send LOI players to the olympics?

daniel91

just had a thought, i know its a few years away yet, but would it not be a good idea for the fai to enter a Republic of Ireland team made up of League of Ireland players into the next olympic games in London, thats providing that the League of Ireland still exsists in 2012.

I don't think there has ever been an Irish olympic football team, so if the fai are not prepared to sent the senior squad give the chance to loi players. It can only do good for league in my opinion. At the last olympic teams such as, Argentina, Brazil, Holland and Germany all took part with all world-class players so it would be a great experience for the players and the league as a whole. For example use the under 23 team managed by Pat Fenlon which is currently made up of exclusivly League of Ireland players.

At the moment the LoI is at rock bottom, and i know that its 3 years away yet, but it surly something that I think the Fai could consider to give the league a little boost.

So what do the rest of you think?

CHD

Before i read that, it's not possible to just enter a team, you have to qualify.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Two reasons why this shouldn't happen:

1. The Olympics are on during the LoI season, not at the beginning which is the case for most countries.

2. We would get battered left, right and centre.

daniel91

CHD wrote: »

Before i read that, it's not possible to just enter a team, you have to qualify.

well let them have a crack at qualifying.

daniel91

baz2009 wrote: »

Two reasons why this shouldn't happen:

1. The Olympics are on during the LoI season, not at the beginning which is the case for most countries.

2. We would get battered left, right and centre.

i think the football tournament lasts 2 weeks, theres already a one week break during the summer in the loi, just extend for another week.

CHD

daniel91 wrote: »

well let them have a crack at qualifying.

No. This would mean leaving out the top Irish youths for just LOI players for a future tournament.

LuckyLloyd

The Olympics is an U23 competition (plus you are allowed 3 players over 23 in addition).

The qualifiers are drawn from the European U21 Championship.

A LOI team fitting either age group would get badly embarrassed in either tournament (our U21 team isn't particularly competitive as it stands).

GLaDOS

daniel91 wrote: »

At the moment the LoI is at rock bottom

LOI teams are starting to actually compete against European teams now, it mightn't be much but we're improving.

daniel91

ScienceNerd wrote: »

LOI teams are starting to actually compete against European teams now, it mightn't be much but we're improving.

i mean the general state of the league i.e finance, low attendences

Guy:Incognito

We couldnt enter a team anyway could we? The Ireland olympic team is a 32 county one and we have 2 associations in those 32 counties. We couldnt enter an "Ireland" team in every event and a "republic of Ireland " team in football.

SantryRed

:pac:

For us to qualify for the Olympics we'd need Don Givens to get us to the European U21 Championships! There's more chance in Steve Staunton winning us the World Cup to be honest.

LuckyLloyd

Stekelly wrote: »

We couldnt enter a team anyway could we? The Ireland olympic team is a 32 county one and we have 2 associations in those 32 counties. We couldnt enter an "Ireland" team in every event and a "republic of Ireland " team in football.

You might have a point!! Pretty sick that the issue has never come up due to the ineptitude of UK and Irish U21 squads down through the years.

stovelid

If anybody wants to give the league a 'little boost', just go to some matches. Never mind the bleedin' Olympics.

adamski8

well it was a nice idea, seems like alot of problems to it. pity. soccer at the olympics is bull**** imo. actually alot of the olympics events are.

Daysha

adamski8 wrote: »

well it was a nice idea, seems like alot of problems to it. pity. soccer at the olympics is bull**** imo. actually alot of the olympics events are.

So is that why you want to send our young LoI players out there?

which olympics?

Guy:Incognito

rarnes1 wrote: »

which olympics?

The Winter Olympics

adamski8

Daysha wrote: »

So is that why you want to send our young LoI players out there?

? i didnt say i did!!!!! an dont understand what you mean by that!
like i say it was a nice idea by the op. just to give the loi players a chance to have a good experience, give the league some exposure etc.
I, like the op, didnt know about the qualifying route or that it was an under 23 tournament (like i said i think soccer at the olympics is bull**** so dont give it much thought! this BS is highlighted by the fact you can have 3 players over this age playing! wtf is that all about!)
Anyway screw the olympics, i get to watch lots of matches involving the under 23's in the LOI supporting the wexford youths!

Daysha

Apologies Adam, my mistake.

ArmaniJeanss

We always take part in the qualifiers and don't get very far.

You have to win a group (usually 3 or 4 teams with a heavyweight) which gets you to the Uefa U23 Finals and you have to qualify for the semifinals of that competition to qualify for the Olympics (it'll prob be Top3 only this time with one of Europes 4 places being taken by the hosts).

Because the Uefa U23 comp is considered the priority we won't be putting out a weakened team comprising just LOI players (though obviously many could/should be in the team on merit).

If we did qualify for the Olympics I don't think there'd be a huge political issue.

shane86

daniel91 wrote: »

just had a thought, i know its a few years away yet, but would it not be a good idea for the fai to enter a Republic of Ireland team made up of League of Ireland players into the next olympic games in London, thats providing that the League of Ireland still exsists in 2012.

I don't think there has ever been an Irish olympic football team, so if the fai are not prepared to sent the senior squad give the chance to loi players. It can only do good for league in my opinion. At the last olympic teams such as, Argentina, Brazil, Holland and Germany all took part with all world-class players so it would be a great experience for the players and the league as a whole. For example use the under 23 team managed by Pat Fenlon which is currently made up of exclusivly League of Ireland players.

At the moment the LoI is at rock bottom, and i know that its 3 years away yet, but it surly something that I think the Fai could consider to give the league a little boost.

So what do the rest of you think?

So rather than giving our most talented mainly English based players their first taste of international football in trying to qualify for the underage Euros, we should enter poorer players because they are based in Ireland? As in, we should penalise our more talented players by not allowing them to play for their country?

This lets include a few token LOI for the senior side nonsense that gets bandied around at every Trap selection gets my goat, it really does.

SantryRed

But it's not token LOI players. They're players who are probably good enough for selection, the example at the minute being Brian Murphy.

premierstone

SantryRed wrote: »

But it's not token LOI players. They're players who are probably good enough for selection, the example at the minute being Brian Murphy.

Well if there are players who are good enough to be selected then why is there a need to confine it solely to the LOI no offence OP but this is a redic idea, LOI needs to sort itself out first not to be swaning off to international competions where they would be so far out of their depth it would be cringeworthy, and if any one thinks the ''experience'' of getting thumped would be good for them thern i give up :rolleyes:

daniel91

well obviously not everyone agrees, thats grand just wanted to get your thoughts and i see now it's not as easy as i thought to send a team to the olympics and didn't realise that it would effect the u21s. Thanks for all the replies.

pablomakaveli

premierstone wrote: »

Well if there are players who are good enough to be selected then why is there a need to confine it solely to the LOI no offence OP but this is a redic idea, LOI needs to sort itself out first not to be swaning off to international competions where they would be so far out of their depth it would be cringeworthy, and if any one thinks the ''experience'' of getting thumped would be good for them thern i give up :rolleyes:

To be fair i don't think the ability of the players in the LOI should be judged by the leagues problems. There are a few players who would deserve a place on an u23 olympics side if there was one.

premierstone

pablomakaveli wrote: »

To be fair i don't think the ability of the players in the LOI should be judged by the leagues problems. There are a few players who would deserve a place on an u23 olympics side if there was one.

I agree with you that there are 'some' players deserving but to make it exclusive to LOI players would result in an even more sub-standard u-23 team than the one we have already