Limerick: FAI Refuse to Sanction Barcelona friendly

The_Kew_Tour

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/0513/limerick.html

If true the FAI are some pack of *****.

It would help Limerick so much imo

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Probably afriad it'll take away from their friendly.:rolleyes:

dan1895

Yet its ok for a representitive XI to play yinira the same week as cup semis and potential euro qualifiers??

GLaDOS

Absolute joke, would have been a huge coup, esp as they agree to play some big players

Diabhal Beag

Must be more method to the madness.

_blank_

More idiocy.

Kess73

Bad stuff if it pans out this way. I hear Messi is gutted that he will not get to meet me.:)



I hope someone sees sense on this. Would be great to see Barca play at Thomond Park, especially if a decent number of the big names are there.

RasTa

Dublin only, culchies.

RichTea

That's outrageous. I wish I could say I'm surprised by this but I'm really not. The FAI are smalltime.

antomorro-sei

Pathetic stuff.

CSF

This has to be it for them running the league.

CSF

'The FAI has also told the Blues that it is in active and ongoing negotiations with Barcelona in relation to a visit to the Aviva Stadium.'

Real reason behind it all.

Töpher

CSF wrote: »

This has to be it for them running the league.

No way they'll get another deal, they'll be out on their ear. Good riddance too, nothing but an inept shower of cowboys.

Third party commercial agreements? That's disgusting. Rovers v Madrid was alright, but I suppose they weren't on the ball enough to try to nab Madrid first on that one.

The Article wrote:

The FAI has also told the Blues that it is in active and ongoing negotiations with Barcelona in relation to a visit of Aviva Stadium.

There's the reasoning. The poor FAI couldn't cope if little ol' Limerick got their hands on the cash, it's much better for Irish football if the money earned is filling the void left by thousands of unsold premium 10 year tickets.

I'm not sticking up for Limerick here either, couldn't give a monkey's left one if they went tits up in the morning, but this is really petty from the temporary powers that be.

Töpher

www.limerickfc.ie wrote:

Limerick FC would like to confirm that they have been in on-going negotiations with FC Barcelona with a view to hosting them in a friendly match at Thomond Park in July of this year. The club confirms that agreement has been reached between Limerick FC and FC Barcelona that the match would take place on 31st July subject to official sanctioning by the Football Association of Ireland. The agreement guarantees that the FC Barcelona team to play Limerick will include marquee stars such as Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Xavi, Bojan & all new marquee signings.

However, Limerick FC has been informed that the Airtricity League Director has refused to sanction the game. The failure of the FAI & Airtricity League Director to sanction this game ensures that fans throughout the Mid West region and beyond will not have the opportunity to see the world’s greatest stars in action.

Pat O’Sullivan, Chairman of Limerick FC, said: "This is a massive setback for Limerick FC, Limerick City and the Mid-West region. We along with Thomond Park & local tourism bodies have worked tirelessly to bring a team of the stature of FC Barcelona to the sports mad Mid West region. The potential benefit to the local economy of up to €10million and to the profile of soccer in the region is enormous. This makes it imperative that the Airtricity League Director reverse his decision, sanction this match and allow fans all over the region see the likes of Lionel Messi grace Thomond Park in July."

FAIl.

dreamers75

P1 are behind the limerick thing.

CSF

dreamers75 wrote: »

P1 are behind the limerick thing.

Jesus, they really could take the league forward if given half the chance, you get the impression they'd actually want to aswell. Instead of the FAI doing a half-arsed job on it.

John Delaney, the most hateable man since Hitler?

_blank_

Why do they even need permission?

monkey9

Well hold on a minute. Why should Barca affect the league fixtures????

If it was Arsenal or Liverpool etc, and the FAI allowed the friendly to go ahead, they would get grief for not taking their own league seriously against the barstoolers!

TheBigLebowski

monkey9 wrote: »

Well hold on a minute. Why should Barca affect the league fixtures????

Why would it affect the fixtures? Limerick are not playing that night.

Neil3030

I'd just play the game anyway. F*** the FAI.

_blank_

monkey9 wrote: »

Well hold on a minute. Why should Barca affect the league fixtures????

If it was Arsenal or Liverpool etc, and the FAI allowed the friendly to go ahead, they would get grief for not taking their own league seriously against the barstoolers!

Wrong.

This wouldn't affect the fixtures.

LoI teams regularly have friendlies in the summer months against English opposition. Leeds have been over the last two summers to play Shels. The Leeds fans get to see their team, and Shels play a mixture of fringe first teamers, lads returning from injury and youngfellas. Everyone's a winner baby, as they say.

Saint_Mel

And it was set for a 3pm kick off which would give everyone enough time to get to Athlone after it for the big game against Waterford. Everyones a winner

stovelid

dreamers75 wrote: »

P1 are behind the limerick thing.

I can see clearly now.

antomorro-sei

Des wrote: »

Why do they even need permission?

Cos every game has to be given permission by the FAI I think.

MuPpItJoCkEy

This is sad. If such a fixture could be organised, any team and it's football association should be happy to get a team like Barcelona to play against.

Don't we always hear footballers saying that they want to pit their wits against the best and the fans want to see their teams playing the best too.

Feels like there is a lot of losing out going on here.

gimmick

What I do not understand is why there cannot be 2 games perhaps? Not like they will not be able to shift the tickets. There is plenty money to be made here and the FAI are screwing it up for everyone.

Ridiculous behaviour.

dreamers75

I wonder if Maxi does "contract" jobs.

Dub13

Des wrote: »

Why do they even need permission?

I was just thinking that,what could the FAI do it they just went ahead with the game.

curry-muff

They're probably afraid of what the Limerick locals will do to Henry

Xavi6

[selfish bastard]Delighted.

No way I want Xavi playing in Ireland when I won't be there to see it.[/selfish bastard]

Bounty Hunter

This is in absolutley no way right.

101001

thomand isnt an FAI stadium. how can they prevent them... how could the FAI punish Limerick? Could they kick them out of the league?

Paparazzo

There's one good outcome from this. If anyone was in any doubt that the FAI were the biggest shower of useless cúnts in the country, now they're sure.

Limerick Dude

Absolute farce, what are the possibilities of this being overturned?

Töpher

Quite slim I'd imagine. As was mentioned in the original article, the FAI have already stated that they want the Barcelona coup for themselves.

gimmick

Bombard the cúnts with emails. info@fai.ie.

ArmaniJeanss

Dub13 wrote: »

I was just thinking that,what could the FAI do it they just went ahead with the game.

It just wouldn't happen as Barcelona wouldn't be willing to play an unlicensed anyway.
Every 'inter association friendly' that takes place needs to be rubberstamped by both associations - its generally the sort of thing that happens in the background and obviously in 99.999% of games its not an issue.

Limerick Dude

Taken from the Limerick Leader:

Limerick FC: FAI first association to turn down FC Barcelona

Published Date: 14 May 2010
Limerick FC released the following statement this Saturday:
Limerick FC would like to clarify certain matters in relation to the statement released by the FAI regarding their reasons for not sanctioning the proposed friendly between Limerick FC and FC Barcelona on July 31 in Thomond Park.

In the long and glorious history of FC Barcelona, the club has never been declined permission to play a friendly in any country it has visited. It is a shame that the FAI will now have the indignity of being the first national association to make this happen.

The failure of the FAI to sanction the friendly game with Limerick FC on July 31 could thus impact negatively future plans for FC Barcelona to visit Ireland.

FC Barcelona is not in negotiations with the FAI over a friendly game in Ireland for this summer or for summer 2011. FC Barcelona did meet with a delegation from the FAI at Camp Nou last month in order to analyse the possibility of visit Ireland during the summer 2011.

However, no formal paperwork outlining plans for the proposed friendly have been received by FC Barcelona from the FAI, no proposed dates for the friendly have been discussed and no financial terms have been proposed by the FAI.

The only negotiations that FC Barcelona have undertaken in Ireland during this year are with Limerick FC and a heads of agreement has been reached by both parties for July 31 in Thomond Park.

In addition the closeness of just 5 days between our clubs proposed game in Thomond Park to the visit of Manchester United to the Aviva Stadium, is something that should be embraced by the FAI.

It will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for Irish fans to see two of the world's biggest clubs grace two of Ireland's greatest stadiums in quick succession.

Finally, Limerick FC re-affirm their commitment to playing in Thomond Park on the 31 of July next and FC Barcelona is awaiting on receiving the final approval from FAI to continue with this potential game. Both clubs are calling on the FAI to sanction the game for the good of Irish football, Limerick FC, Limerick City and entire Mid-West region.

everdead.ie

If Limerick wanted to play this in lansdown it probably wouldn't be a problem which is sickening.

oldyouth

101001 wrote: »

thomand isnt an FAI stadium. how can they prevent them... how could the FAI punish Limerick? Could they kick them out of the league?

They could envoke serious sanctions against them, just like they did on Derry and Cork and make them play in the 1st Division next season.............'em, wait a minute, I'll get back to you on that one....

baalthor

CSF wrote: »

John Delaney, the most hateable man since Hitler?

Ah ... that's harsh ...

Hitler oversaw the Berlin Olympics, one of the greatest sporting spectacles of the 20th century :-D

Roar

i'm gobsmacked. what a shower of inept c**ts. **** the fai. seriously. i'm disgusted after reading about this. they couldn't give two ****s about the domestic game. delaney should be run out of office.

Töpher

Then again, though, I mean, it is, you know, Limerick, and all that.

bohsman

Apparently Barca approached Bohs but the FAI told us to **** off straight away. This shambles reminds me why I wont support the FAIs national team.

amacachi

bohsman wrote: »

Apparently Barca approached Bohs but the FAI told us to **** off straight away. This shambles reminds me why I wont support the FAIs national team.

Same here, want nothing to do with anything the FAI are involved in. Absolute ****ing joke.

ArmaniJeanss

bohsman wrote: »

Apparently Barca approached Bohs but the FAI told us to **** off straight away. This shambles reminds me why I wont support the FAIs national team.

The chances of this being true (an official from FC Barcelona approaching someone from Bohemians Phibsboro looking for a friendly) is probably about 1 in a 100.

bohsman

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

The chances of this being true (an official from FC Barcelona approaching someone from Bohemians Phibsboro looking for a friendly) is probably about 1 in a 100.

You are already well aware that P1 are involved so really dont understand this post.

TheBigLebowski

Some of the Bohs fans on here would want to take a long hard look at their own club before they start having a go at the FAI for petty small minded-ness.


http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/smallmindedness-that-drove-me-out-of-irish-football-2182022.html
Small-mindedness that drove me out of Irish football


By Richard Sadlier


Sunday May 16 2010

It was a level of exposure that money can't buy. Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid debut was to happen on Irish soil in a League of Ireland ground.

Although most people would tune in to see Real Madrid rather than Shamrock Rovers, the fixture presented an opportunity for the domestic game to figure in at least the conversations of Irish football fans all over the country for the first time in a long time.

However, a request from local rivals Bohemians the month before left me stunned. It was the phone call which brought about my decision to quit the League of Ireland.

In a staggering display of small-mindedness and self-interest, I was asked to lend my support, and that of St Patrick's Athletic, to a formal objection by Bohs against the game going ahead. Their concern was that the game would affect the attendance at their Champions League game two nights later if they were drawn to play at home in the first leg. St Pat's were due to play in the Europa League the night after that (though we could also have been drawn away first) and they figured I would be of a like mind.

simonw

Do you really think that's why Sadlier quit? Nothing to do with the relegation battle and messing up by appointing Kenna? Yeah, It was a phone call from Bohs that did it...

Anyway, apparently this was in the mirror today

"The Fai have sensationally threatened to pull the plug on their running of the League of Ireland. The Association are increasingly irritated with some clubs, and are believed to be close to breaking point following Limerick FC's bid to overshadow the opening of Lansdowne Road Stadium. The First Division club were angered that the FAI wouldn't sanction a money-spinning July friendly with Barcelona in Thomand Park, and released the news the night before the planned ribbon-cutting. "The Association is getting pi**ed off with the clubs - it gets more flak than it deserves," an FAI source said last night. "The FAI spends €5 million a year to run the League and the clubs' attitudes are all wrong. They just want cheques from us and don't care how they get them. "Commercial priorities have to be protected and we're seriously considering walking away when the agreement ends next year. Then the clubs can play all the friendlies they like."

TheBigLebowski

simonw wrote: »

Do you really think that's why Sadlier quit? Nothing to do with the relegation battle and messing up by appointing Kenna? Yeah, It was a phone call from Bohs that did it...

Well that much is obvious. The point of me posting it is to do with the pathetic approach by bohs rather than the reasons Sadlier quit and I'd rather that is the focus of the discussion rather than Sadlier.

bohsman

Lets not forget Rovers own pathetic approach to the FAI regarding 7 month old verified accounts.

I dont agree with what Bohs did either btw.