I have mixed emotions towards the Facebook monster as well. The image of modern life is sitting around watching telly over the top of a lap top, people are going out less and socialising less. God be with the days when you actually had to leave the house to meet people.
Football is a bit depressing at the moment. The Premier league is over, the Champions League is boring and I too am seriously considering the sense of my Sky Sports subscription. Thank God for Trap and the Irish team. Imperfect and all as it is, at least some respect has been restored.
The divisions in Irish football are hilarious, don't you think? There is a lot of nose cutting/face spiting going on. An All-Ireland league for example is a fine idea which makes perfect sense fiscally and for the quality of both competitions yet it has failed to materialise because of very petty and small minded opposition (albeit mostly from the Northern side I admit). I hate the way good ideas (such as moving Wimbledon to Dublin) are constantly shot down by the domestic soccer crowd. In fairness to Rugby and GAA solutions are found and deals are done, even if they are achieved in a roundabout way. In soccer in this country at least, the solution is that nothing happens.
To a point I can actually understand why clubs took the chance in bankrupting themselves to try to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League because the financial rewards are so great if you get there and in fairness, Irish clubs did get close on a number of occasions. Ultimately though they failed and now they have to deal with the consequences. To my mind this would involve the FAI taking over the clubs and designing a competitive league rather than having all the clubs cutting each others throats by competing against each other. Wexford Youths and the GAA inter county structure are two models which should be considered. Mick Wallace doesn't pay players. Why? Because they don't generate any money. Other clubs pay players extraordinary amounts of money even though they don't generate any money either. This latter policy is unsustainable as has been becoming more and more apparent.
Mick Wallace has invested in building a decent stadium. The idea being (I presume) that if you have a good stadium, people will come to watch games which will generate income. Richmond Park (Stadium of Light or whatever you call it) is one of the most depressing and awful grounds I've ever been in, yet last year St. Pat's were one of the highest paying clubs. The attendances were tiny (relative to the size of the ground at least) and they are rightly suffering accordingly this year.
If the FAI want to develop a decent league, they need to stop paying players first of all. The money simply isn't there to do that. Work on developing respectable, comfortable grounds which will not offend people wishing to go to a game. I've been to the memorial stadium in Bristrol, 5 or 6 regional league grounds in Germany all of which are better than anything in the League of Ireland, Ferrycarrig Park aside perhaps.
Where does this leave Limerick FC? Jack McCarthy has pumped in over €300,000.00 since he took over the reigns at the club. He must be wondering what the hell he's doing. Last year the club paid at least one player over €10,000.00. GAA clubs get bigger crowds and their players get nothing. It's all very well paying players but you have to be able to justify it. There is no justification for Limerick FC paying that kind of a sum to one player. There is undoubtedly an appetite for football in Limerick but they will need to be a bit smarter in how they can make the game palatable enough for people to come along.
It is true that the Junior clubs are more popular in Limerick City which I just see as another example of the kind of small minded parochial thinking which is leaving soccer in this country well and truly behind while rugby and GAA go from strength to strength. People in Limerick are actually proud of the fact that their Junior clubs are better than Limerick FC. They think they're great because they win the FAI Junior Cup every few years when the only reason they do so is that in every other city the best players are playing for the League of Ireland side. I'm just bitter because I think Limerick deserve to be a top League of Ireland side at least on a par with Derry City and I couldn't care less about the fortunes of Pike Rovers, Ballynanty Rangers or Mungret Bloody Regional.
I'm getting positive vibes from the club in Limerick about what they are trying to achieve. I think it will take time and patience though. I'm just think that Jack McCarthy might well be running out of both.
It's not all doom and gloom mind. There is plenty of scope for Irish clubs attracting bigger attendances and improving the product (you probably hate it being called that). I think John Delaney does a good job in that regard. I think we just need to start looking at football in this country more as a business than a branch of tribal warfare and an outlet for small minded pettiness.
What started out there Shane as a friendly email appears to have morphed into a potential blog. I shall have another look. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks for two reasons. 1. I was out in Spain for 10 days and wanted to write about Raul and what he stands for, I also wanted to write about Athletic Bilbao but I was finding it hard to get started (I don't really know that much about either). 2. I've been stuck in a raft of interviews for jobs I either won't get or don't exist which at least has been keeping me busy though good old fashioned emigration is looking a more and more likely possibility.
I hope this email hasn't made things worse. It's not meant to be negative, in fact my frustration is essentially borne out of a failure of the League of Ireland (and indeed myself) to make the most of the great potential we possess.
I will be at the Limerick game Friday night by the way if you want me to cover it for the site, that would be great!
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