Respect goes a long way
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A text message from an acquaintance on Wednesday evening reads “I see your shower is moaning again”. It requires a bit of further research to discover that because I am an apparent member of The United Brotherhood Of People Who Frequent Domestic Soccer Matches I am somehow responsible for any slight committed by anyone relating to the League. The offence on this occasion? The fact that the League’s players had the audacity to stand up for themselves in the face of a severe display of disrespect. “They get the chance to play Celtic and they go and throw the toys out of the pram” reads the subsequent message.
The Dublin Super Cup is a fantastic concept. One that Irish soccer fans should be welcoming open armed. How many times in recent years have you attended a “glamour” pre-season friendly only to bear witness to a not even reserve Premier League team? This weekend offers the first of ten chances to see some of the game’s biggest names play at a time when they are in the final stages of preparations for League and European campaigns.
The result, you would have to hope, is a sequence of games which consist of more than the usual mundane pre-season kickabouts that we have had inflicted upon us in years gone by. The commercial realities facing any of Europe’s big clubs dictates that the cash cow now exists in the Far East or Oceania. For Ireland to be able to attract names such as Inter Milan, Manchester City and Glasgow Celtic is a credit to Emdemol and their pulling power within sports promotion.
It is also a credit to the FAI that an Airtricity League team has been included as part of the deal. Let’s be honest, aside from the most diehard of fans or the friends and family of those involved, the League of Ireland selection will draw very few fans to the Aviva Stadium. That’s not to suggest that they don’t deserve to be treated with the respect and dignity that will be shown to the multi-millionaires they are about to compete with.
A significant number of players within the League are obviously reasonably committed to the concept of having a representative team; why else would they be preparing to play at the Aviva when the beach or a holiday is waiting to be exploited during the summer break.
Showergate is unfortunate and provides too simple a way for people to hit out at the tournament and come up with a fresh way of having another pop off something connected to the FAI. The Aviva Stadium is a world class facility and one that has been praised universally by the players and coaches to have done battle in it since its opening. It’s not beyond the realms of creditability to accept that a stadium intended to host sports that have no track record of staging multiple games on one day would hone its plans accordingly.
In contrast take Croke Park; accustomed to staging multiple games and kitted out to fully service the needs of the many teams involved. On Saturday Croker will play host to six teams, all of which will presumably be showered and refreshed when they leave. Maybe GAA players, in contrast to pampered soccer stars, don’t mind seeing some other fella’s towel discarded on the dressing room floor or the remnants of strappings and discarded energy bars swept into the corner.
One can imagine how derailed Manchester City’s Champions League bid would become should Owen Heary or Jason Byrne traipse past their tactics board on the way to the showers. Critics have to be realistic. Barcelona’s players have been known to walk from their Nou Camp dressing room across the car park of the ground, over the main road to the Mini Estadia alongside their famous ground to train. Lionel Messi has not been overly affected. Equally the all conquering Liverpool team of the 70s and 80s would meet and change at Anfield, get bussed to Melwood to train, bussed back to Anfield to shower before sometimes bussing back to the training ground for lunch. A slight trek to the Wanderers Pavillion for the Airtricity League XI is not a chore.
The real issue lies away from the dressing room. Regardless of their standing in comparison to the other sides involved this weekend, our players do not deserve to be disrespected and should be recompensed accordingly. Players shouldn’t be out of pocket for the honour of being deemed to be amongst the best of their peers. They were right this week to stand up against what they deemed to be inappropriate conditions.
It is essential though that they deliver in terms of performance over the weekend. Regardless of what spin was placed on the game afterwards, last year’s 7-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United did more to reaffirm a view held by some that the League is not worth following than it did to showcase the talent we have at our disposal. This year’s squad have now received what they deem to be suitable reward from the FAI. It’s essential for the League and its fans that they earn it on the field over the next 48 hours.
The Dublin Super Cup is a fantastic concept. One that Irish soccer fans should be welcoming open armed. How many times in recent years have you attended a “glamour” pre-season friendly only to bear witness to a not even reserve Premier League team? This weekend offers the first of ten chances to see some of the game’s biggest names play at a time when they are in the final stages of preparations for League and European campaigns.
The result, you would have to hope, is a sequence of games which consist of more than the usual mundane pre-season kickabouts that we have had inflicted upon us in years gone by. The commercial realities facing any of Europe’s big clubs dictates that the cash cow now exists in the Far East or Oceania. For Ireland to be able to attract names such as Inter Milan, Manchester City and Glasgow Celtic is a credit to Emdemol and their pulling power within sports promotion.
It is also a credit to the FAI that an Airtricity League team has been included as part of the deal. Let’s be honest, aside from the most diehard of fans or the friends and family of those involved, the League of Ireland selection will draw very few fans to the Aviva Stadium. That’s not to suggest that they don’t deserve to be treated with the respect and dignity that will be shown to the multi-millionaires they are about to compete with.
A significant number of players within the League are obviously reasonably committed to the concept of having a representative team; why else would they be preparing to play at the Aviva when the beach or a holiday is waiting to be exploited during the summer break.
Showergate is unfortunate and provides too simple a way for people to hit out at the tournament and come up with a fresh way of having another pop off something connected to the FAI. The Aviva Stadium is a world class facility and one that has been praised universally by the players and coaches to have done battle in it since its opening. It’s not beyond the realms of creditability to accept that a stadium intended to host sports that have no track record of staging multiple games on one day would hone its plans accordingly.
In contrast take Croke Park; accustomed to staging multiple games and kitted out to fully service the needs of the many teams involved. On Saturday Croker will play host to six teams, all of which will presumably be showered and refreshed when they leave. Maybe GAA players, in contrast to pampered soccer stars, don’t mind seeing some other fella’s towel discarded on the dressing room floor or the remnants of strappings and discarded energy bars swept into the corner.
One can imagine how derailed Manchester City’s Champions League bid would become should Owen Heary or Jason Byrne traipse past their tactics board on the way to the showers. Critics have to be realistic. Barcelona’s players have been known to walk from their Nou Camp dressing room across the car park of the ground, over the main road to the Mini Estadia alongside their famous ground to train. Lionel Messi has not been overly affected. Equally the all conquering Liverpool team of the 70s and 80s would meet and change at Anfield, get bussed to Melwood to train, bussed back to Anfield to shower before sometimes bussing back to the training ground for lunch. A slight trek to the Wanderers Pavillion for the Airtricity League XI is not a chore.
The real issue lies away from the dressing room. Regardless of their standing in comparison to the other sides involved this weekend, our players do not deserve to be disrespected and should be recompensed accordingly. Players shouldn’t be out of pocket for the honour of being deemed to be amongst the best of their peers. They were right this week to stand up against what they deemed to be inappropriate conditions.
It is essential though that they deliver in terms of performance over the weekend. Regardless of what spin was placed on the game afterwards, last year’s 7-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester United did more to reaffirm a view held by some that the League is not worth following than it did to showcase the talent we have at our disposal. This year’s squad have now received what they deem to be suitable reward from the FAI. It’s essential for the League and its fans that they earn it on the field over the next 48 hours.
