Comments on: Where now for the League of Ireland?

By: Adrian Feely

Adrian Feely — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 19:29:57 +0000

Totally agree John, the cosy situation needs to change and change now for the good of football

By: John

John — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:04:25 +0000

I have been following LOI for over 20 years. Apart from a few years where it looked like there was genuine progress , in general nothing has changed. I dare say nothing has changed in longer than the 20 years I’ve been following. Same arguments now as then. It’s just confirmed to me that far from just ignoring the league, the FAI are actively involved in ensuring it continues to struggle. They see the potential rise of any club or clubs as a power struggle they could do without. The nice cosy situation they find themselves in at the moment is just fine.

By: John Clarke

John Clarke — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 22:17:57 +0000

You have unwittingly put your finger on the real problem here. There is no law of exclusivity in supporting a local side and having a favourite team in England, Scotland, Spain or wherever. A a regular LoI attender I would be the first to admit that many LoI fans contribute to this by insisting that you must love your local side and foresake all others.

What I find strange about so many of these fans is how few games they have actually attended. Often less than four or five games a year. What these fans need to understand is that the many of the Irish players that they will follow in the EPL can first be seen in LoI and that they don’t go across the water and become transformed.

I agree wholeheartedly with the article reagrding the FAI’s focus on the Senior International team. I wonder how many of the 30,000 fans in Poland that watched us lose 2-0 to Italy were aware that just two weeks earlier an Irish International team came back from 2-0 down against the Italians to draw 2-2 in front of a packed ground? This was of course the Under 21′s who drew with Italy at the Showgrounds in Sligo in a Euro qualifier. A game that barely warranted a mention in the national press while in Italy the game was screened live.

However it is viewed the fault for that lack of coverage falls firmly at the door of the FAI’s press office, just as the failure of LoI clubs falls firmly at the door of the FAI’s licencing department. The FAI may not shoulder all the blame for the demise of domestic football but they can take the lions share of it

By: Adrian Feely

Adrian Feely — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 16:15:16 +0000

Personally agree with a lot the points raised. Feel a root branch review of Irish football is needed, especially the FAI’s role in failing to promote the League here. Oh and Daivd if you paid 15 euro into Bray then you were ripped off. I pay a tenner in most weeks to see the champions at tallaght so you need to shop around.

By: David

David — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 12:09:19 +0000

A few weeks ago I had to pay 15e to get into a League Cup quarter final seen by little more than 250 people in a stadium that can hold a lot more than that (Bray). In this country, in the financial times that are in it, do not tell me the prices are resonable.

Saying the quality of football is good is all in the eye of the beholder of course, but I would tend to disagree.

Finally, I’m sure talking down to and lecturing fans of English clubs will get them streaming through the gates of LoI teams. It’s been such a successfull tactic in the past after all.

Irish football fans in my opinion, have no responsibility to support a league that is badly run, has little variation, is frequently overpriced for this country, has a realtive quality of football that is very poor, bad stadiums, bad promotion, I could go on and on.

We can only keep trying of course but let’s not pretend that we who support the LoI are being wronged by those who are more comnfotable supporting the Man Utd’s, the Liverpool, the Arsenal’s for whatever reason. Or those, like me, who support one on either side. There is no correct way to follow football.

You blame the FAI, than you take the oft heard course of blaming those who dare to decide to support an English club. You were half-right I think. There is a link between the failures of the FAI/LoI and the lack of interest from so many Irish people that it would be good to acknowledge.