Ever wonder why we're no good at football?

SectionF

Part of it just might have to do with how sport is funded in this country.
€38 handout to racing for every punter on the racecourse. Almost a third of the entire government sports budget.
Does that make Stan a muppet, or the voters?

Pigman II

In reference to the title , How many other countries with our number of registered players are doing as good? I doubt many (if any).

In reference to the gigi's I can't claim to have much knowledge or interest in but horse-racing/raising is basically an industry in this country as I understand it? If football could produce a profit here I'm sure the government and investers would be lining up to throw money at it too.

John_C

I may as well throw in a plug too.

This article appeared in STIG a few months ago.

http://www.stigonline.com/STIG_I_horse.pdf

SectionF

You should have PR'd it. This is national news, in print and on RTE! And the ESRI analysis could be straight out of STIG. Is there a link?

Oriel

Pigman II wrote:

How many other countries with our number of registered players are doing as good?

Nothern Ireland for a start. Better in fact.
I'd love to see a match between Northern Ireland and the Republic now.

Pigman II

sinecurea wrote:

Nothern Ireland for a start. Better in fact.
I'd love to see a match between Northern Ireland and the Republic now.

I was talking about clubs too, not just the senior national side.

John_C

SectionF wrote:

You should have PR'd it. This is national news, in print and on RTE! And the ESRI analysis could be straight out of STIG. Is there a link?

Thanks, I doubt I'll be getting a cheque in the post for consultancy fees though. Just happy to be providing a service to society.

StickyMcGinty

Pigman II wrote:

I was talking about clubs too, not just the senior national side.

they do, the Setanta Cup?

Pigman II

VinnyL wrote:

they do, the Setanta Cup?

Ah yes, the competition that the CL and UEFA cups wish they were. And by 'they' you should probably just put 'Linfield' as they are the only team from the Irish League who have made any impact on that competition so far. Indeed their other 3 teams last year all finish as low as was possible in the group stages. Not really an indication of strength in depth imho.

TwoShedsJackson

I'm with Johnny Giles here, kids have too many other distractions nowadays 'like tv and personal stereos' to quote the man himself. The days when kids had nothing better to do than kick a ball against a wall eight hours a day and possibly discover a talent for football, are gone.

redspider

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

I'm with Johnny Giles here, kids have too many other distractions nowadays 'like tv and personal stereos' to quote the man himself. The days when kids had nothing better to do than kick a ball against a wall eight hours a day and possibly discover a talent for football, are gone.

There is some merit in that stance, but it doesnt explain it all. There have been huge changes in football over the years.

Our main 'feeding ground', the leagues in England have been transformed with international players. This has squeezed out the chances for Irish youth players (and England too). Whereas before, there were 100's of young lads going over with some of them making it, now there are far fewer.

International football teams have by and large improved in general over the years. The new adage, there are no easy games in international football, is true.

The Irish team has never been 'at the top' for long, nor could it given the size of our population. Our results vary and at times we will punch above our weight, given the right chance circumstances of players, manager and selected tactics, and at times we will punch below our weight. That is football.

Some mad people even thought we had a chance of winning the world cup a few years ago! You probably know whom I'm talking about.

Redspider

SectionF

Doesn't the funding story indicate that, no matter how much we bleat about it when we lose, we don't put our money where our mouth is? That we're more interested, as a nation, in the gee-gees?

StickyMcGinty

Pigman II wrote:

Ah yes, the competition that the CL and UEFA cups wish they were. And by 'they' you should probably just put 'Linfield' as they are the only team from the Irish League who have made any impact on that competition so far. Indeed their other 3 teams last year all finish as low as was possible in the group stages. Not really an indication of strength in depth imho.

its no one elses fault that the NI club teams are sh1te. i dont know what the hell your talkin about pigman, you want a southern clubs v northern clubs cup and there already is a cup that does that. just cause its not entertaining enough for you doesnt mean it doesnt exist

SpAcEd OuT

sinecurea wrote:

Nothern Ireland for a start. Better in fact.
I'd love to see a match between Northern Ireland and the Republic now.

To be honest, I don't see what all the fuss about northern Ireland is, they've had 2 excellent results in the last 2 years and thats really it, got trashed 3-0 by Iceland and drew with a fairly weak Denmark

bizmark

SpAcEd OuT wrote:

To be honest, I don't see what all the fuss about northern Ireland is, they've had 2 excellent results in the last 2 years and thats really it, got trashed 3-0 by Iceland and drew with a fairly weak Denmark

And that looks good compered to our record lately

Serbian

SpAcEd OuT wrote:

To be honest, I don't see what all the fuss about northern Ireland is, they've had 2 excellent results in the last 2 years and thats really it, got trashed 3-0 by Iceland and drew with a fairly weak Denmark

True, but when was the last time you felt proud of an Irish competitive performance? Our 0 - 0 draw vs France, October 2004? Our 1 - 1 draw with Germany in World Cup 2002? They are our best results in the last four years. The last time we actually beat a decent team in a competitive game was in 2001 when we beat Holland 1 - 0.

It was said in another thread, but the hopes of this Irish team fell apart after 120 minutes of football versus Spain four years ago.

Pigman II

VinnyL wrote:

its no one elses fault that the NI club teams are sh1te. i dont know what the hell your talkin about pigman, you want a southern clubs v northern clubs cup and there already is a cup that does that. just cause its not entertaining enough for you doesnt mean it doesnt exist

Eh, 'what the hell' are you talking about bud? Where did I say I wanted (or even didn't want for that matter) a north v south cup?