Best fans in the world

bohsman

homerjay2005 wrote: »

my question is, what about the 2.5 million people who are not from Dublin or the big towns yet are expected to support LOI teams?

If the interest was there for a club the club would be there. Recently people from Kilkenny have been using that excuse for supporting foreign teams, soon Monaghan natives will claim they would support the league but don't because they have no club.

Seriously, the main debate in this thread at least is that the national team would benefit massively if the 30k that went to Poland took an interest. Plenty of people follow the premiership without having an EPL club in their town, take an interest, follow results, watch a few games on TV, discuss up and coming talents on here, all that would be a major change for the better for the league. Anything would be better than the "I'd close my curtains if they were playing in my back garden" attitude we get from a lot of Irish people. Nobody is saying that everyone should be a season ticket holder or even a regular match goer although you would all be more than welcomed.

Zebra3

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i currently play junior club soccer in dublin and played it for years when i lived in the countryside. i coach kids at local level and have done it at intercounry level in the past also. i support United and go to see them 30 times a year. so cos i invest my money in United, but i invest all my efforts and time into local soccer, i am not considered an irish football fan by some here.

The threads is about whether or nor Ireland national team fans are BFITW.

Which United? Drogheda? Newcastle? Avondale?

Brain Stroking

I got back from Poland yesterday and have read this thread at times while in Poland. I'm a smartphone newbie so am only posting my opinion on it now.

I went to all three games in the group and was in Gdansk singing the Fields of Athenry. I was also disappointed with the team's performance but could not question the effort being put in. How can you berate someone for simply not being good enough and being out of their depth?
However, and i want to make this clear as i think most of the negative opinions of Irish fans in Poland on this thread comes from those who werent in Poland. I was and we were 4-0 down in or around the 83rd minute against Spain, our interest in a quarter final place had been ruthlessly snuffed out and everyone around me in the stadium was disappointed.
The singing of the Fields of Athenry from the 84th minute onwards as i felt it there in the stadium was the Irish fans declaring their pride in being Irish. Until you attend a big soccer tournament event (and i was at France 98 and Germany 2006) then you wont realise the atmosphere in these stadiums. It isnt the same as a club league game in England or in Ireland. The Spanish fans around us were singing "Come on you boys in green" with us as the Spanish and Irish teams walked onto the pitch. The Croatians were similar despite the fact that the Dinamo Zagreb lads myself and my friends were drinking with seemed pretty hardcore. That doesnt happen in club situations. So in light of that one can imagine better what the us Irish fans were doing in Gdansk. We were celebrating the fact that despite the result on the pitch we were proud to be Irish. Simple as that and that is what other countries have picked up on and made a big deal of. So what? Is it not a good thing to be positive despite the disappointment we were feeling? It is only a game of football at the end of the day.

As for the "Best Fans in the World" tag, well no one in Poland i met was talking about that. Seems like people here listen to Adrian Chiles or some other talking head talk guff and then use it to bash the travelling Irish fans over the head with it. Ask yourselves who came up with the tag.

I am a football nut and was there for the games. But it is also my holiday for the year. So naturally i am going to have a good time on my holidays right? Some of the comments here by people regarding the Irish drinking over there are laughable. Despite all the partying going on there was no irish trouble out there. And i met fans from the poorest areas to the wealthier areas of the country. There was a very broad demographic of Irish supporters in Poland. That all of us behaved and left a very positive image with the locals is a great thing in my opinion and one we should be proud of. The Polish newspapers all had headlines on tuesday saying "we will miss you Irish" or along those lines. How is that a bad thing? Of course, i know they will miss our spending in their cities but we were no trouble. I have late night drunken phots of myself wearing riot police gear and the riot police wearing irish jerseys. I look back on it fondly and proud that because i'm Irish i can travel abroad and not be treated with any suspicion. We should be proud of that.

As for the LOI dont make me laugh. I am living in Dublin 5 years and was in Inchicore for 13 months. I went to 6/7 Pats games as soon as i moved in as i am originally from Mayo (where there is no League of Ireland club of course) but wanted a local team to follow. I was very disappointed. Each and every game was muck. Standard was so poor and the style of football was long balls from the back and then head tennis. Not to mention throw-ins. I still have recurring nightmares about the 50,000 or so throw-ins i saw in those 6/7 games i attended. Long story short i decided to stick with the EPL and various major European leagues as, well, the standard is so much better. But i dont see how that makes my support for the Irish team any less valid. I am Irish. Says so on my passport. I've lived here all my 30 years. My family are all Irish. So i have full right to support the Irish soccer team believe it or not.
Then again, LOI fans arent the smartest or the most sensitive when push comes to shove as this horrible story involving a man from my own county's dealings with the great and good in the LOI stands:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055082794

Brain Stroking

Zebra3 wrote: »

The threads is about whether or nor Ireland national team fans are BFITW.

Which United? Drogheda? Newcastle? Avondale?

The part in bold shows your motivations and prejudices the arguments you are making. Your problem is that people living in ireland support English teams and not local Irish ones. What you dont realise is that the Premier League is shown everywhere. Worldwide. There are people in Holland who support Premier League teams and not Dutch ones. Same story everywhere. You do realise that right?

Hazys

homerjay2005 wrote: »

my question is, what about the 2.5 million people who are not from Dublin or the big towns yet are expected to support LOI teams?

About 2.8m out of 4.5m people in Ireland live in an urban area. 60% of our population lives in a urban area. So the vast majority of urban areas have access LOI team.

And most likely the majority of the other 40% live within a hour of a LOI team.

Its a poor excuse to say the LOI is unaccessible to people living in Ireland.


I understand a person from Kerry or Tipperary is not going to support a Cork or Limerick soccer team but the vast majority of our population is covered by a LOI team.

ben.schlomo

Brain Stroking wrote: »

I got back from Poland yesterday and have read this thread at times while in Poland. I'm a smartphone newbie so am only posting my opinion on it now.

I went to all three games in the group and was in Gdansk singing the Fields of Athenry. I was also disappointed with the team's performance but could not question the effort being put in. How can you berate someone for simply not being good enough and being out of their depth?
However, and i want to make this clear as i think most of the negative opinions of Irish fans in Poland on this thread comes from those who werent in Poland. I was and we were 4-0 down in or around the 83rd minute against Spain, our interest in a quarter final place had been ruthlessly snuffed out and everyone around me in the stadium was disappointed.
The singing of the Fields of Athenry from the 84th minute onwards as i felt it there in the stadium was the Irish fans declaring their pride in being Irish. Until you attend a big soccer tournament event (and i was at France 98 and Germany 2006) then you wont realise the atmosphere in these stadiums. It isnt the same as a club league game in England or in Ireland. The Spanish fans around us were singing "Come on you boys in green" with us as the Spanish and Irish teams walked onto the pitch. The Croatians were similar despite the fact that the Dinamo Zagreb lads myself and my friends were drinking with seemed pretty hardcore. That doesnt happen in club situations. So in light of that one can imagine better what the us Irish fans were doing in Gdansk. We were celebrating the fact that despite the result on the pitch we were proud to be Irish. Simple as that and that is what other countries have picked up on and made a big deal of. So what? Is it not a good thing to be positive despite the disappointment we were feeling? It is only a game of football at the end of the day.

As for the "Best Fans in the World" tag, well no one in Poland i met was talking about that. Seems like people here listen to Adrian Chiles or some other talking head talk guff and then use it to bash the travelling Irish fans over the head with it. Ask yourselves who came up with the tag.

I am a football nut and was there for the games. But it is also my holiday for the year. So naturally i am going to have a good time on my holidays right? Some of the comments here by people regarding the Irish drinking over there are laughable. Despite all the partying going on there was no irish trouble out there. And i met fans from the poorest areas to the wealthier areas of the country. There was a very broad demographic of Irish supporters in Poland. That all of us behaved and left a very positive image with the locals is a great thing in my opinion and one we should be proud of. The Polish newspapers all had headlines on tuesday saying "we will miss you Irish" or along those lines. How is that a bad thing? Of course, i know they will miss our spending in their cities but we were no trouble. I have late night drunken phots of myself wearing riot police gear and the riot police wearing irish jerseys. I look back on it fondly and proud that because i'm Irish i can travel abroad and not be treated with any suspicion. We should be proud of that.

As for the LOI dont make me laugh. I am living in Dublin 5 years and was in Inchicore for 13 months. I went to 6/7 Pats games as soon as i moved in as i am originally from Mayo (where there is no League of Ireland club of course) but wanted a local team to follow. I was very disappointed. Each and every game was muck. Standard was so poor and the style of football was long balls from the back and then head tennis. Not to mention throw-ins. I still have recurring nightmares about the 50,000 or so throw-ins i saw in those 6/7 games i attended. Long story short i decided to stick with the EPL and various major European leagues as, well, the standard is so much better. But i dont see how that makes my support for the Irish team any less valid. I am Irish. Says so on my passport. I've lived here all my 30 years. My family are all Irish. So i have full right to support the Irish soccer team believe it or not.
Then again, LOI fans arent the smartest or the most sensitive when push comes to shove as this horrible story involving a man from my own county's dealings with the great and good in the LOI stands:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055082794

Would be just as easy to pull up a story about Spurs fans disgusting Sol Campbell chants, Man Utd fans on Hillsborough, Liverpool on Munich etc etc etc. Cheap shot imo.

Brain Stroking

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Would be just as easy to pull up a story about Spurs fans disgusting Sol Campbell chants, Man Utd fans on Hillsborough, Liverpool on Munich etc etc etc. Cheap shot imo.

Fair enough and i accept that. I was just using a sledgehammer to illustrate that those in this thread on their high horse need to take a step back.

CSF

Brain Stroking wrote: »

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Would be just as easy to pull up a story about Spurs fans disgusting Sol Campbell chants, Man Utd fans on Hillsborough, Liverpool on Munich etc etc etc. Cheap shot imo.

Fair enough and i accept that. I was just using a sledgehammer to illustrate that those in this thread on their high horse need to take a step back.

So you included, then? Or just those on their highhorse with a different opinion to you?

Brain Stroking

CSF wrote: »

So you included, then? Or just those on their highhorse with a different opinion to you?

No i am responding to silly insults towards Irish fans who travelled to Poland for the European Championships based on whether they support LOI or not. Havent tried to get on the horse at all.

I will add it is interesting that my "cheap shot" at the end of my original post is what's picked up on and not my previous thoughts of the Irish fans behaviour in Poland and to a lesser extent a look at the non-travelling poster's motivations on this thread. Agree with my opinion on that?

CSF

Brain Stroking wrote: »

No i am responding to silly insults towards Irish fans who travelled to Poland for the European Championships based on whether they support LOI or not. Havent tried to get on the horse at all.

I will add it is interesting that my "cheap shot" at the end of my original post is what's picked up on and not my previous thoughts of the Irish fans behaviour in Poland and to a lesser extent a look at the non-travelling poster's motivations on this thread. Agree with my opinion on that?

I didn't pick up on anything, but you are definitely on your highhorse. I do hope it is cosy.

bohsman

Brain Stroking wrote: »

No i am responding to silly insults towards Irish fans who travelled to Poland for the European Championships based on whether they support LOI or not. Havent tried to get on the horse at all.

I will add it is interesting that my "cheap shot" at the end of my original post is what's picked up on and not my previous thoughts of the Irish fans behaviour in Poland and to a lesser extent a look at the non-travelling poster's motivations on this thread. Agree with my opinion on that?

Because when you throw petty digs in any reasonable points tend to get lost. Also nobody disagrees that the Irish fans had a good time in Poland or think that that's a bad thing. It is a fact though that the standard of the league and the national team would improve massively if all the people that went to Poland followed the league instead of complaining that there are too many throw ins.

gustavo

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Brain Stroking wrote: »

I got back from Poland yesterday and have read this thread at times while in Poland. I'm a smartphone newbie so am only posting my opinion on it now.

I went to all three games in the group and was in Gdansk singing the Fields of Athenry. I was also disappointed with the team's performance but could not question the effort being put in. How can you berate someone for simply not being good enough and being out of their depth?
However, and i want to make this clear as i think most of the negative opinions of Irish fans in Poland on this thread comes from those who werent in Poland. I was and we were 4-0 down in or around the 83rd minute against Spain, our interest in a quarter final place had been ruthlessly snuffed out and everyone around me in the stadium was disappointed.
The singing of the Fields of Athenry from the 84th minute onwards as i felt it there in the stadium was the Irish fans declaring their pride in being Irish. Until you attend a big soccer tournament event (and i was at France 98 and Germany 2006) then you wont realise the atmosphere in these stadiums. It isnt the same as a club league game in England or in Ireland. The Spanish fans around us were singing "Come on you boys in green" with us as the Spanish and Irish teams walked onto the pitch. The Croatians were similar despite the fact that the Dinamo Zagreb lads myself and my friends were drinking with seemed pretty hardcore. That doesnt happen in club situations. So in light of that one can imagine better what the us Irish fans were doing in Gdansk. We were celebrating the fact that despite the result on the pitch we were proud to be Irish. Simple as that and that is what other countries have picked up on and made a big deal of. So what? Is it not a good thing to be positive despite the disappointment we were feeling? It is only a game of football at the end of the day.

As for the "Best Fans in the World" tag, well no one in Poland i met was talking about that. Seems like people here listen to Adrian Chiles or some other talking head talk guff and then use it to bash the travelling Irish fans over the head with it. Ask yourselves who came up with the tag.

I am a football nut and was there for the games. But it is also my holiday for the year. So naturally i am going to have a good time on my holidays right? Some of the comments here by people regarding the Irish drinking over there are laughable. Despite all the partying going on there was no irish trouble out there. And i met fans from the poorest areas to the wealthier areas of the country. There was a very broad demographic of Irish supporters in Poland. That all of us behaved and left a very positive image with the locals is a great thing in my opinion and one we should be proud of. The Polish newspapers all had headlines on tuesday saying "we will miss you Irish" or along those lines. How is that a bad thing? Of course, i know they will miss our spending in their cities but we were no trouble. I have late night drunken phots of myself wearing riot police gear and the riot police wearing irish jerseys. I look back on it fondly and proud that because i'm Irish i can travel abroad and not be treated with any suspicion. We should be proud of that.

As for the LOI dont make me laugh. I am living in Dublin 5 years and was in Inchicore for 13 months. I went to 6/7 Pats games as soon as i moved in as i am originally from Mayo (where there is no League of Ireland club of course) but wanted a local team to follow. I was very disappointed. Each and every game was muck. Standard was so poor and the style of football was long balls from the back and then head tennis. Not to mention throw-ins. I still have recurring nightmares about the 50,000 or so throw-ins i saw in those 6/7 games i attended. Long story short i decided to stick with the EPL and various major European leagues as, well, the standard is so much better. But i dont see how that makes my support for the Irish team any less valid. I am Irish. Says so on my passport. I've lived here all my 30 years. My family are all Irish. So i have full right to support the Irish soccer team believe it or not.
Then again, LOI fans arent the smartest or the most sensitive when push comes to shove as this horrible story involving a man from my own county's dealings with the great and good in the LOI stands:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055082794

Would be just as easy to pull up a story about Spurs fans disgusting Sol Campbell chants, Man Utd fans on Hillsborough, Liverpool on Munich etc etc etc. Cheap shot imo.

Ah no he's right though that one incident involving half a dozen fans 5 years ago go proves we're all idiots for supporting a team just because they represent where we come from

Kess73

Hazys wrote: »

About 2.8m out of 4.5m people in Ireland live in an urban area. 60% of our population lives in a urban area. So the vast majority of urban areas have access LOI team.

And most likely the majority of the other 40% live within a hour of a LOI team.

Its a poor excuse to say the LOI is unaccessible to people living in Ireland.


I understand a person from Kerry or Tipperary is not going to support a Cork or Limerick soccer team but the vast majority of our population is covered by a LOI team.

Throw Clare in there as well, and you now have three of the six Munster counties that do not have a LOI team.

Would actually be curious as to how many of the 26 counties do not have a LOI club in them

CSF

Kess73 wrote: »

Throw Clare in there as well, and you now have three of the six Munster counties that do not have a LOI team.

Would actually be curious as to how many of the 26 counties do not have a LOI club in them

10 if you dont include Kildare and Roscommon (which you shouldn't because they're so close to clubs). I can fully understand people from those counties not supporting a club.

paddy978

Donegal- Harps
Leitrim- Sligo Rovers?
Mayo
Roscommon- Athlone/Longford
Galway- Mervue/SD Galway
Sligo- Sligo Rovers
Clare
Kerry
Tipperary
Limerick- Limerick FC
Cork- Cork City
Waterford- Waterford Utd
Monaghan
Cavan
Louth-Dundalk/Drogheda
Dublin- Shamrock Rovers/Shelbourne/St.Pats/Bohs/UCD
Wicklow- Bray
Wexford- Wexford Youths
Kilkenny
Carlow
Kildare
Longford- Longford Town
Westmeath- Athlone Town
Laois
Meath
Offaly

CSF

paddy978 wrote: »

Donegal- Harps
Leitrim- Sligo Rovers?
Mayo
Roscommon- Athlone/Longford
Galway- Mervue/SD Galway
Sligo- Sligo Rovers
Clare
Kerry
Tipperary
Limerick- Limerick FC
Cork- Cork City
Waterford- Waterford Utd
Monaghan
Cavan
Louth-Dundalk/Drogheda
Dublin- Shamrock Rovers/Shelbourne/St.Pats/Bohs/UCD
Wicklow- Bray
Wexford- Wexford Youths
Kilkenny
Carlow
Kildare
Longford- Longford Town
Westmeath- Athlone Town
Laois
Meath
Offaly

Drogheda is in Meath aswell as Louth. If you look at that list, of the empty ones, 6 of them have had clubs in the LOI or A League and not embraced them.

Felexicon

I've never been to a LoI game but I'm going to give it ago in the next few weeks (away on holiday next week). What would be the best game to go and see in order to get a good introduction to the LoI. Living in Meath so Dublins clubs are the most accessible to me.

Felexicon

CSF wrote: »

Drogheda is in Meath aswell as Louth. If you look at that list, of the empty ones, 6 of them have had clubs in the LOI or A League and not embraced them.

It's alright, we let Louth keep it :pac:

bohsman

Felexicon wrote: »

I've never been to a LoI game but I'm going to give it ago in the next few weeks (away on holiday next week). What would be the best game to go and see in order to get a good introduction to the LoI. Living in Meath so Dublins clubs are the most accessible to me.

Depending on what dates you're around here's a couple of big Bohs games coming up -

Friday, 29th June: Bohemians v Shamrock Rovers, Airtricity League Premier Division
Thursday, 6th or 13th July: UEFA Europa League 1st qualifying round home leg

Keep an eye on the weekly LOI thread, should get a fair idea of the best games.

CSF

Felexicon wrote: »

I've never been to a LoI game but I'm going to give it ago in the next few weeks (away on holiday next week). What would be the best game to go and see in order to get a good introduction to the LoI. Living in Meath so Dublins clubs are the most accessible to me.

Pats v Shels next week. Should be a cracker.

Edit - wait a sec

Shels v Dundalk the week after.

Kess73

CSF wrote: »

10 if you dont include Kildare and Roscommon (which you shouldn't because they're so close to clubs). I can fully understand people from those counties not supporting a club.

10 counties from 26 not having a LOI club makes for a pretty big chunk of the population having no local LOI club to root for. Makes it pretty easy to see why many would not have an interest in LOI tbh.

Would love to see Clare, Tipp, and Kerry get a club each tbh as there would be great potential for a derby style rivalry with Limerick FC and maybe with Cork City FC.

First two defo could get a bit of a grudge match thing going with Limerick and Kerry would have Cork as a rival.

Would pretty much carry over from the rivalries between the counties in GAA.


I get to a decent number of Limerick games, but a proper local rivalry would be something that I could really buy into compared to games against some of the other LOI clubs.

CSF

Kess73 wrote: »

10 counties from 26 not having a LOI club makes for a pretty big chunk of the population having no local LOI club to root for. Makes it pretty easy to see why many would not have an interest in LOI tbh.

Would love to see Clare, Tipp, and Kerry get a club each tbh as there would be great potential for a derby style rivalry with Limerick FC and maybe with Cork City FC.

First two defo could get a bit of a grudge match thing going with Limerick and Kerry would have Cork as a rival.

Would pretty much carry over from the rivalries between the counties in GAA.


I get to a decent number of Limerick games, but a proper local rivalry would be something that I could really buy into compared to games against some of the other LOI clubs.

As I said, 6 of the counties had a chance of a club and didn't turn out. Realistically, the whole country needs to be linked in a pyramid so that everywhere has the opportunity for someone to support and those areas who become well supported will form the upper echelons.

bohsman

Monaghan, Kildare and Kilkenny only have themselves to blame. Kerry really should have a team.

CSF

bohsman wrote: »

Monaghan, Kildare and Kilkenny only have themselves to blame. Kerry really should have a team.

They did. Tralee Dynamos. If the people of Kerry took to it (I get that it doesn't represent all of Kerry though) they'd have a team.

paddy978

Tralee and Carlow applied for a licence but it was rejected by the FAI to be fair attendances would be better in 1st Division than A Championship at those two clubs.

RoryMac

bohsman wrote: »

Because when you throw petty digs in any reasonable points tend to get lost. Also nobody disagrees that the Irish fans had a good time in Poland or think that that's a bad thing. It is a fact though that the standard of the league and the national team would improve massively if all the people that went to Poland followed the league instead of complaining that there are too many throw ins.

I agree the standard of the national league would improve over time if more people attended LoI games and supported the clubs but it would take decades for that to have an impact on the national team. At present young Irish players are in big numbers integrated into the British network of clubs and have access to some of the best facilities in the world, our problem is that the level of technical training in this setup is way below that of the rest of Europe. Unless Irish clubs go in a complete opposite direction from the British setup we will see no change in the quality of players already produced IMO.

I'm not for a second suggesting that is a reason not to attend LoI games just my opinion on what i see as a myth to improvements we might see from higher attendance.

I'd love if the FAI had a serious look at how they can nurture better technical ability in the players we produce and offer young players an option rather than leaving home at 15/16 for Britain.

CSF

paddy978 wrote: »

Tralee and Carlow applied for a licence but it was rejected by the FAI to be fair attendances would be better in 1st Division than A Championship at those two clubs.

You're right. I think if the areas had taken to the clubs though, they'd have got licences. Licencing isn't actually legitimate like, basically if the FAI want you in you're in, and if they don't you're not. They obviously hadn't much faith in these lads.

CSF

RoryMac wrote: »

I agree the standard or the national league would improve over time if more people attended LoI games and supported the clubs but it would take decades for that to have an impact on the national team. At present young Irish players are in big numbers integrated into the British network of clubs and have access to some of the best facilities in the world, our problem is that the level of technical training in this setup is way below that of the rest of Europe. Unless Irish clubs go in a complete opposite direction from the British setup we will see no change in the quality of players already produced IMO.

I'm not for a second suggesting that is a reason not to attend LoI games just my opinion on what i see as a myth to improvements we might see from higher attendance.

I'd love if the FAI had a serious look at how they can nurture better technical ability in the players we produce and offer young players an option rather than leaving home at 15/16 for Britain.

The only quickfix in terms of football development is money. Otherwise these things do take time and the benefits would be so worth it. Imagine this became an actual footballing nation. Heaven.

CSF

CSF wrote: »

Pats v Shels next week. Should be a cracker.

Edit - wait a sec

Shels v Dundalk the week after.

Basically Felexicon I'm saying you should become a Shels fan, just incase I didn't make that obvious enough.

monkey9

Felexicon wrote: »

I've never been to a LoI game but I'm going to give it ago in the next few weeks (away on holiday next week). What would be the best game to go and see in order to get a good introduction to the LoI. Living in Meath so Dublins clubs are the most accessible to me.

Pat's Vs Shels, Richmond Park June 29th! A chance to see Chris Forrester before you're watching him on tv over in the English leagues!

paddy978

CSF wrote: »

You're right. I think if the areas had taken to the clubs though, they'd have got licences. Licencing isn't actually legitimate like, basically if the FAI want you in you're in, and if they don't you're not. They obviously hadn't much faith in these lads.

IMO these two sides were very unfairly treated as the answer was basically we arent given ye a licence but if a team drops out before the season your in. In other words if Monaghan dropped before the season one of them would have got in.

Tralee's biggest problem support wise was their B team continued to play in the KDL so a lot of the soccer public in Kerry would have viewed Dynamos as rivals and wouldnt support it and for that reason I believe a seperate entity should have been formed.

CSF

paddy978 wrote: »

IMO these two sides were very unfairly treated as the answer was basically we arent given ye a licence but if a team drops out before the season your in. In other words if Monaghan dropped before the season one of them would have got in.

Tralee's biggest problem support wise was their B team continued to play in the KDL so a lot of the soccer public in Kerry would have viewed Dynamos as rivals and wouldnt support it and for that reason I believe a seperate entity should have been formed.

Perhaps. These big counties should be putting teams together anyway. I understand GAA is the big 1 in Kerry but still.

monkey9

CSF wrote: »

Pats v Shels next week. Should be a cracker.

Edit - wait a sec

Shels v Dundalk the week after.

No no, you got it right first time!!!!

Lucan Bohs

bohsman wrote: »

Depending on what dates you're around here's a couple of big Bohs games coming up -

Friday, 29th June: Bohemians v Shamrock Rovers, Airtricity League Premier Division
Thursday, 6th or 13th July: UEFA Europa League 1st qualifying round home leg

Keep an eye on the weekly LOI thread, should get a fair idea of the best games.

5th and 12th July

dreamers75

Going to be weird for any ireland watching us thinking....wait wtf....they can pass......and show for the ball....and actually retain possesion......but draw!!!!!!


Wait till the Euros....tbh

CSF

monkey9 wrote: »

No no, you got it right first time!!!!

He said he was away next week.

bohsman

RoryMac wrote: »

I agree the standard or the national league would improve over time if more people attended LoI games and supported the clubs but it would take decades for that to have an impact on the national team. At present young Irish players are in big numbers integrated into the British network of clubs and have access to some of the best facilities in the world, our problem is that the level of technical training in this setup is way below that of the rest of Europe. Unless Irish clubs go in a complete opposite direction from the British setup we will see no change in the quality of players already produced IMO.

I'm not for a second suggesting that is a reason not to attend LoI games just my opinion on what i see as a myth to improvements we might see from higher attendance.

I'd love if the FAI had a serious look at how they can nurture better technical ability in the players we produce and offer young players an option rather than leaving home at 15/16 for Britain.

Fair points, I would say though that 7 or so of the current Ireland set up made their name in the LOI and with the way the EPL has gone global I can only see that continuing. The amount of extra revenue into the league through increased attendances, sponsorship and media attention should really see youth facilities increase dramatically.

Staying in Ireland, getting 2nd and 3rd level education with support from your club while getting 1st team footie in a tough league is becoming a viable option for players not good enough for the top top academies in England. McClean, Fahey etc show that its possible to move slightly later.

bohsman

Lucan Bohs wrote: »

5th and 12th July

Sigh, copy and pasted from an email from the club.

dreamers75

bohsman wrote: »

Fair points, I would say though that 7 or so of the current Ireland set up made their name in the LOI and with the way the EPL has gone global I can only see that continuing. The amount of extra revenue into the league through increased attendances, sponsorship and media attention should really see youth facilities increase dramatically.

Staying in Ireland, getting 2nd and 3rd level education with support from your club while getting 1st team footie in a tough league is becoming a viable option for players not good enough for the top top academies in England. McClean, Fahey etc show that its possible to move slightly later.

Our schoolboy setup is there to fill airplanes.....12k per player on trial is not to be sniffed at.

Said it before and say it again the LOI is vital to ensure we pay footballers to play football. That should be our mantra, take the decent kids that didnt get a trial and mix them those who came back with our players who dont want to go over and continue football at our highest level.


Schoolboy clubs sending meat over en masse are the problem, but also in a way the solution.

I happy with how football runs in this country, would like the SFAI to stop being unwankers to certain clubs but thats never going to change.

Ashbourne hoop

Brain Stroking wrote: »

I got back from Poland yesterday and have read this thread at times while in Poland. I'm a smartphone newbie so am only posting my opinion on it now.

I went to all three games in the group and was in Gdansk singing the Fields of Athenry. I was also disappointed with the team's performance but could not question the effort being put in. How can you berate someone for simply not being good enough and being out of their depth?
However, and i want to make this clear as i think most of the negative opinions of Irish fans in Poland on this thread comes from those who werent in Poland. I was and we were 4-0 down in or around the 83rd minute against Spain, our interest in a quarter final place had been ruthlessly snuffed out and everyone around me in the stadium was disappointed.
The singing of the Fields of Athenry from the 84th minute onwards as i felt it there in the stadium was the Irish fans declaring their pride in being Irish. Until you attend a big soccer tournament event (and i was at France 98 and Germany 2006) then you wont realise the atmosphere in these stadiums. It isnt the same as a club league game in England or in Ireland. The Spanish fans around us were singing "Come on you boys in green" with us as the Spanish and Irish teams walked onto the pitch. The Croatians were similar despite the fact that the Dinamo Zagreb lads myself and my friends were drinking with seemed pretty hardcore. That doesnt happen in club situations. So in light of that one can imagine better what the us Irish fans were doing in Gdansk. We were celebrating the fact that despite the result on the pitch we were proud to be Irish. Simple as that and that is what other countries have picked up on and made a big deal of. So what? Is it not a good thing to be positive despite the disappointment we were feeling? It is only a game of football at the end of the day.

As for the "Best Fans in the World" tag, well no one in Poland i met was talking about that. Seems like people here listen to Adrian Chiles or some other talking head talk guff and then use it to bash the travelling Irish fans over the head with it. Ask yourselves who came up with the tag.

I am a football nut and was there for the games. But it is also my holiday for the year. So naturally i am going to have a good time on my holidays right? Some of the comments here by people regarding the Irish drinking over there are laughable. Despite all the partying going on there was no irish trouble out there. And i met fans from the poorest areas to the wealthier areas of the country. There was a very broad demographic of Irish supporters in Poland. That all of us behaved and left a very positive image with the locals is a great thing in my opinion and one we should be proud of. The Polish newspapers all had headlines on tuesday saying "we will miss you Irish" or along those lines. How is that a bad thing? Of course, i know they will miss our spending in their cities but we were no trouble. I have late night drunken phots of myself wearing riot police gear and the riot police wearing irish jerseys. I look back on it fondly and proud that because i'm Irish i can travel abroad and not be treated with any suspicion. We should be proud of that.

As for the LOI dont make me laugh. I am living in Dublin 5 years and was in Inchicore for 13 months. I went to 6/7 Pats games as soon as i moved in as i am originally from Mayo (where there is no League of Ireland club of course) but wanted a local team to follow. I was very disappointed. Each and every game was muck. Standard was so poor and the style of football was long balls from the back and then head tennis. Not to mention throw-ins. I still have recurring nightmares about the 50,000 or so throw-ins i saw in those 6/7 games i attended. Long story short i decided to stick with the EPL and various major European leagues as, well, the standard is so much better. But i dont see how that makes my support for the Irish team any less valid. I am Irish. Says so on my passport. I've lived here all my 30 years. My family are all Irish. So i have full right to support the Irish soccer team believe it or not.
Then again, LOI fans arent the smartest or the most sensitive when push comes to shove as this horrible story involving a man from my own county's dealings with the great and good in the LOI stands:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055082794

Where you actually sober for the 3 Ireland games? The standard of play from Ireland was shocking, awful stuff. But people go on about how the LOI is poor !!!!

Ashbourne hoop

gustavo wrote: »

Ah no he's right though that one incident involving half a dozen fans 5 years ago go proves we're all idiots for supporting a team just because they represent where we come from

It was ONE guy and he was banned for a good while.

homerjay2005

bohsman wrote: »

Monaghan, Kildare and Kilkenny only have themselves to blame. Kerry really should have a team.

Kerry do have a team, its called tralee dynamoes. however, as they are a former junior club, where is the motiviation for other local clubs to support them? i grew up being in direct competition with them for underage titles and then at junior level, so i hate them. im sure theres loads of other clubs around tralee that feel the same.

take limerick for example, junior soccer is huge down there and some of the local clubs get excellent attendances and have a better set up than the limerick LOI team.

i dont think people realise this when throwing the "support your local team" dig around.

_blank_

Felexicon wrote: »

I've never been to a LoI game but I'm going to give it ago in the next few weeks (away on holiday next week). What would be the best game to go and see in order to get a good introduction to the LoI. Living in Meath so Dublins clubs are the most accessible to me.

You are coming to a Shels game with me.

End of.

bohsman

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Kerry do have a team, its called tralee dynamoes. however, as they are a former junior club, where is the motiviation for other local clubs to support them? i grew up being in direct competition with them for underage titles and then at junior level, so i hate them. im sure theres loads of other clubs around tralee that feel the same.

take limerick for example, junior soccer is huge down there and some of the local clubs get excellent attendances and have a better set up than the limerick LOI team.

i dont think people realise this when throwing the "support your local team" dig around.

Think most people count junior clubs in the support your local team "dig". Also when I say Kerry need a team I mean more like Kerry United or whatever, I realise Tralee is a small place and I wouldn't expect the full county to get behind them. Still would have liked to see them get a license though.

Also it is those well supported junior clubs we need to see introduced to the league, be it in the first division or a well structured regional league feeding into the first division. If there is a well supported club in Limerick with better facilities than them they should have no problem bypassing them. Wexford have also shown that you can establish yourself without spending massive money on players.

Lumbo

Des wrote: »

You are coming to a Shels game with me.

End of.

You should organise a Poznan reunion night at a Shels game. That would get them in the gate

stovelid

Des wrote: »

You are coming to a Shels game with me.

End of.

If the poxy weather had not affected the home attendance, last night in Tolka would have been a cracker of summer evening game for a neutral.

Hazys

Kess73 wrote: »

10 counties from 26 not having a LOI club makes for a pretty big chunk of the population having no local LOI club to root for. Makes it pretty easy to see why many would not have an interest in LOI tbh.

Mayo - 130,638
Clare - 117,196
Kerry - 145,502
Tipperary - 154,267
Monaghan - 60,483
Cavan - 73,183
Kilkenny - 95,419
Carlow - 54,612
Kildare - 210,312
Laois - 80,559
Meath -184,135
Offaly - 76,687

Total 1.3m out of 4.5m.

28% of the population don't have access to a LOI team (and i'm including the large number of people from the Leinster counties who work in Dublin).

28% is hardly a big chunk...its a minority of the population.

Again, its a poor excuse to say the LOI is unaccessible to people living in Ireland. 72% of people have a team to follow if they choose to.

Zebra3

Brain Stroking wrote: »

The part in bold shows your motivations and prejudices the arguments you are making. Your problem is that people living in ireland support English teams and not local Irish ones. What you dont realise is that the Premier League is shown everywhere. Worldwide. There are people in Holland who support Premier League teams and not Dutch ones. Same story everywhere. You do realise that right?

No. The part in bold highlights the arrogance of a lot Irish people when using the word "United" that it could only possibly ever refer to one club-a foreign one as well.

Xavi6

Bohs fans tonight -

"Irish football's problems can't be sung away"

Pineapple stu

Hazys wrote: »

Mayo - 130,638
Clare - 117,196
Kerry - 145,502
Tipperary - 154,267
Monaghan - 60,483
Cavan - 73,183
Kilkenny - 95,419
Carlow - 54,612
Kildare - 210,312
Laois - 80,559
Meath -184,135
Offaly - 76,687

Total 1.3m out of 4.5m.

28% of the population don't have access to a LOI team (and i'm including the large number of people from the Leinster counties who work in Dublin).

28% is hardly a big chunk...its a minority of the population.

Again, its a poor excuse to say the LOI is unaccessible to people living in Ireland. 72% of people have a team to follow if they choose to.

Unless they are in jail then everyone has access to a LOI team. There is no rule that you can only support a team on your door step.
There is nothing stopping someone in Dublin supporting Cork city if they like the way they play or vice versa. Many go to the uk every sat to watch their team play so there is nothing stopping them doing the same with a LOI side.
The excuse that there isnt a LOI side that represents them is nonsense when they might at the same time support Man utd, chelsea etc , how do the UK teams represent you?