Sporting Fingal FC

DSB

santry_goonshow wrote: »

Lets not sink into the LOI mediocrity of hoping things will come to us, and getting bitter when it doesn't.

Condescending to the max, not every club can afford to do these things. If every club could afford to undertake such measures, they would. I understand you're probably new to the league, and properly supporting a football club but please don't spout such tripe just because your club has success recently.

Paulw

santry_goonshow wrote: »

See thats the opposite of what I was proposing. Walk into that shop in the Pavillions and what do you see? You see Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea shirts as far as your eye will travel. You have to ask for the SFFC jersey. I suppose I wasnt clear enough. I was going for a presence on main street in one of the vacant shops. I bet that some of the players are still around too and wouldn't mind helping it happen.

I doubt the club have the money to do what you propose.

It's easy to rent shops space, and also, with the players, they deserve their time off. Everyone needs a break and a holiday.

Pineapple stu

I agree with the idea of a club shop on a main street but not for the players to be involved unless they make a guest appearance during the season. Lifestyle stocked our shirts last year but the club knew nothing of it and didnt get anything from it . I saw Bray's and wexford youths shirts there as well along with dundalk and shels,rovers and bohs.I dont know if its the norm for these clubs to get anything from the sales.

Lamper.sffc

santry_goonshow wrote: »

Lamper, a question. I know you are sort of connected to the club and the supporters club and this is why I'm putting it to you.

Did we miss out on a big opportunity? What I mean is its Christmas and we just won the Cup and got promoted. We have the biggest level of publicity ever. I bet there are merchandising opportunities now. The number of kids alone at the final,,, you can only imagine the jersey rolling off the shelves as a Chrimbo present. But you have to traipse up to Balheary to buy it! This is a main street item. Surely to God one of the people you know could get a short letting on one of the shops on Swords main street and DECK IT OUT SFFC style. And you could hock the small jersey stocks at cost or something. Every kid who gets one is like an investment in the future. You could also have players around the shop to help out and have street keepy-uppy sessions to draw people in. Lets not sink into the LOI mediocrity of hoping things will come to us, and getting bitter when it doesn't. Lets try stuff. Can you talk about my idea to the people working with the club. Maybe I should ask Alan too, I bet you have the in with the commercial people.

Im not part of the supporters club. Lorcan is your man there. Alan and Paul would have stronger ties to the club than I would to be honest.

I think the idea is a sound one but doubt we could get a shop in the main street. I do think a strong push in the local Sports shops around Fingal and espescially the ones in the pavillions would be a great idea. I do agree that this is not the time to sit back and enjoy our success and to be fair i dont think the club will. The two signings we have made go some way to proving that. The club constantly promote in every way they can from what iv seen also.

Lamper.sffc

DSB wrote: »

Condescending to the max, not every club can afford to do these things. If every club could afford to undertake such measures, they would. I understand you're probably new to the league, and properly supporting a football club but please don't spout such tripe just because your club has success recently.

He is just making a point. A lot of clubs dont promote as much as they should. He is not saying others should do the same as us. Its just that some should do more. He isnt saying its your club or mentioning any other clubs in particular.

He is not new to the league either.

And he is not saying these things because we have just had success. He has been saying such things since our club has been formed and probably well before.

And when you mention condescending. Has your attitude and the attitude of others towards our club since it started not been a little on the condescending side?

Not looking for an argument by the way. Just pointing out a few facts, thats all.

santry_goonshow

Lamper.sffc wrote: »

He is just making a point. A lot of clubs dont promote as much as they should. He is not saying others should do the same as us. Its just that some should do more. He isnt saying its your club or mentioning any other clubs in particular.

He is not new to the league either.

And he is not saying these things because we have just had success. He has been saying such things since our club has been formed and probably well before.

And when you mention condescending. Has your attitude and the attitude of others towards our club since it started not been a little on the condescending side?

Not looking for an argument by the way. Just pointing out a few facts, thats all.

Thanks for the character reference there lamper

DSB, carefully casting doubt about my credentials with the team or the league is an unecessary attack especially when you dont know me or anything about me. I went to my first LOI game in the late seventies when Shelbourne came to Harolds' Cross taking a long lease on the greyhound stadium with Bord Na gCon and promising to become the local team for that area and making poor commercial decisions until gradually they got choked and had to leg it. I have a right to talk about that because well it was my life and my community, and I lived it and if you dont like what I say attack what I said instead of personally attacking me AD HOMINEM. But saying that I am a new fan of the LOI is also a bit condescending.

Ever since Sporting Fingal was set up in 2007 a lot of LOI fans have been bitter and have tried to demean the idea of a properly run club that worked in the community but was not naiive about business decisons. We here have put up with an awful lot of factless guff from those fans asking us to apologise for the existence of the club. Well guess what, I will cry you a river. Its time that the badly run clubs sh!t or get off the pot and stop behaving like deluded mafiosa if a new club comes in. I suppose the recent success on the field reflects how well the club is being run. The thing is [as those who know me will testify] I have been arguing this since SFFC got upgraded to the 1st Div not just because we got promoted and won the cup. So DSB, that's another hollow argument, and a very weak thing to say.

On the shop idea lads please pass it on to the club if you are connected. The idea of a club shop is one taken by the progressive LOI clubs. I was in Sligo recently and saw theirs. There was a flock of fans in it, showing you that these things work if you choose the right location:
http://www.sligorovers.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=847:rovers-shop-open-in-tesco-arcade&catid=13:news&Itemid=246 I also see that Wexford had one when we were down there but smaller and at the stadium: http://www.wexfordyouthsfcsc.com/shop.htm If you ask me Rovers have the best of the in-stadium shops. Maybe the players aren't around Paul, and perhaps there is too little time left until Christmas but you should agree its a good idea for the club to have a presence, even if short term on the street where people can see the jersey. Maybe the build up to the season is the right time. And, just as we are on it my brother volunteers with a charity in Mullingar. They were able to get a charity shop up and running with a small space, temporary sign, volunteers manning it for something ridiclous like eu250 a week. Sell ten jerseys and you have that. No?

Lamper.sffc

Good news for Limerick fc and nice to see they are trying to do the right things in terms of being a community club.

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/loi/news.asp?n=37727

Pineapple stu

Shelbourne came to Harolds' Cross taking a long lease on the greyhound stadium with Bord Na gCon and promising to become the local team for that area

And they have the cheek to call us Franchise

santry_goonshow

cymro wrote: »

Shelbourne came to Harolds' Cross taking a long lease on the greyhound stadium with Bord Na gCon and promising to become the local team for that area

And they have the cheek to call us Franchise

LOL
Yes sir Mr. Cymro. The very definition of a FRANCHISE is a big old brand operating from many locations, or wheeled around from place to place. Just as they promised to be the local team for Ringsend, Drumcondra, Prenton Park in Tranmere and so on and so on.... Bohs might have madcap fans but I'll give them this, they were in Dalyer since 1901.

Andy(mike)Lowry

It seems as though this thread has gone off the tracks a little again, it was this ignorant team bashing franchise crap from bitter fans from different clubs who nearly ruined this thread.
Lets keep the Sporting Fingal Thread about Sporting Fingal.

(woo! i can finally have a signature!):D

Pineapple stu

Thursday, 10 December 2009 15:38 PDF | Print | E-mail CONAN BYRNE of Sporting Fingal is the Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland Player of the Month for November.




Byrne is the first Fingal player to win the award and the first First Division recipient of the award since Conor Gethins of Finn Harps in November 2007.





The 24-year-old scored twice in five appearances during the month to bring his overall tally for the season to 27 in all competitions.





More importantly, he helped Fingal to complete a promotion and FAI Cup double in November, a feat all the more impressive considering it came in only the second season of the club's existence.





The Swords native said: "November was the highlight of my career to date. We won promotion, the FAI Cup and I then had a trip to remember to Zambia as part of the club's community work.





"It's been a whirlwind that I am only really beginning to take it all in since I got home. It's only now that I have had time to relax and reflect on all that has happened.





"Winning promotion and the Cup is a reward for all of the hard work which has gone in over the last two years. It's great to think that we have not only the Premier Division but Europe and the Setanta Sports Cup to look forward to.





"If you had told me that I would score 27 goals from the right side of midfield I would have laughed at you. The previous year I got only nine so to treble it just goes to show what a fantastic year it was.





"But I'd have to thank people like Gary O'Neill who was always holding the ball up for me and the coaches who would stay behind for another 30 minutes at the end of training to work on my finishing.





"I started off as a striker so there was a goal-scoring instinct to some extent but I wouldn't have believed that I could have scored that many."





The day after Fingal's Cup final success over Sligo Rovers, Byrne departed for a two-week stint in Mongu, Zambia with students from St Joseph's Secondary School in Rush and Balbriggan Community College.





That was part of his work as the club's community development officer with the party bringing with them more than EUR30,000 in aid following a fund-raising drive.





Byrne returned to Ireland only on Tuesday but he admitted the experience will stay with him for a long time.





He said: "Going to Zambia was a life-changing experience. I wouldn't be able to put into words how tough life is for people there. It's complete poverty but hopefully we have been able to offer some respite to that.





"We took loads of pictures and kept diaries to describe how we felt so it's going to be to good to have those to look back on. I also hope to go back in a couple of years.





"Sister Cathy Crawford has been out there for 16 years. She should be a saint. She is a saint in my eyes.





"We were working with children with physical and mental disabilities and we got some insight into the tough conditions and the way they live their lives."

Paulw

Nice story. I was only talking to him about 30 mins ago. He had a great experience in Zambia, and is still trying to get back to normal.

Great to see how well he is doing, for himself and for the club, and great for him to be recognised.

santry_goonshow

Paulw wrote: »

Nice story. I was only talking to him about 30 mins ago. He had a great experience in Zambia, and is still trying to get back to normal.

Great to see how well he is doing, for himself and for the club, and great for him to be recognised.

Now I see what you mean by overseas.

Conan is such a nice fellow. I hope he keeps developing his game with us but feel some english outfit will be in to steal him if the telly and papers catch his quality next year.:(

Alan Farrell

santry_goonshow wrote: »

I hope he keeps developing his game with us but feel some english outfit will be in to steal him if the telly and papers catch his quality next year.:(

I'd have to agree with you there, we have a couple of players whom I would imagine could be of some interest to the UK leagues if they keep improving the way they have done this season.

On the whole franchising, club shop front. I do know several people who have vacant properties (I'm an estate agent) but I think that the best place for them to be would be in the pavillions, rather than Main street. Even a stall in the middle of the concourse would do it.

All that said, the best man to talk to is Joe Corr as its a commercial decision that the club would have to consider. I'm just a supporter who happened to agree with the proposal three years ago in the council chamber and decided sitting in the stands wasn't enough.

All contact info here.

Paulw

Well, pre-season training started this morning. Poor guys.

I guess they have to keep fit, and get ready for a tough season ahead, between European football and Premier division.

Alan Farrell

Paulw wrote: »

Well, pre-season training started this morning. Poor guys.

I guess they have to keep fit, and get ready for a tough season ahead, between European football and Premier division.

Already! That was a short break.

santry_goonshow

Alan Farrell wrote: »

I'd have to agree with you there, we have a couple of players whom I would imagine could be of some interest to the UK leagues if they keep improving the way they have done this season.

On the whole franchising, club shop front. I do know several people who have vacant properties (I'm an estate agent) but I think that the best place for them to be would be in the pavillions, rather than Main street. Even a stall in the middle of the concourse would do it.

All that said, the best man to talk to is Joe Corr as its a commercial decision that the club would have to consider. I'm just a supporter who happened to agree with the proposal three years ago in the council chamber and decided sitting in the stands wasn't enough.

All contact info here.

The Pavillions to me is not so much Swords because it draws in people from everywhere on the northside and up the coast. Ok maybe not as much as Newry. :P I would still say keep it local. You can have a stall in the Pavillions for short periods too but the club shop is something you put where you know the people you target will be and Id say the main street traders would be glad of it because theres nothing unusual down there.

Thanks for the links. It looks like Joe Corr is the man.

santry_goonshow

Alan Farrell wrote: »

Already! That was a short break.

Ditto but I knew they would have them in for a session or two before the Ham and Turkey week. :pac:

Pineapple stu

Just seen the ticket prices for the year on the club web site. Its good value but i was wandering about the reserved seating season tickets and the unreserved season tickets , how is that going to work out?

DSB

Lamper.sffc wrote: »

He is just making a point. A lot of clubs dont promote as much as they should. He is not saying others should do the same as us. Its just that some should do more. He isnt saying its your club or mentioning any other clubs in particular.

He is not new to the league either.

And he is not saying these things because we have just had success. He has been saying such things since our club has been formed and probably well before.

And when you mention condescending. Has your attitude and the attitude of others towards our club since it started not been a little on the condescending side?

Not looking for an argument by the way. Just pointing out a few facts, thats all.

cymro wrote: »

Just seen the ticket prices for the year on the club web site. Its good value but i was wandering about the reserved seating season tickets and the unreserved season tickets , how is that going to work out?

Reserve your own seat I'd imagine with the reserved, other ones it'd just be go in wherever you can get some space.

Alan Farrell

DSB wrote: »

Reserve your own seat I'd imagine with the reserved, other ones it'd just be go in wherever you can get some space.

I'm not looking forward to my dual role of Steward/usher so...

Lamper.sffc

Not quite a shop but I guess its the next best thing.

http://www.sportingfingal.ie/News/tabid/1260/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2548/Sporting-Fingal-Merchandise.aspx

Pineapple stu

DSB wrote: »

Reserve your own seat I'd imagine with the reserved, other ones it'd just be go in wherever you can get some space.

Did that come from the ministery of the bleedin obvious . I ment how can they be reserved in Morton ? will it be like at St Pats with your name on the seat?

Paulw

cymro wrote: »

I ment how can they be reserved in Morton ? will it be like at St Pats with your name on the seat?

Probably it will be down to seat numbers. I think all the seats have numbers already.

I would guess that the upper central rows would be the most wanted seats.

Pineapple stu

Can we get all the stand reserved so that all the away fans are in the open terrace That way we wont have the arguments that they had this and that many away support

On the song front, how about changing the ac/dc song "For those about to rock" to" For those who won the cup, we salute you"

Lamper.sffc

Signing number three.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/soccer/2009/1216/1224260835098.html

Andy(mike)Lowry

Great Signing! team's really starting to shape up in weaker positions.
id say maybe 2 more signing's and bucko will be done . . . . for the first half of the season anyway

Lamper.sffc

Kenny Browne from waterford

http://www.fingal-independent.ie/sport/soccer/sporting-continue-to-build-1985041.html


Konopka, Robbie Doyle, Fiachra Mcardle and Philip Byrne let go, according to the Fingal Ind.

Paulw

Lamper.sffc wrote: »

Konopka, Robbie Doyle, Fiachra Mcardle and Philip Byrne let go, according to the Fingal Ind.

I'm a little surprised he's letting Konopka and Doyle go. He still needs a 2nd keeper. Doyle is a good striker too, but I guess he already had enough there.

Not surprised about McArdle and Philip Byrne really.

Still, I'm looking forward to the new season.

Lamper.sffc

Paulw wrote: »

I'm a little surprised he's letting Konopka and Doyle go. He still needs a 2nd keeper. Doyle is a good striker too, but I guess he already had enough there.

Not surprised about McArdle and Philip Byrne really.

Still, I'm looking forward to the new season.

A little disappointed about Philip Byrne leaving. Thought he did really well when Maher and Paisley where injured at the beginning of the season. He would be a good player for another team going for promotion in the 1st IMO.