Ireland is a pretend football country

fryup

the night of the infamous riot was the first time they were used

ulster

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

And lose the national side? No thanks. It should never happen at international level for any separate states, plus the demographic of their support means we'd be better merging with almost anyone else.

It's only come up here recently because they've been half decent anyway, but it won't last. The rugby situation is just a hold over from the time it was a game only for unionists both sides of the border.

What loss are they. They're shyte.

EmmetSpiceland

fryup wrote: »

the night of the infamous riot was the first time they were used

Maybe for soccer but they were used first for a rugby match in 93 against Romania.

Fr Tod Umptious

fryup wrote: »

the night of the infamous riot was the first time they were used

That was Feb 1995 and they were used earlier than that.

They were used for soccer in October 1994 or so.

Possibly earlier.

Greyfox

SHOVELLER wrote: »

As if Irish football could be damaged any further. They are not potential fans though. Actually not even football fans really. To them the premiership is football and nothing else matters. Almost like a cult so ignore them as their opinions are worthless.

Premier league fans are real fans that expect a high standard of football, nothing wrong with having high standards. Its not their fault that skys marketing was so good. If they actually went to a few live matches some of them would go again

dan1895

Greyfox wrote: »

Premier league fans are real fans that expect a high standard of football, nothing wrong with having high standards. Its not their fault that skys marketing was so good. If they actually went to a few live matches some of them would go again

I don't know how you can call someone who never sets foot inside a stadium a real fan.

partyguinness

fryup wrote: »

the night of the infamous riot was the first time they were used

Nah man. I was at a qualifier in October 94 (Liechtenstein game- ok only a few months earlier) at Landsdowne Road on a Wednesday night. It was floodlights.

I am struggling to think of other games that were held at night time. Any other time I was there before that it was a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

fryup

ok but my point is - isn't it embarrassing that our national stadium didn't have floodlights till well into the 90's

partyguinness

fryup wrote: »

ok but my point is - isn't it embarrassing that our national stadium didn't have floodlights till well into the 90's

Well yes. Although I don't think Landsdown Road was ever the national stadium as such as it owned by the rugby boys.

The bigger embarrassment was not having a dedicated stadium at all but then again the economics did not make sense (and still do not)- having a dedicated national football stadium for football holding say 50k would be empty 99% of the time and with Landsdown Rd and Croke Park also within close proxmity it was just a waste. Let's not forget that Spain, Italy, Holland for example do not have a dedicated national stadium. Of course they have a wide selection of top class club stadia to use. France also share with rugby.

I think Dalymount had floodlights. I have just checked and I can see (for example) Ireland beat Holland in Oct 83 in a Euro qualifier under floodlights at Dalymount.

Alaninwondeand

Grass roots coaching has seen massive development in the last 5-10 years. Small sided games ect focusing in Tika Taka style play.

I coached before and I would tell parents a kid would have a better chance it in athletics of "making it". Look at the odds of a player "making it" from the amount playing. Soccer is a pipe dream most of us have about scoring the winner in a final ect, but the chances of that dream coming true is very very low.

Barcelona went all the way to Argentina to take a kid with talent to La Masia. We are told to coach a certain way to make the kids copy Messi ect. My point being good players are born to be good and get found.

Tommy scores 7 against ballybrophy C in the under 10 B League and he thinks he will make it, his parents think he's gonna make it, in the end he hits hits teens, adds a few pounds and loses his pace. Dream over.

Cienciano

SHOVELLER wrote: »

Bottom line is that as long as some "Irish" think its ok to fund a foreign league then they have no right to any opinion on what is good for Irish football. Amazing that this even has to be pointed out but the lost millions annually could easily fund an Irish club in the Champions League.

Only hope is outside investment in our clubs as we are slowly seeing now. Three qualifications for the Europa League group stages achieved in the last decade shows what can be done.

FAI is a mess and Delaney is just an expected embarrassment there. Who was really surprised at the allegations? Since he has left the decision making has been as bad. Witness seeking applications from makey up clubs to our league.

Like Ireland itself we will just bumble along waiting for crumbs when the potential is so incredible.

Slagging off premier league fans is the first problem. LOI needs their money. LOI fans spend too much time slagging them off. Helps create a "them and us" culture.

A big problem is the FAI, it's been a joke from as far as I can remember, early 90s onwards. That's probably not going to change either.

First thing clubs need to do to get crowds in is have better facilities. But when a club gets money they usually end up spending it on wages chasing europe. 3 years later that's gone and they still have a jacks with no lights and a condemned stand. Stuff like Bohs and Shels having seperate grounds 1KM away from each other is madness. As much as I like Tolka Park.

Lobbying the government to try and get more money for grants is one thing. Inflate the numbers of people working in the industry like the greyhound industry does. As sad as it is, that's what's needed to be done. Brexit might help, if people can't go to the UK until they're a certain age it can stop english clubs hoovering up any talent. Also, a proper youth coaching system. Not focused on results. You end up with a team of "big lads" for their age being promoted and ignoring the technical guys.

As soon as I see a LOI fan use the word "barstoolers" in an argument I die a bit inside. Trying to embarrass people into going to games hasn't worked ever, and never will work. The biggest league in the world is a 40 minute ryanair flight away and on TV all weekend, might as well embrace it.

Fr Tod Umptious

ulster wrote: »

Would there be any prospects for a merger of the Republic FAI with the Northern FAI. Kinda like the rugby does.

When people bring up this question and refer to rugby as an example it very much oversimplifies the issue.

In both parts of the island rugby fans and administrators are very much "cut from the same cloth".
There has always been harmony between Ulster rugby and the rest of the country.

That is not the case with soccer.
The FAI broke away from the IFA 100 years ago and it was an acrimonious.
Since then two different international teams, and both associations have their teams in UEFA competitions and have voting rights within UEFA
So bring that back into one association would not be to the benefit of the international teams or clubs when it comes to international and European competition.
Plus the question is which association would be come extent, as the breakaway one would expect the FAI to be re-merged into the Belfast based IFA rather than vice versa.

Then you have the issue of the fans.
Unlike rugby they are not cut from the same cloth.

fryup

partyguinness wrote: »

Well yes. Although I don't think Landsdown Road was ever the national stadium as such as it owned by the rugby boys.

of course it was the national stadium, where else was there?

partyguinness wrote: »

I think Dalymount had floodlights. I have just checked and I can see (for example) Ireland beat Holland in Oct 83 in a Euro qualifier under floodlights at Dalymount.

yes you're right Dalymount was used a number of times back then...but the capacity was woeful esp for headline matches ,,most famously against italy which was dangerously overcrowded

Greyfox

dan1895 wrote: »

I don't know how you can call someone who never sets foot inside a stadium a real fan.

Because i have common sense and understand that football is a global game. I think your post is silly and childish. There is no rule that states you have to visit the stadium to be a fan, do i have to visit on a rainy day or is it ok if the sun is shining? Yes visiting the stadium regularly makes you more of a fan, watching live has many advantages but also has some disadvantages

dan1895

Name one disadvantage. Not being able to listen to some former footballer try to make a coherent sentence while analysing referee errors?

Dick Turnip

fryup wrote: »

up until the aviva we never had a decent football/soccer stadium in this country - in fact it wasn't till 1995 that we even had floodlights at Lansdowne RD our national stadium

and we want to host the WC ?? fat chance

I fail to see how one metric in 1993 has any bearing on a world cup 37 years later in 2030.

What was the national stadium of Qatar like in 1985?!

This bid is chalk & cheese with the Qatar bid obviously but I don't think it will fail on the fact that Ireland/FAI are involved. Or that just because the only stadium up to 2010 was a pile of rubble. We only need to provide the Aviva plus one other stadium max. - Croke Park realistically, with investment needed to bring up to scratch.

cms88

Cienciano wrote: »

Slagging off premier league fans is the first problem. LOI needs their money. LOI fans spend too much time slagging them off. Helps create a "them and us" culture.

A big problem is the FAI, it's been a joke from as far as I can remember, early 90s onwards. That's probably not going to change either.

First thing clubs need to do to get crowds in is have better facilities. But when a club gets money they usually end up spending it on wages chasing europe. 3 years later that's gone and they still have a jacks with no lights and a condemned stand. Stuff like Bohs and Shels having seperate grounds 1KM away from each other is madness. As much as I like Tolka Park.

Lobbying the government to try and get more money for grants is one thing. Inflate the numbers of people working in the industry like the greyhound industry does. As sad as it is, that's what's needed to be done. Brexit might help, if people can't go to the UK until they're a certain age it can stop english clubs hoovering up any talent. Also, a proper youth coaching system. Not focused on results. You end up with a team of "big lads" for their age being promoted and ignoring the technical guys.

As soon as I see a LOI fan use the word "barstoolers" in an argument I die a bit inside. Trying to embarrass people into going to games hasn't worked ever, and never will work. The biggest league in the world is a 40 minute ryanair flight away and on TV all weekend, might as well embrace it.

The grants etc is a big issue. A lot of LOI fans are always up in arms when the GAA get funding etc for stadiums. However what's ignored is (1) The GAA also have to come up with part of the funds themselves. A lot of LOI clubs would just expect to be given the whole amout. (2) The grants the GAA get are used for what they're given them for i.e upgrades etc There's a good chance some LOI clubs would get grants for upgrades but then use it for something else.

In the last 20 years the likes of Cork City, Shelbourne, Drogheda, Sporting Fingal all have one thing in common. They were all paying hige wages to try and buy success. Just handing out grants etc will lead to this. If i club do want to make upgrades etc they should be able to foot some of the cost themselves and get a grant to cover the rest. Or even go down the route of paying the full cost themselves and recoup it after the work has been done.

Greyfox

dan1895 wrote: »

Name one disadvantage

Id rather watch my team live but its more comfortable watching from your couch and been able to watch a replay is handy.

trashcan

Cienciano wrote: »

Slagging off premier league fans is the first problem. LOI needs their money. LOI fans spend too much time slagging them off. Helps create a "them and us" culture.

As soon as I see a LOI fan use the word "barstoolers" in an argument I die a bit inside. Trying to embarrass people into going to games hasn't worked ever, and never will work. The biggest league in the world is a 40 minute ryanair flight away and on TV all weekend, might as well embrace it.

I just can’t agree with your first point there. Premier league fans are not, by and large, interested in the local game. The idea that they aren’t going to games because someone might have said mean things about them (mainly online) doesn’t really stack up for me. The reality is that the game here just isn’t glamorous enough for them.

The barstooler thing is mainly used in frustration I would guess, by LOI fans who feel fans of the Premier league look down their nose on them and the local game. It’s a strange phenomenon when people seem to actively go out of their way to run down something from their own country, you wouldn’t get it in terms of any other sport, or any other walk of life I could think of.

Bottom line, people support English teams because a) it’s more glamorous and you can watch “your”team compete at the top end of European football, and b) it’s easier to sit in front of your tv than go out to a game. I found that once I started going to Pats games regularly then watching an English team on Tv just pales by comparison. Mind you, I had already given up and lost interest in “my” English team (Man City if you’re asking) long before I started going regularly to Richmond Park. I just realised “this team has actually nothing to do with me, I just picked them at random when I was about 8 years old.

uch

Lads in all the bickering, President's cup is live on watchloi.ie tomorrow free, watch it and enjoy

cms88

trashcan wrote: »

I just can’t agree with your first point there. Premier league fans are not, by and large, interested in the local game. The idea that they aren’t going to games because someone might have said mean things about them (mainly online) doesn’t really stack up for me. The reality is that the game here just isn’t glamorous enough for them.

The barstooler thing is mainly used in frustration I would guess, by LOI fans who feel fans of the Premier league look down their nose on them and the local game. It’s a strange phenomenon when people seem to actively go out of their way to run down something from their own country, you wouldn’t get it in terms of any other sport, or any other walk of life I could think of.

Bottom line, people support English teams because a) it’s more glamorous and you can watch “your”team compete at the top end of European football, and b) it’s easier to sit in front of your tv than go out to a game. I found that once I started going to Pats games regularly then watching an English team on Tv just pales by comparison. Mind you, I had already given up and lost interest in “my” English team (Man City if you’re asking) long before I started going regularly to Richmond Park. I just realised “this team has actually nothing to do with me, I just picked them at random when I was about 8 years old.

To be fair that's not just LOI. Many Irish think will automatically think something English is better than the Irish version.

Thelonious Monk

I find it worrying that we don't have one player who could be considered a top player right now, and I can't see any coming through at the moment. Some of the younger ones may turn out to be decent pros but Scotland, Wales, Norway, all have some top players and decent sides now and we just seem to be regressing with little hope on the horizon.

Patrick2010

partyguinness wrote: »

Well yes. Although I don't think Landsdown Road was ever the national stadium as such as it owned by the rugby boys.

The bigger embarrassment was not having a dedicated stadium at all but then again the economics did not make sense (and still do not)- having a dedicated national football stadium for football holding say 50k would be empty 99% of the time and with Landsdown Rd and Croke Park also within close proxmity it was just a waste. Let's not forget that Spain, Italy, Holland for example do not have a dedicated national stadium. Of course they have a wide selection of top class club stadia to use. France also share with rugby.

I think Dalymount had floodlights. I have just checked and I can see (for example) Ireland beat Holland in Oct 83 in a Euro qualifier under floodlights at Dalymount.

Unless my memory is failing me I believe Holland beat us 3-2 that night, Ruud Gullit doing the business after we were 2 goals up.

pawdee

The problem with Irish football is simple. Our third touch lets us down.

partyguinness

Patrick2010 wrote: »

Unless my memory is failing me I believe Holland beat us 3-2 that night, Ruud Gullit doing the business after we were 2 goals up.

You are quite right. Ireland beat them 2-1 in WC qualifier September 1980 at Landsdowne Rd.

Feisar

cms88 wrote: »

To be fair that's not just LOI. Many Irish think will automatically think something English is better than the Irish version.

In fairness due to the volume of numbers this is going to be the case 99% of the time.

partyguinness

I've been over in England for past 10 years and I don't bother going to games anymore. Just not worth the expense and it really is not that great- comes across far better on TV.

Just looking at a map and within a 40 mile radius I have teams nearby:

PL x4
Championship x5
L1 x2
L2 x2

and a whole plethora of non league teams in between. I could go to two games every weekend if I wanted to but couldnt be bothered. More likely to go Pl rugby at this stage.

Bobblehats

I want a lover with an easy touch
I want somebody who will score or some such
Not come and go in a heated rush
I want somebody who will understand
When it comes to the guv, I want an eoin hand

Cienciano

cms88 wrote: »

The grants etc is a big issue. A lot of LOI fans are always up in arms when the GAA get funding etc for stadiums. However what's ignored is (1) The GAA also have to come up with part of the funds themselves. A lot of LOI clubs would just expect to be given the whole amout. (2) The grants the GAA get are used for what they're given them for i.e upgrades etc There's a good chance some LOI clubs would get grants for upgrades but then use it for something else.

In the last 20 years the likes of Cork City, Shelbourne, Drogheda, Sporting Fingal all have one thing in common. They were all paying hige wages to try and buy success. Just handing out grants etc will lead to this. If i club do want to make upgrades etc they should be able to foot some of the cost themselves and get a grant to cover the rest. Or even go down the route of paying the full cost themselves and recoup it after the work has been done.

I knew a LOI fan who worked in the sports grants office. He used to say that the GAA grants came in perfectly done, everything that was needed was there. The LOI grants were a shambles. Nothing done right. So yeah, you're right about that bit!

trashcan wrote: »

I just can’t agree with your first point there. Premier league fans are not, by and large, interested in the local game. The idea that they aren’t going to games because someone might have said mean things about them (mainly online) doesn’t really stack up for me. The reality is that the game here just isn’t glamorous enough for them.

The barstooler thing is mainly used in frustration I would guess, by LOI fans who feel fans of the Premier league look down their nose on them and the local game. It’s a strange phenomenon when people seem to actively go out of their way to run down something from their own country, you wouldn’t get it in terms of any other sport, or any other walk of life I could think of.

Bottom line, people support English teams because a) it’s more glamorous and you can watch “your”team compete at the top end of European football, and b) it’s easier to sit in front of your tv than go out to a game. I found that once I started going to Pats games regularly then watching an English team on Tv just pales by comparison. Mind you, I had already given up and lost interest in “my” English team (Man City if you’re asking) long before I started going regularly to Richmond Park. I just realised “this team has actually nothing to do with me, I just picked them at random when I was about 8 years old.

Almost every LOI fan I know also supports an english team so we're going to have to disagree. For years people have been slagging off EPL fans as not real fans, not supporting local teams, barstoolers etc and it might be down to frustration but I doubt it's made 1 person go to a LOI game. All it does is make them think LOI fans are wánkers! Sorry to say, but that's how it comes across. Same arguments on boards since early 00's and I doubt 1 person went to a game because of it.
We all know why people support EPL teams, but shaming people into going to a game isn't going to work. Going to a game is something people need to enjoy. Thinking you're going to somehow guilt them into going is just not going to work.

El Tarangu

Greyfox wrote: »

Premier league fans are real fans that expect a high standard of football, nothing wrong with having high standards. Its not their fault that skys marketing was so good. If they actually went to a few live matches some of them would go again

I can't understand how people apply this logic, follow a premiership team, and then support the Irish national team; sure would they not be consistent and follow France or England or Belgium at international level instead? Their standard of football is undeniably much higher.

trashcan

Patrick2010 wrote: »

Unless my memory is failing me I believe Holland beat us 3-2 that night, Ruud Gullit doing the business after we were 2 goals up.

Yep, you’re right there. Dalymount had floodlights from the mid sixties I think. There was definitely a WC qualifier under lights in ‘72 I think, when we beat France 2-1. Strangely, in 74 the euro qualifier v USSR was played at Dalymount in mid afternoon. Liam Bradys debut and Don Givens got a hat trick.

Greyfox

El Tarangu wrote: »

I can't understand how people apply this logic, follow a premiership team, and then support the Irish national team; sure would they not be consistent and follow France or England or Belgium at international level instead? Their standard of football is undeniably much higher.

Club and country are completely different and most Irish people dont have a local club that represents them

trashcan

Cienciano wrote: »

Almost every LOI fan I know also supports an english team so we're going to have to disagree. For years people have been slagging off EPL fans as not real fans, not supporting local teams, barstoolers etc and it might be down to frustration but I doubt it's made 1 person go to a LOI game. All it does is make them think LOI fans are wánkers! Sorry to say, but that's how it comes across. Same arguments on boards since early 00's and I doubt 1 person went to a game because of it.
We all know why people support EPL teams, but shaming people into going to a game isn't going to work. Going to a game is something people need to enjoy. Thinking you're going to somehow guilt them into going is just not going to work.

I agree with that, but equally I really don’t believe that people are staying away just because people have been mean on the internet. It can be a handy excuse though.

El Tarangu

Greyfox wrote: »

Club and country are completely different

How so?

Greyfox wrote: »

most Irish people dont have a local club that represents them

Maybe so, but I'm pretty sure that, no matter where you are in the country, almost any LoI club is significantly closer than Manchester or London.

SHOVELLER

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

1993, no?

I’m sure Ireland vs Romania, in rugby, was the first match played under floodlights at Lansdowne Road. I remember being impressed with the size of the Romanian “pack” and the steam coming off the scrums.

First game under floodlights at Lansdowne was against Bolivia in 1994 with a cracker from John Sheridan. I remember cos I was at it.

Dalymount has had lights since 1962. All of this information is out there lads.

Cienciano wrote: »

Slagging off premier league fans is the first problem. LOI needs their money. LOI fans spend too much time slagging them off. Helps create a "them and us" culture.

A big problem is the FAI, it's been a joke from as far as I can remember, early 90s onwards. That's probably not going to change either.

First thing clubs need to do to get crowds in is have better facilities. But when a club gets money they usually end up spending it on wages chasing europe. 3 years later that's gone and they still have a jacks with no lights and a condemned stand. Stuff like Bohs and Shels having seperate grounds 1KM away from each other is madness. As much as I like Tolka Park.

Lobbying the government to try and get more money for grants is one thing. Inflate the numbers of people working in the industry like the greyhound industry does. As sad as it is, that's what's needed to be done. Brexit might help, if people can't go to the UK until they're a certain age it can stop english clubs hoovering up any talent. Also, a proper youth coaching system. Not focused on results. You end up with a team of "big lads" for their age being promoted and ignoring the technical guys.

As soon as I see a LOI fan use the word "barstoolers" in an argument I die a bit inside. Trying to embarrass people into going to games hasn't worked ever, and never will work. The biggest league in the world is a 40 minute ryanair flight away and on TV all weekend, might as well embrace it.

You are missing my point. Barstoolers are gone and there is no suggestion of them being "embarrassed" to go to games. They don't know anything about the game really. What is the common denominator with the clubs they all "support"? They are successful. As said here its glamorous.

Why would you embrace any league that is not your own? Preposterous argument as is the point that bohs and shels having grounds near each other. So what? Look at Dundee.

SHOVELLER

Greyfox wrote: »

Club and country are completely different and most Irish people dont have a local club that represents them

Nonsense. Rovers have fans that come from Roscommon, Tipp and elsewhere to games.

You have no idea of football culture.

Tomaldo

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

It's a serious question. Used to be a big thing. I don't hear about it any more or see Celtic jerseys like I used to.

On holidays, an English man asked me did I support Celtic, I said no, he was surprised, he thought all Irish men supported them. I told him more of us support Liverpool or Man Utd, am I right?

Strumms

Irish governments should have invested more over the years especially when the country was awash with cash during the Celtic Tiger years on capital grants for soccer clubs....it’s likely political and the reaction of the GAA mob that would dissuade them....

Stipulation would be that the money can only be invested in improving facilities and infrastructure... stadia, training facilities, 10 teams 3.5 million each. Need to provide verifiable receipts and produce work etc.. clubs add to it as they want / can...

35 million would be an investment for a couple of decades.. that brings more people to the matches, more revenue to the clubs, more interest in sport here, more people watching, being inspired to participate in local teams.....

EmmetSpiceland

SHOVELLER wrote: »

First game under floodlights at Lansdowne was against Bolivia in 1994 with a cracker from John Sheridan. I remember cos I was at it.

Apologies, my point was that the floodlights were first used in 1993 for a rugby match between Ireland and Romania.

I’m guessing because it has always, technically, been a rugby stadium that the IRFU got first “dibs”. Same when they got the first game at the new Aviva stadium. A dreadful affair involving the young academy players of all four provinces.

Thelonious Monk

The sszzzdate of the squad for this Serbia game. I remember watching us beat them around 97 or so when Mark Kennedy lashed a great goal in from outside the box. How far we've regressed since.

Tombo2001

Glass half full lads.

LoI looks like its at a low point because of the mess the FAI is in.

Actually, it might be in a much better place now than in 2001 when were embarking on a two decade Delaney tenure.

In the meantime - as a spectator sport - the GAA in my view is in a bad place because of Dublins dominance. The glamour of playing for county team in places like Meath or Kildare or Offaly isnt what it was.

I think there is definitely a market for local spectator sport.

One area that the FAI could look at is possibly adjusting to the changing shape of Dublin. Apart from Rovers, look at where clubs are located - Inchicore, Phibsboro, Richmond Road etc. Whereas Ashbourne/ Ratoath or Blanch/ Clonee or Swords/ Portmarnock are big big population centres that arent anywhere near an LoI set up.

bobbysands81

Did you smash it wrote: »

Reading on RTE.ie that the public purse will be used to fund a white water rafting complex in the ifsc to the tune of 25 million.

This while “the home of Irish football” Dalymount park is a half condemned ruin.

It amuses me that people think Ireland is a football country because it has the highest participation rate of any sport.

Truth is we have no football economy really beyond a really small time one and no matter what the FAI do they’ll never have the ability to upgrade it as there is no financial investment or wealth in football in the country.

The public’s investment in football amounts to sky sports subscriptions and trips cross channel.

Soccer is nowhere near the highest played sport.

Personal exercise 16%
Swimming 9%
Running 7%
Cycling 4%

Soccer is on 3% alongside Yoga and Dancing.

https://www.sportireland.ie/news/participation-in-sport-jumps-3-according-to-latest-irish-sports-monitor-report

Did you smash it

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Soccer is nowhere near the highest played sport.

Personal exercise 16%
Swimming 9%
Running 7%
Cycling 4%

Soccer is on 3% alongside Yoga and Dancing.

https://www.sportireland.ie/news/participation-in-sport-jumps-3-according-to-latest-irish-sports-monitor-report

Highest participation among team sports I think...which is also BS. GAA would have the highest in terms of people who actually play in competition rather than lads kicking about in the Astro.

Breezin

Tombo2001 wrote: »

One area that the FAI could look at is possibly adjusting to the changing shape of Dublin. Apart from Rovers, look at where clubs are located - Inchicore, Phibsboro, Richmond Road etc. Whereas Ashbourne/ Ratoath or Blanch/ Clonee or Swords/ Portmarnock are big big population centres that arent anywhere near an LoI set up.

How close do they need to be? You don't have to live in Phibsborough to support Bohs.

Blanch, for example, is just up the road, and there's a strong connection and following there.

Bohemian FC is the only native northside Dublin club in the LoI. It shouldn't have any difficulty drawing support from any of the areas mentioned.

partyguinness

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Soccer is nowhere near the highest played sport.

Personal exercise 16%
Swimming 9%
Running 7%
Cycling 4%

Soccer is on 3% alongside Yoga and Dancing.

https://www.sportireland.ie/news/participation-in-sport-jumps-3-according-to-latest-irish-sports-monitor-report

Highest played "team" sport?

To be fair, "personal exercise" covers a wide range of activities eg. the gym, walking the dog, walking the kids to school/pushchair. I wouldnt call those a "sport" as such.

Anyway, it does also say most popular "activity for Irish adults"- that could include my 87yr old grandmother walking to the shops.

partyguinness

Did you smash it wrote: »

Highest participation among team sports I think...which is also BS. GAA would have the highest in terms of people who actually play in competition rather than lads kicking about in the Astro.

Well, you have a lot more playing soccer on Astro turf on a weekly basis than just kicking around with GAA. Not as easy to just have a GAA football kick around.

Thelonious Monk

Breezin wrote: »

How close do they need to be? You don't have to live in Phibsborough to support Bohs.

Blanch, for example, is just up the road, and there's a strong connection and following there.

Bohemian FC is the only native northside Dublin club in the LoI. It shouldn't have any difficulty drawing support from any of the areas mentioned.

Yep, people I know from Blanch are fellow Bohs fans, most of their parents are from Cabra, Finglas etc, traditional Bohs areas.
Shelbourne should just disappear though, I really don't want to have to share the new Dalymount if that ever happens.

Shakey_jake

I see the Belgium pro and Eredivisie are going to possibly merge

We should do this with LOI Irish League and Scotland

It will only be a matter of time before the top 2 in Scotland join the English league

Omackeral

Shakey_jake wrote: »

It will only be a matter of time before the top 2 in Scotland join the English league

Hearing that since the 90s

Shakey_jake

Omackeral wrote: »

Hearing that since the 90s

I know, right : )