its current format has no future. This will not change by reducing Premier & adding two more to the 1st division.

Maybe the AIL will solve everything but time to think about a single maybe 16 team league. Surely clubs need at least average crowds of 500 to keep even a semi-pro side going?

I don't think Sporting Fingal is a good addition as they just replacing Home Farm. Extra Dublin clubs bring nothing to the league as they just recycle the same players. Would be better to have 9 teams in 1st division

[dcfcsteve]

I think scrappingthe First Division would be a good idea & making a Premier Division into 16-20 teams league would make much more sense. It would give all the smaller clubs a better chance of survival as they would get bigger crowds from playing the bigger clubs and it should attract more interest locally. (any 1st Division club would benefit from the cwrods when playing against Cork, Drogs, Derry, Pats, Bohs, Rovers, etc.)

Clubs who finish rock bottom or if clubs fail to keep the pace(financially, etc.), then they should be relagted down to the A championship, which could be used as a buffer with the winners being promoted should they have their affairs/liscence criteria up to standard.

That way, you have just 1 league to promote to the bigger audience and you still have your promotion/relegation with only 1 team going up & one going down to keep it intersesting at that end of the table.

Understatemnet of the year!

I can't believe that people are suggesting a return to the days of an expanded single 16-or-so team Premier Division, a la the Famous Fried Chicken League days !! This is insanity of the highest order !!

There is a reason why pretty much every league in Europe has the same model we do. Even those slow learners in the Irish League...

Absolute insanity.

[passerrby]

I can't believe that people are suggesting a return to the days of an expanded single 16-or-so team Premier Division, a la the Famous Fried Chicken League days !! This is insanity of the highest order !!

There is a reason why pretty much every league in Europe has the same model we do. Even those slow learners in the Irish League...

Absolute insanity.

dont the premiership have 22 teams .

[dcfcsteve]

Possibly, but there are similarities in that they're an ego trip who seem to be quite happy to run up large costs without any solid basis for knowing what their income is going to be. In addition, they're a franchise team set up with no history and, regardless of how big your catchment area, in Dublin anyways, that just ain't going to work very well. If nothing else, recent eL history tells us that.

More importantly - it's not Sporting Fingal's (henceforth 'Spouting Fungus) money that will be spent on this project. It will be extremely diffiuclt for a new team like them to be able to finance a serious footballing challenge (as they claim they want to do) purely on matchday revenues and sponsorship.

That leaves the conclusion that Fingal allegedly-a-County Council (FaaCC) will have to put money into the club. That presents 2 serious dangers, both based on the fact Spouting Fungus will be spending other people's money :

1) THE BOOM
As a certain part of their funds will be 'not their money', there is a danger that Spouting Fungus won't feel the need to be as frugal, or even sensible, with their expenditures as they might otherwise be. It's a vanity project for a local authority, that has openely stated its ambitions to be successful. That can only be achieved by securing decent players. Whenever Fungus wants more money to do this, the club need merely refer to the 'vision' and massage the egos of those involved at FaaCC, and hey presto - increased budget (with the Council doubtless claiming they are 'investing in sport', rather than blowing it on senior player wages).

2) THE BUST
As Spouting Fungus will rely at least to some degree upon 'public' money - with a degree of accountability behind it (albit with a serious time-lag, based on elections) - there is a danger that the rug could be completely pulled from underneath Funguis's feet at any point. Opposition parties could easily point to a paucity of youth and sporting activities in their area, and make a direct connection with the money being 'wasted' on a small number of sports-people's wages/training/facilities in a vanity project for the ruling party/Council Officers. Even if this didn't happen, Council budgets can change dramatically on a year-to-year basis as priorities shift (and as more pressing needs develop financial black holes that need filling). This is the recipe for the 'bust' in the boom-and-bust scenario for Fungus.

None of the above may happen, but I have a very, very uneasy feeling about Spouting Fungus. Their public proclamations that they will be radically different than anything else, ever, honest, is casue enough for concern in my books. We've heard it numerous times before, but never seen it delivered. If they do plan to be different, just get on and do it and let the difference talk for itself...

[dcfcsteve]

dont the premiership have 22 teams .

And 72 senior teams below that.

Followed by at least 6 further directly-linked levels in the pyramid below those.

What's your point ?

[Mr A]

Didn't Letterkenny apply and were turned down?

If so, that'd imply all applicant clubs had to make an IAG type application just to join the A league, so there was one ready available for them to pick a First Division team. Still not the best of ways of doing it though.

You have to have a First Division to avoid stagnation. Promotion and relegation are an essential part of any league.

As far as I know, No, Letterkenny did not apply.

[Risteard]

Bohs, Shelbourne, Bray, Shamrock Rovers, Sporting Fingal, St. Pats, UCD.

No.
Why not include Drogheda then?

I don't think its necessarily a bad thing adding another Dub team but I'd expect them to struggle to establish themselves and recruit a following.

I mean the thing with Seery is why did he start afresh and not build on Home Farms considerable legacy or merely plough his money into Shels, Bohs, Pats or Rovers? Did DCFC put considerable money into the off-pitch infrastructure?

[higgins]

I have to laugh at people calling for the First Division to just go !!

What in the name of jaysus do you think will happen!! You need a pool there below the premier. You need to have 10 or so teams fighting it out and the ones that do well get promoted and in theory at least make the Premier stronger.

If you get rid of that buffer you will have serious problems. It's not as simple as getting rid of the First and therefore all the money and supporters will switch to the Premier teams.

Madness..

Anyway what would be the difference calling the First Division the A league. Do you want no feeder league ???

As for it not making sense financially, Well! it's not like all Premier teams are rolling in cash either is it. As a Shelbourne fan I can see exactly what the First division has to offer. It's a place where you can survive with little or no money to be honest. It's easier to get your house in order and build some structure.

As for the Dublin clubs. If teams can be sustained in the league and are based in Dublin then so what exactly ?? It would be great to have teams in all major towns and cities but that's something the FAI will have to work on on a very long term basis.

To be honest the problems at Kilkenny seem to be that nobody wanted to continue with things. It seemed to revolve around two people for the most part and due to circumstances they can't continue with it.

If there were a few Kilkenny fans really interested in keeping it going, it seems to me that it would be possible.

Why did Dublin City get bashed for having 100-200 fans yet Kilkenny who offer up about 30 or 40 are different ?

[Mr A]

As for the Dublin clubs. If teams can be sustained in the league and are based in Dublin then so what exactly ??

So you're from Dublin.

No one likes you.