The league Of Ireland (LOI) is very much unpopular amongst the general population. This is well known, and is reflected by poor viewership of games amongst the league as a whole. But why is a league that is based in the country that sells out stadiums worldwide for our national heroes no matter the sport. So why are we unable to fill out small stadiums for our local soccer teams? We are the “best fans in the world” after all, aren’t we? I think it’s very debateable considering we don’t support our local teams. But on the other hand are we given enough reason to support our team. I think it’s hard to support a substandard team in an inadequate league. And with the only platform of watching your team play being showing up to the stadium, is it really worth the admission fee and the effort considering the quality on display. The league itself has the potential to be more popular than it is but common faults cause the league to be shunned by the Irish population.
Unless you’ve being living under a rock for the last few months you will have noticed Dundalk’s meteoric rise through European football. They’ve come from a relegation playoff with Waterford United 4 years ago to being crowned champions of Ireland for the 3rd successive time on Sunday, as well as almost becoming the 1st Irish team in history to qualify for the lucrative Champions League group stages (ask Man U fans how hard this is). Their reward for missing out was a place in Europe’s 2nd tier competition the Europa League. By doing so they became only the 2nd L.O.I (League of Ireland) team to do so after Shamrock Rovers.
Depending on how well the inter-county team does, the life of a GAA club footballer can be very frustrating and have little reward. Throughout the whole country players don’t know when there next game will be and therefore can’t plan holidays with their girlfriend / wife or their friends. Managers are expected then to have their players peaking at the right time in terms of physicality and mentality but this is impossible to do due to the not knowing of fixtures.
The club player puts his whole life on hold for the summer and doesn’t know exactly when his next match will be. Is this fair? A lot of people will have their opinions but personally I feel it’s not fair on the club player. In most areas around the country the GAA clubs will have a team meeting in January/ February outlining the plan for the coming season and how things will be different from the year just gone. In my experience, the expectations are usually high within the group and everyone is looking forward to a good year ahead. The meeting begins with a reflection on the season just gone and what needs to be improved on if we are to have any hope in winning titles this year. A few senior players who are no strangers to these meetings stand up and say a few inspirational words to get everyone in the mood for the training sessions to come. The meeting comes to an end with sheets been handed out on when our training and gym sessions will be on for the next 2 months. This will be our year…. |
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