The root of the problems with Irish football

joker77

Irish soccer fans spent €100m in UK

almost 200,000 people still spent close to €100 million cheering on their favourite teams in the English Premier League last year, according to figures from the British tourism authority.

bohsman

The numbers don't add up, Irish football is ****, my dad supported Man Utd.

_blank_

I don't live close enough to an Irish football ground to support an Irish team, but see no problem with flying to the mainland to support a British team, like Celtic or Newcastle, which are further away.

It takes me an hour to get to my closest airport, to wait for an hour to get on a plane. My nearest LoI ground is a half hour away by car though.

*****************************

28064212

Since when is €78 million the same as "€100 million"? Or even "close to €100 million"? And even that €78 million is a total guess. Awful reporting.

As for the assumption in the OP, you've missed the chicken/egg facet of the problem

gimmick

The standards of the facilities are not up to my standards of what I am used to.

StickyMcGinty

"VisitBritain said the 900,000 foreign football tourists spent £706 million (€865 million), an average of about £785 (€962) per fan per visit.

The averages are high because of the number of visitors from the United States and Asia but even if the typical Irish spend is half that average, the total outlay from Irish soccer fans ran to €78 million in 2011."

I know Irish fans doing trips for less than €100 all in per trip, agreed with 28064212 this article is guesswork at best

And this blame game that goes on by LOI clubs / fans to English football clubs/fans does nothing to help the Irish game, it just makes people resent it more

daheff

Its all to do with the product being sold.

Premier league is all glitzy and glamour -just look at the players profiles in the press (they're all dating glamour models & tv presenters).

LOI is gritty and gloomy. In fairness to LOI, its been getting its act together over the last few years. Gone are the days of 'oh another clubs overspent and gone bust' to the days of sustainable clubs (SRFC, Sligo, Derry).


LOI will get better...but its never going to reach the days where they had 40K+ crowds.


LOI would do worse than to look at what Rugby has done. Rugby is getting to the glamour status in Ireland that soccer has in Britain.

Omackeral

Love these threads. If its not an occasion, most people just don't wanna know. Look no further than our drubbing at the hands of Germany. Silence, moaning and apathy. Contrast it to the Spain game at the Euro's where everyone and their brother were in full voice after a 4-0 demolition.

gimmick

All my friends and family supported a certain british team when I was growing up so I had to chose them. It had nothing at all to do with the fact that they were the team winning most things at the time. it was my older brothers/dads/friends influence.

I wanted to support a local team, but my influences had no interest so I never got to get into it.

_blank_

I wento a game once and it rained, so I didn't go again.

gimmick

Generally the food outlets are not very good in LOI grounds. If there were a few more McDonalds in them I might start going to games.

And cushioned seats. It needs more cushioned seats.

You can get a trip for 100 quid all in if you book flights etc well in advance.

Don't see why people say it's too expensive tbh.

GavRedKing

How long before this is closed, I'm going to say 15-20 posts before this descends into a cluster fúck and its closed.

Anyway......article says 174,000 people go cross channel to see the teams they support, saying almost 200,000 is strecthing the figure TBH.

Now lets take the 174,000 that go to England, the latest population figure is around 4.59 Million, so that leaves 4,416,000 that dont go to England to games.

The problem with Irish Football isn't with fans going across the water, the problem with Irish football is right at the very top, the FAI and how they run the domestic game and how they promote it at grass root levels.

_blank_

Some school aged kids were throwing shapes at each other, and I felt intimidated by them, so I hurried on past the ground on my way to the pub.

GavRedKing

Omackeral wrote: »

Love these threads. If its not an occasion, most people just don't wanna know. Look no further than our drubbing at the hands of Germany. Silence, moaning and apathy. Contrast it to the Spain game at the Euro's where everyone and their brother were in full voice after a 4-0 demolition.

The bandwagon for the Euro's was well and truly bursting at the seems though.

Mix that with a mtch K/O in the afternnon and the fact that we the Irish enjoy the odd cheap drink or ten means there was always going to be more atmosphere and singing at the Euro's regardless of the results.

bohsman

GavRedKing wrote: »

Now lets take the 174,000 that go to England, the latest population figure is around 4.59 Million, so that leaves 4,416,000 that dont go to England to games.

That's a strange way of looking at it. Taking into account people that do go to LOI games we probably have 200k people that are willing to go to live football matches in this country. If even 25% of the people that travel gave their own league a bit of support aswell it would be massive for the league.

ArmaniJeanss

A decent amount of these trips are 'lads weekends away' with the football match just used as an excuse.

GavRedKing

bohsman wrote: »

That's a strange way of looking at it. Taking into account people that do go to LOI games we probably have 200k people that are willing to go to live football matches in this country. If even 25% of the people that travel gave their own league a bit of support aswell it would be massive for the league.

I agree with ya, for example, lets say a father and son decide to go to Old Trafford.

Your looking at €200-250 for 2 flights, another €75-100 for 2 tickets and another €50-75 for accom and throw in another we'll say €50-75 for food, transport, drinks. a conservative estimate of about €375 for a weekend away to go to England.

Now if the same father and son supoprt a LoI team it'll cost 2 x tickets €30-40 , petrol €10, food/drink €10-15, giving us a figure of €50 for a LoI of match, thats 1/7 the cost of going to England.

Some fans can manage to go to England for 20+ games while others go the odd time a season, the LoI is certainly more appealing now then it has ever been and I think it represents good value to any fan, in fact when I have a son I'll try bring him to Turners Cross whenever I get a chance but it will be up to him if he wants to go.

If you support an English side and a LoI of team then there is nothing stopping ya going to your local LoI team when your not going cross channel as the cost isnt so huge that it will affect your travel fund to England.

EdenHazard

it is a major problem(for football here) but who wants to go to a match and be on the sidelines watching lads you prob knew before. i'd rather play myself thanks. p.s i dont follow any english team

bohsman

EdenHazard wrote: »

it is a major problem(for football here) but who wants to go to a match and be on the sidelines watching lads you prob knew before. i'd rather play myself thanks. p.s i dont follow any english team

I'd far prefer to be watching people who are far far better footballers than me but are still for the most part down to earth and not paid 200k per week.

There's a few Bohs fans that have come up through the schoolboys getting their game for the first team and angling for a move to England if they keep playing well. I'm far happier spending my money watching them give 110% than some overpaid primadonnas who couldn't care less about the club.

Father Damo

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

A decent amount of these trips are 'lads weekends away' with the football match just used as an excuse.

Exactly. The amount of lads who go to every, or even a monthly, game would not be that big at all. I read the figures before for a few clubs Irish regulars but it is maybe 1000 or 2000 for the big clubs. If I was on the lash with the lads in any English city I would likely want to catch a match if they have a decent team that I do not dislike. Same way that most lads who end up in Barcelona, Madrid or an Italian city like to catch a match even if they are more admirers than die hard fans of the team involved.

2ndcoming

Outside most clubs' hardcore fanbase, most Irish fans have little or no link to LOI clubs. I support my local LSL side in the flesh on Sunday mornings and financially to the tune of €240 a year, because I value the club, what it did for me down the years and what it does for the local community, getting kids involved in the game etc.

Look what happened to Sporting Fingal and Kildare County. You can't just plop a brand new club in someplace where nobody has a link to it and expect people to care. Look at Monaghan and to a lesser extent Longford, you can't really expect local people to care about a load of ex-<insert Dublin club here> schoolboys that didn't quite make it at the Dublin clubs so come down to play in their county a few times a month.

I'm an Arsenal fan and have been since I was six, I feel more connected to that club than any LOI club, but I definitely invest more time and money supporting my local club. If the FAI built up and supported the schoolboy leagues and provincial leagues and saw to it that we had at least 10 UEFA badged coaches in every county, particularly at under-age levels, there'd be a lot more potential for improvement in the LOI 20 years down the line.

Father Damo

GavRedKing wrote: »

The bandwagon for the Euro's was well and truly bursting at the seems though.

Mix that with a mtch K/O in the afternnon and the fact that we the Irish enjoy the odd cheap drink or ten means there was always going to be more atmosphere and singing at the Euro's regardless of the results.

Exactly what percentage of the lads who went to Poland do you reckon had not watched a match between the France play off and the Estonia play off? Believe it or not, from the many European nationalities I have met, percentage wise the Irish are probably one of the most serious nations in the world when it comes to public interest in the qualifying rounds. Fair enough, it is partly because we are so error prone that a match aainst a 6th seeder is vitally important on our radar compared to Spain vs Liechteinstein, but lets be honest, you dont see the bars of Dublin that show European qualifiers jammed with Italian ex pats watching their lads fight in Azerbaijan, yet for a similar game on even a weeknight most Irish pubs would be fairly full. Irish people simply have more of an affinity with national, rather than club football, often in spite of how poor we are playing.

AgileMyth

Such idiots going over to England. I just go to Celtic games, which is totally different cause they're Irish.

Davidth88

Guys, Have to put a disclaimer in her , I am English , living in Ireland for 12 years .

I have been to quite a number of LOI games , all over the country from Cork to Dundalk .

You have to think of the scale of things , look at the current leaders in the Championship , Sligo , this is a town of what ... about 20-22 k people ? It's a large ' catchment ' area , but I find that Counties are very tribal , can you see people from Mayo/Leitrim or whatver supporting Sligo Town in any numbers ?

So that limits the attendances hugely .

Dublin is a city of what , about 1 million if you bring in the outlaying areas , it has what , 5 clubs ( or six if you include Bray which for all purposes is within the Dublin Metro area ) competing for that crowd , that's a city slightly larger than Sheffield .....

Add to this that clubs appear / disappear / change names etc , so local people feel very little connection to their local club , I would lay money if you asked 100 people in say Crumlin to name their local club 90 would struggle.

What I would do .

Get rid of the LOI and the Irish League , combine them and reduce the number of clubs to a league similar to the SPL,

I also think it does not help that football is played during the summer here so is competing against other sports ( namely GAA of course ), what's the history behind that ?

Guy:Incognito

bohsman wrote: »

There's a few Bohs fans that have come up through the schoolboys getting their game for the first team and angling for a move to England if they keep playing well. .

Maybe those lads need to be sneered at and looked down on for not sticking with their local team and league? That'll help build a nice successful league that people want to see.

Or is it only fans that are not allowed do as they please?

RoryMac

AgileMyth wrote: »

Such idiots going over to England. I just go to Celtic games, which is totally different cause they're Irish.

Yeah that's trotted out all the time on here! :rolleyes:

Davidth88

Davidth88 wrote: »

I also think it does not help that football is played during the summer here so is competing against other sports ( namely GAA of course ), what's the history behind that ?

The GAA may as well be year-round at this point and I don't know the full history but they seem intent on hoovering as many players as possible for as long as possible. They'll have a match and 1-2 training sessions per week and wil often have players play at 2 age levels when they're kids or bounce between senior/intermediate/junior when they're a bit older. It's a very, very hard grip to try to break and there isn't the structure in football here to compete with the the loyalty that can be created in GAA where someone joins a club at 6 or 7 and can progress through about 8 levels at that club into their mid-thirties.

Davidth88

Deleted User wrote: »

The GAA may as well be year-round at this point and I don't know the full history but they seem intent on hoovering as many players as possible for as long as possible. They'll have a match and 1-2 training sessions per week and wil often have players play at 2 age levels when they're kids or bounce between senior/intermediate/junior when they're a bit older. It's a very, very hard grip to try to break and there isn't the structure in football here to compete with the the loyalty that can be created in GAA where someone joins a club at 6 or 7 and can progress through about 8 levels at that club into their mid-thirties.

Sorry I should have made myself a bit clearer , i was thinking more as a spectator than participant .

If you take me as an example , I would have difficulty kicking a ball , but I have attended 100's of matches .

Father Damo

Davidth88 wrote: »

So that limits the attendances hugely .

Dublin is a city of what , about 1 million if you bring in the outlaying areas , it has what , 5 clubs ( or six if you include Bray which for all purposes is within the Dublin Metro area ) competing for that crowd , that's a city slightly larger than Sheffield .....


What I would do .

Get rid of the LOI and the Irish League , combine them and reduce the number of clubs to a league similar to the SPL,

The current LOI fans and clubs would never back this. While they are small in number the proposition, to them, may as well be the same as Arsenal and Spurs linking as North London United- most of the fans would sooner support a completely different team than a made up one like that. The chairman of Hearts suggested they and Hibs do this back in the late 80s, claiming Edinborough was too small for two big teams to challenge the Old Firm, and got vilified by both his own fans and Hibs.

There is no guarantee people would embrace these clubs. Its a big money gamble with no reward guaranteed for the investor.

uch

GavRedKing wrote: »

How long before this is closed, I'm going to say 15-20 posts before this descends into a cluster fúck and its closed.

Anyway......article says 174,000 people go cross channel to see the teams they support, saying almost 200,000 is strecthing the figure TBH.

Now lets take the 174,000 that go to England, the latest population figure is around 4.59 Million, so that leaves 4,416,000 that dont go to England to games.

The problem with Irish Football isn't with fans going across the water, the problem with Irish football is right at the very top, the FAI and how they run the domestic game and how they promote it at grass root levels.

Couldn't agree more with above, I attend LOI football every other week and I've never once seen the FAI promoting a match, with the exception of the cup final maybe.

chopperbyrne

The root of the problems with Irish football is the FAI.

bohsman

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Maybe those lads need to be sneered at and looked down on for not sticking with their local team and league? That'll help build a nice successful league that people want to see.

Or is it only fans that are not allowed do as they please?

It's clearly people like you sneering at people for daring to watch **** football rather than the other way around. I'll happily watch any standard of football from a game in the park to the EPL. You'll be hard pushed to find more than a handful of people that don't follow foreign leagues as well as their own.

kitakyushu

My own view on those figures.

There is a approx 350 league games in an LOI season so even if every single one those 200k had
gone to a LOI match instead the crowd would still only be up by about 550 on average. Appreciable but not world changing.

€100m spent on football in this country would transform the game here beyond all recognition. However, just because those 200k have spent that much to facilitate their cross channel experience doesn't mean the game in this country has lost that money.

Finally, as has been mentioned a fair chunk of those 200k are lads away for the weekend (and also a fair chunk of bandwagoners/glory hunters too imho) who wouldn't even go to an LOI game anyway even if the country was on lockdown on the LOI was the only league you could watch.

I'm pro LOI but contrary to how it may seem I don't think those figures represent any major loss (either in attendances or revenue).

Fr Tod Umptious

There is more than one root of the problem.

In no particular order

1. The British leagues - The LOI exists in a tiny market right next to a huge market with two leagues that has been strong of over 100 years.
2. The British media - Again we live in a small media market and thus also consume a large chunk of British media, which cover the aforementioned leagues extensively.
3. Location of teams - People who do not come from areas that have, or traditionally have had, LOI teams do not feel an affinity to the legaue and the teams in it, the same people do naturally however feel an affinity to out national team.
4. Perceptions - The grounds are s**t, the quality of the game is s**t etc, some of these perceptions are valid other no so.
5. The running of the league - There is a perception that the league is poorly run and thus peopel are not attracted to it beacuse the club they decide to follow may be out of business next week.

Guy:Incognito

bohsman wrote: »

It's clearly people like you sneering at people for daring to watch **** football rather than the other way around. I'll happily watch any standard of football from a game in the park to the EPL. You'll be hard pushed to find more than a handful of people that don't follow foreign leagues as well as their own.

People like me? If you can find one post of mine from the last 10 years where I looked down on anyone for supporting the LOI your doing well. My only issue on the subject has every been the attitude of LOI supporters belittling others for their choice.

Go watch whatever you want, where you want and leave others to do the same.

There's nothing wrong with promoting the LOI and trying to get more bodies in the turnstiles. There's everything wrong with the attitude that your somehow better than someone else for choosing the LOI or that other have to choose the LOI. You don't have to go any further than this thread to find examples of the latter.

Ares

I was two LOI games and to be quite frank I'd never go again.

First off the quality is second rate, really, really poor. The Oscar Traynor cup is much better to watch, local players with a real pride for where they're from battling it out to be the best in Ireland. Wonderful stuff.

The games I attended, Shels vs Drogheda and Shels vs St Pat's, I felt extremely unwelcome, as if I was tresspassing on people's territory. Maybe it has something to do with Shelbourne itself, I don't know. I understand the Shelbourne has always been a working class club, perhaps that's why there was an unwelcome feeling.

Also the quality of football in England is just so much better. Also you can go away for the weekend with your friends to a cosmopolitan English city enjoying, seeing a few tourist sites, a match and having a few beers. You just don't experience that going to Athlone on a Friday evening.

Until the LOI clubs upgrade their facilities then I don't see why people would travel to watch LOI. Why would you go 45 minutes in your car to a delapidated stadium to watch second rate action on a Friday night when one could watch a good Championship match on Sky from the comfort of your own sitting room. In reality, its an absolute no brainer.

Maybe when clubs stop going to the wall and the LOI clubs get their collective act together financially we might see some of the improvements required. Hopefully soon. As it would be a shame to have the Irish clubs continually plod around European backwaters getting knocked out in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League and Champions League.

bohsman

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

People like me? If you can find one post of mine from the last 10 years where I looked down on anyone for supporting the LOI your doing well. My only issue on the subject has every been the attitude of LOI supporters belittling others for their choice.

Go watch whatever you want, where you want and leave others to do the same.

There's nothing wrong with promoting the LOI and trying to get more bodies in the turnstiles. There's everything wrong with the attitude that your somehow better than someone else for choosing the LOI or that other have to choose the LOI. You don't have to go any further than this thread to find examples of the latter.

Agreed. One or two people on this forum sneer at people for watching Irish footie and one or two loi fans sneer at English fans. Hadn't noticed it happening in this thread though, plenty of LOI fans myself included listed the usual replies from EPL fans at the start of the thread though. This exact thread was done less than a year ago.

As for your actual question I'm always delighted to see Stephen Ward (and Avery John while he was still playing) doing well. Don't care too much for McClean for his gesturing to Bohs fans after scoring a few years ago but in general I like to see players go on to do well after leaving the league. Would be delighted to see some Bohs fans make it to the top.

applehunter

I hate being surrounded by people with Cork accents*.

edit : *a bit outdated but was a line from prominent "wanker" radio personality down in here back in 98/99.

gimmick

Ares wrote: »

I was two LOI games and to be quite frank I'd never go again.

First off the quality is second rate, really, really poor. The Oscar Traynor cup is much better to watch, local players with a real pride for where they're from battling it out to be the best in Ireland. Wonderful stuff.

The games I attended, Shels vs Drogheda and Shels vs St Pat's, I felt extremely unwelcome, as if I was tresspassing on people's territory. Maybe it has something to do with Shelbourne itself, I don't know. I understand the Shelbourne has always been a working class club, perhaps that's why there was an unwelcome feeling.

Also the quality of football in England is just so much better. Also you can go away for the weekend with your friends to a cosmopolitan English city enjoying, seeing a few tourist sites, a match and having a few beers. You just don't experience that going to Athlone on a Friday evening.

Until the LOI clubs upgrade their facilities then I don't see why people would travel to watch LOI. Why would you go 45 minutes in your car to a delapidated stadium to watch second rate action on a Friday night when one could watch a good Championship match on Sky from the comfort of your own sitting room. In reality, its an absolute no brainer.

Maybe when clubs stop going to the wall and the LOI clubs get their collective act together financially we might see some of the improvements required. Hopefully soon. As it would be a shame to have the Irish clubs continually plod around European backwaters getting knocked out in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League and Champions League.

There are bad games in every league. There are teams who are harsh on the eyes in every league.

What facilities do you want? This comes up again and again and I never understand it. Its not like there is a drip on overhead in all parts of all grounds and you have to sit in broken seats with rats running under foot. Apart from some of the very finest handful of stadiums there is a certain level of discomfort in going to a game.

As for the no brainer of watching some championship match on telly or going to a game, you are right. Ill go to the game every time.

TV has spoiled Irish people. Then these same people expect a pat on the back when they go to an international game,or their one game on the mainland every year.

bullvine

I'm intrigued by this argument, had a discussion with 4 other lads from work just now. None of them go to games but have in the past. We've decided we'll go to a LOI match next season and see for ourselves.

I told them to slag the standard is not a good enough excuse, as other leagues with a worse standard seem to be doing well, no one seems to have a definitive answer to why its so poorly watched. In our discussion we agreed the following:

-The grounds aren't welcoming and feel intimidating and you feel out of place going to watch a game there.
-Advertizement is also a big issue, the average football fan who watches the premier league doesn't know the Irish games are on most of the time.
-Too many clubs in the Dublin area doesn't help, if they took a leaf from Rugby's book and had provincial teams it might help and entered into a Celtic League. (Never happen though)!

gimmick

The too many clubs in the Dublin area does not really wash either. Between Shells, Shams, SPA, UCD and Bohs, if they were all at home I doubt their combined attendence would be any better than 8000. 10000 at a push. Thats approx 1% of the population of Dublin. Thats not because there are too many clubs, it is because people do not care enough.

MRPRO03

The 'so-called football fans' that state something to this effect 'the league is poor quality that's why I do not go games on a regular basis'' are just giving an excuse to support a bigger club with star names because they are hyped up by the media and easily fooled Irish sheeple will follow it, the proof is there. Who are most followed teams in Ireland?, we see that Man Utd, Liverpool and Celtic are surprisingly top of the list, why?, because they are successful, not because the 'fans' have a connection with them more than their local/nearest team.

Some would say that Liverpool are not as successful as they were and 'fans' may use to back up their support of them, but the real reason is the parents of those that followed Liverpool in the 70s & 80s, they influenced their children and then they influenced their children.

Football is not about the quality, people in Ireland have got to get this thought out of their heads. It is about one area against another area, how is supporting a foreign team representing you and your locality, no fan of a foreign team can answer that, no matter how hard they try. The only time this is ignored is when the Irish National Team plays. We will never win anything, but still the Aviva/Lansdowne is always full whatever the quality of the team.

There is no team in my area. A very common sentiment from these 'fans'. If you give out about this as a reason, Setup a team, and be forever remembered as the founder of a club and do the things that you give out about.

One final thought for the moment, lets use Cup football as an example. We seen in all leagues, that the smaller clubs get the opportunity to play the bigger clubs. Why should these smaller clubs exist, cause the reason foreign fans they follow the big teams is the quality of football. The reason is, they are representing the their area and locality, something that many 'Irish fans' will never understand.

We seen recently when St Pats played a top German team in Hannover, and the attendance was a bit disappointing despite a quality German team playing. Why were the so called 'fans' who only watch quality football at the game.

Lucan Bohs

Ares wrote: »

I was two LOI games and to be quite frank I'd never go again.

First off the quality is second rate, really, really poor. The Oscar Traynor cup is much better to watch, local players with a real pride for where they're from battling it out to be the best in Ireland. Wonderful stuff.
.

Bohs have a mainly amateur team with a few actual Bohs fans in the team so that excuse doesn't wash.

If the quality is "really, really poor" then why have I seen McClean, Kevin Doyle and the rest of the players in the long list of ex Loi who have been sucessfull in my time as going yo LoI matches?

Lucan Bohs

Lucan Bohs wrote: »

If the quality is "really, really poor" then why have I seen McClean, Kevin Doyle and the rest of the players in the long list of ex Loi who have been sucessfull in my time as going yo LoI matches?

I bet they also played at under-12 level at some point, does that mean that level is as high quality?

gimmick

I think we could even pick an LOI XI from the last few years which would make up a ROI first XI and it would not be that shabby a aside.

Pj!

joker77 wrote: »

Irish soccer fans spent €100m in UK

If you had a business that was performing poorly would you blame the customers?
The product is sh1t. Full stop. Make it better and people will come.

CSF

The root of the problems with Irish football have been portrayed perfectly in some of the attitudes in this thread.

The FAI are just an easy scapegoat for people's laziness.

CSF

Pj! wrote: »

If you had a business that was performing poorly would you blame the customers?
The product is sh1t. Full stop. Make it better and people will come.

I was under the impression that football was a sport, not a product. Not in the Premiership of course, but elsewhere.

Coillte_Bhoy

Davidth88 wrote: »

Guys, Have to put a disclaimer in her , I am English , living in Ireland for 12 years .

I have been to quite a number of LOI games , all over the country from Cork to Dundalk .

You have to think of the scale of things , look at the current leaders in the Championship , Sligo , this is a town of what ... about 20-22 k people ? It's a large ' catchment ' area , but I find that Counties are very tribal , can you see people from Mayo/Leitrim or whatver supporting Sligo Town in any numbers ?

So that limits the attendances hugely .

Dublin is a city of what , about 1 million if you bring in the outlaying areas , it has what , 5 clubs ( or six if you include Bray which for all purposes is within the Dublin Metro area ) competing for that crowd , that's a city slightly larger than Sheffield .....

Add to this that clubs appear / disappear / change names etc , so local people feel very little connection to their local club , I would lay money if you asked 100 people in say Crumlin to name their local club 90 would struggle.

What I would do .

Get rid of the LOI and the Irish League , combine them and reduce the number of clubs to a league similar to the SPL,

I also think it does not help that football is played during the summer here so is competing against other sports ( namely GAA of course ), what's the history behind that ?

Have to disagree with you there. Plenty of goodwill in Mayo towards Sligo Rovers and i know few lads from towns in the north of the county who go to games. used to go myself but not so much lately. There is potential there, Conversely when galway were going reasonably well they drew a significant proportion of their support from South Mayo

The_Kew_Tour

You could write a book on the roots of the problem to be honest.