Should we give up football?

Luder wrote: Every organisation in the country is looking for funding from the government. You have to rise above the noise to stand a chance. It's also politcal of course, that's why the GAA, Rugby, horse racing etc do so well. They have good lobbyists and are connected to polititians on the ground. Football has been atrociously bad at it.

That's why when the FAI said they were looking to build a centre of excellence for the Munster region in Glanmire they should have been looking to work with the University of Limerick instead.

Like they've got ready made facilities and when going to the government for funds it's not only the FAI but UL who've built a top class sporting campus.

The Huntacha wrote: I’d say very few of us thought having an academy for each was a bad idea and wasn’t the done thing in Europe until that report came out.

Edited by nice triangles - 26 Apr 2024 at 3:49pm

I’d say very few of us thought having an academy for each was a bad idea and wasn’t the done thing in Europe until that report came out.

Every organisation in the country is looking for funding from the government. You have to rise above the noise to stand a chance. It's also politcal of course, that's why the GAA, Rugby, horse racing etc do so well. They have good lobbyists and are connected to polititians on the ground. Football has been atrociously bad at it. I suspect there might be a bit of an inferiority complex about it here in Ireland. Yes, there's a class element to it too. But it's up to the FAI to get above that and come up with strategies to succeed. The govermnet will give money to groups if the polititians think it's in their interests to do so. It's up to the FAI to make that case by lobbying Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael etc. directly. But since the FAI is a complete fooking shambles it's absolutley no surprise the direction we're going.

Iceland, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Albania etc etc. all would envy LOI attendances in their domestic leagues. 

Edited by Maccatacca - 26 Apr 2024 at 10:01am

The amount of money they’re looking for is so small in the grand scheme of things. And it should only be needed for a certain amount of time, after which it should start financing itself with player sales. It’s not like it’ll need to be propped up forever like horse racing.

Hopefully the penny will drop soon that investment in the underage academy structures and the LOI is the only viable solution to our long term aspirations at senior level. The diaspora strategy and the “let the Brits coach our youth” strategy are both busted flushes now with continually dwindling returns.

As I was saying before. Georgia are good now, Luxembourg are probably better than us. All down to investment and good management. We're going nowhere but south lol. The deep south.