If you’d like to support my work, I’ve partnered with Ground News. It’s a brilliant platform that pulls stories from all sides, helps highlight biases, and gives you a balanced view of the news. If you fancy a 15% discount on any subscription, just follow this link: check.ground.news/Blade
Well made video, it deserves more views. As a Macedonian, whose dmestic league is quite poor, I hope that the Irish league gets better and can develop more talent 🇲🇰🤝🇮🇪
As an Irish football fan: thank you. Our domestic league is growing in attendances (which is great to see!) but only time will tell how many kids here will stop wearing UK club shirts in the future...!
I wouldn’t argue with those points, but think there’s a lot more to it. I’d suggest the influx of Irish emigrants to England in the 60s was a factor in our successes in the 80s and 90s. Many of those players were born over there and came up through their system, not the League of Ireland, which wasn’t exactly well supported in the 80s. Better times are a factor in other ways too, kids have more distractions outside sport. Within sport, rugby has gained popularity. The GAA are still a factor of course. On top of all that there’s the influx of players into the English game from outside of the UK and Ireland, both scouted young and bought for outrageous fees. It’s simply harder to make the grade with more competition.
Yea but look at Europe and how no clubs in Germany France or Spain take in Irish players. Why is that. It can’t be ability because the premier league is the most competitive and we were in the top 4.
The success of the Irish rugby team is only one factor, but the incredible popularity of Gaelic football and hurling is another. In other countries football is the main sport. Not in Ireland. Many potentially great footballers don't even play the game. There are other factors. The Irish are not fanatical about football, as fans are in other countries. In fact most Irish fans see football as a means of working up a thirst for the pub afterwards. In fact you could say that the only thing the Irish are fanatical about is drinking alcohol. I remember when Ireland played Iran in a World Cup playoff some years ago. I was almost hoping Iran would win, because their fans are fanatical about the game. Even when Ireland qualify for major tournaments, their fans travel mainly for the 'craic' (as they spell it) with the football being little more than an afterthought. We got away with it in the Charlton years mainly because of good management and recruitment. Now players like Kane, Rice and Grealish don't want to touch us. Finally, Irish fans have for too long tolerated the fact that there are two teams on this island. An all -Ireland team (as in rugby) would create a much larger pool to choose from, and would greatly increase our chances of qualifying for major tournaments.
Delaney destroyed us but we haven't been smart as a national team. How didn't we get Jack Grealish and Declan Rice capped? You could've given them a few minutes off the bench in competitive games and they'd be locked down permanently. Having one or two top class players can make a huge difference as we saw with Wales having Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. We did this way better in the past when Jack Charlton scoured the secondary divisions for players with recent Irish ancestry and got those players secured. Also, we could have been cute and boosted our world ranking the way Switzerland did. They looked at the rankings, arranged friendlies against beatable teams and treated those matches like competitive fixtures working their way up the rankings table. The higher your FIFA world ranking is, the easier groups you get drawn in.
We destroyed ourselves. FAI is only a part of it. Irish fans bandwagoning on English and Scottish clubs stopped the development of Irish football. No investment going into the clubs.
Grealish and Rice are English and way too good for Ireland. They want to play on a team that will be playing in every major tournament. Ireland are a pub team .
As our football team has gotten worse, our rugby team has gotten better. Kids gravitate towards success. Plus playing rugby professionally means you can also stay in the country and have a successful career. Not every kid wants to emigrate to Burley or Stoke at age 16.
Well they can’t go to stoke or Burnley at 16 anymore. But the number of kids participating at football has never really dropped and rugby is a very closed off sport at a professional level .
Doubt if rugby has much to do with The type of athlete needed for rugby is totally different to soccer and the structure is not set up to cater for a large influx of players only 200 odd clubs and a handful of private schools acting as academies for the provincial and national team.
Money comes with football that's why it will always be the most sought after sport. The problem is done to the set up. England invest millions in kids football and development. Any clubs around me have a few coaches that are old alcoholics or dads that had to step in to help out their kids football team
It's also far easier to succeed in rugby. There's only about 5 Europeans clubs that are any good and three national European sides that are any good. Far less skill is also needed to play the sport in most positions. You just need speed and strength.
Yes, I was trying to get some stats on this but couldn't find anything concrete. But rugby turning professional and how well it is run in Ireland is definitely a contributing factor.
I don't see rugby as a negative. The IRFU is well funded, has standards of excellence and produces quality professionals here in Ireland. If anything, it should be something the FAI is modelled upon. Football still has great youth participation and choosing rugby can often be about which schools you go to and whether you're a bigger sized athlete anyway. Both can exist and be run well.
I'm half-Irish. Every time I go to Ireland, I see all the kids wearing Celtic, Liverpool and Man Utd shirts. I don't think I've ever seen anyone with an Irish club shirt.
That was always the case but it was an unspoken compromise. The Premier League is indebted to LOI for providing them with some of the greatest footballers to ever grace their pitches. Roy Keane, John Giles, Liam Brady, Tony Dunne Paul McGrath, David O’Leary, Kevin Moran, Denis Irwin, John O’Shea etc. they served their apprenticeships on home soil before Man U, Arsenal and Leeds spotted them…John Delaney has stripped LOI of that core function and it’s why Irish football is in the doldrums today. Rugby has become a far more attractive sport due to our international success there…..
It’s because most people play and watch local GAA and have their English football team they support aswell especially in the north where the football league is dominated by Protestant teams and the catholics in the area would all rather watch GAA locally including myself
@@rampageclover9788All those players you mention have one thing in common. They are ALL Irish born & bred. That’s why they gave it all for Ireland football. Today the team is nothing more than a gather up of players who THINK they are Irish because of this that or the other. Where I come from they speak about the B&Bs, that means Born & Breds, their birth certificate confirms them, nothing else. ☘️
Communities in Ireland of like 500 people have GAA clubs it by far the most common sport and let’s be honest English football doesn’t need Irish players as much as they used to as they can recruit from anywhere in the world, even though I think a lot of Irish lads dream of playing professional football in England the simple fact is a lot don’t make it and end up playing GAA. Rugby thrives due to it bring a private school game but also that rugby requires a different type of athlete compared to football/gaa players. Competition in Europe is tough these days but hopefully the lads can break through into a major tournament 🇮🇪🇮🇪
See statistics, there are far more participants in football in Ireland than the gaa,that's fact. It's logical as there's more clubs. My parish had 8 football clubs as against 2 gaa but all cooperated greatly. Rugby is a minority game competing at a similar level internationally,only 8 or 9 nations any good and only new Zealand where its the premier sport. Irish football has slipped due to fai mismanagement, lower numbers in premiership and a small national population. Let's face it perhaps in our golden years we were away above our capabilities when we could hold huge countries like Spain or Italy or Holland!
I agree with most but The GAA is way more popular in rural areas than soccer and i agree with FAI mismanagement but you also have to blame the general irish football supporter. The majority of irish football supporters would much rather support premier league team and they pump millions of euros into the british football economy. then we try compare oursleves to countries of similiar population like denmark croatia slovakia etc but they have a football industry in their country which is supported by the majority of their population and their leagues are far superior and can develop players to a higher standard
@@oliver69cork46 deffo agree with that, football is a far more laid sport than GAA at least at the local level. Playing both going to my local football club it’s just a bit of a laugh, nobody real cares if you turn up to training, go to the gym or turn to a game hungover. Where as GAA especially when it comes to the county championship either senior/intermediate you’re expected to show commitment, just look at that Clarinbridge player contract recently. If you conducted a survey asking the question ‘do you take your sporting commitments seriously’ GAA would come out on top for Yes answers. The reality is most lads probably take both seriously when they’re younger but when they turn 15/16 they realise they probably won’t make it at football so turn over to GAA.
@@Chesneydad yes I agree that soccer at a low level isn't taken seriously and the gaa is. Its always been like that,local soccer is more of a keep fit game so less commitment. But at more senior levels it becomes quite different and ofter players have to choose. Commitment is dependent on one's level.
Here after last night's win away, against Finland. Just hope we can push on. amazing that everyone was slagging on Brady and again, he pulls it out the bag for a winner.
man, i just went through your entire video catalogue and absolutely love it always great to see good content around our little isle, keep up the work. 43 subs will soon be 43k :)
@don_chanGD thank you so much for your comment. You wouldn't believe the amount of work that goes into these videos so to see someone saying something like that means the world. My hope is to keep growing and produce interesting stories about 'our little isle' . I was motivated to start because I kept seeing non-Irish UA-camrs making documentaries about Ireland but they were full of mistakes and they felt disingenuous. My goal is create something interesting, factual and entertaining. And maybe one day I can reach that 43k and beyond! Thanks again my friend!
If you're enjoying this video and finding it informative, please give it a thumbs up👍 And if you want to see more content from this channel, consider becoming a subscriber. I am a new UA-camr and these little acts of support by you really helps me grow. Thank you for watching!
As an England fan since 70s l was surprised as how Ireland football had fallen since 2004....They used to be do strong under manager Jack Charlton n players like Houghton, Paul McGarth, Kelvin Sheedy etc etc n e early 2000 Roy Keane...but after that they seem to go down all e way...sad to see this situation for e Irish!!! Hope they can bounce back to Glory soon again!!
I always found the juxtaposition of the FAI and the IRFU fascinating. With rugby in Ireland being historically mismanaged particularly in the 90s and early 2000s while football was seeing a lot of success and a flip almost happening around the late 2000s with the sports find of swapping places.
But the FAI were being mismanaged in the 80s and the 90s the success they had had nothing to do with the Fai themselves. With the IRFU I think they greatly helped by the private schools essentially running their academies for them the IRFU can’t take much credit for them
The private schools have been there for generations now but Ireland have only started seeing success since 2009 ish just leveraging the resources at hand.
Irish people don't generally support the League of Ireland, thus millions of euro crosses the Irish Sea every week and doesn't come back. Until this changes, the national side will struggle to reach its potential. Corporate governance has also been a big problem for the FAI; John Delaney almost single-handedly destroyed the Association. Compare this with the GAA and IRFU, which are well supported and which largely manage to keep the money within the country, and are much better organised than the FAI.
1million went to LOI this year thats on a par with GAA and Rugby.Most grounds have been sold out but the capacities and facilities at those grounds are low.
exactly most people who give out about how poor the Irish national team are will gladly go to liverpool manchester etc and watch premier league football and they dont realise the damage they are doing to irish football
@@gallowglass2630 Sure, and that’s a step in the right direction. Maybe the cost of living crisis will be beneficial for the LOI in making domestic football more attractive to spectators. It’s also good that the likes of Kerry FC and latterly Mayo FC have been formed, as it’s hard to follow a team that doesn’t represent your locality.
The main problems are : 1. The countries best players play GAA 2.Many good players give up on soccer at 16 because there is basically no leagues to play in , so when you turn 16 you have to wait until you're 18 again to play adult soccer . 3.Culture in Ireland is GAA first ,often GAA MATCHES clash with soccer on a Saturday as a kid and people will choose GAA because their parents force them to . 4.Coaching at the youth level(6-16) isn't the best either .
Great video! I still think that one of the reasons that our football team is so useless is because of the GAA (not that it's necessarily a bad thing). Every rural village in Ireland has a gaelic team, but how many have a football team? If you really want kids to play football then you have to target those that don't have the option. That being said, I wouldn't want gaelic to decline. Maybe there's room for both, who knows.
Defo. I’d add that the GAA is by now at a professional level in all but pay, taking players away from football (e.g greedy managers not allowing players to play other sports, or there simply not being enough days in the week to train w/ multiple teams). Maybe that might actually push people towards football again in the medium to long term but let’s see? Plenty to go around at the end of the day
Statistics shows that there are near 2 times the number of football clubs v gaa clubs-4000 v 2300. Rugby hss 256 official clubs. The gaa won't decline because they're great games and have deep roots.
I am from county sligo and my local LOI team is Sligo Rovers and they seem to be well supported but the problem is there is only one local player on the team which means many youngsters don't feel that getting to play for sligo rovers is arealistic goal.Sligo is doing very well at under age Gaelic may not be solely be the reason but its probably a factor.
@@oliver69cork46I agree with there being more football clubs in Ireland than GAA however the majority of the GAA clubs would be u6 the whole way up to adult whereas with football clubs there are many underage clubs or adult only clubs. Or clubs with 2/3 underage teams and an adult club especially in rural Ireland. Football clubs and GAA clubs don’t follow the same structure and are hard to compare
Anyone who says the rugby team doing well is causing the football teams decline is actually deluded . It’s not even a factor . As someone who has played football and rugby my whole life, out of the 200 or so I played with in club football , club rugby, school rugby and school football I think I know like 3 people who ever played both sports past u12 levels. Rugbys player base is still the exact same , it’s just that the private schools which they draw most their players from have legitimate professional coaching and set ups so the standard has improved as a result. GAA is the sport that loses talent to rugby not football . As they can get a pro contract while living in Ireland as opposed to not earning any money playing gaa. The gaa player base of country lads and middle class city lads is the same player base that rugby draws from so they are typically in direct competition for players , the town in limerick im from for example half of the rugby team played gaa and vice versa where as the football lads never played rugby and didn’t really play gaa if they took football seriously and played for a big schoolboy football club.
I'm so confused by this comment. You're calling soccer football and saying gaa players play rugby? Fuck no. I've met 1 person who ever played both. Rugby is a protestant sport and you'd get all sorts of abuse for it
It's not a reason at all....why is Italy one of football's great meccas but their rugby team is the drizzling shits? GAA is the one sporting institution not deflowered by big money. Yes some do get lost to rugby but it's a small price....I place the blame squarely on John Delaney....
@@Dylan20579let me guess you’re a working class dub ? I’m from limerick and the soccer heads were the biggest west Brits of all time. All diehard English premier league fans . Rugby is most certainly not a Protestant sport in limerick , we’ve teams beside moyross ffs.
Another factor is when you hire an amature level manager you get amature level football. Scotish or league of Ireland football is not international level of experience required
Delaney was a bad Administrator However You can't excuse bad coaches like Kerr, Staunton and Kenny who qualified for zero tournaments because of their slow low tempo friendly paced tactics. Kenny's failure has nothing to do with Delaney you can't sugarcoat Kenny's awful time in charge of Ireland he simply was not up to the demands of the job and neither was Kerr and Staunton before him .
@josephm.d.p.finnegan Whatever about Staunton, he was a Delaney pick and was instantly in over his head. Brian Kerr is unfairly maligned. He wasn't a Delaney yes-man, brought Roy Keane back into the fold - which given his exit was no mean feat. In my opinion he wasn't given enough time. He managed most of that team to great success at underage level. Two bad results against Israel and an Henry worldie in Landsdowne cost him his job, unfairly, in my opinion. I reckon his sacking was political more than anything else. Delaney was more than an administrator. He ran the FAI into the ground.
@@josephm.d.p.finneganKenny was dealing with a bad bunch of players with zero grassroots system. Yes, he was truly awful (and should never have got the job) but the blames isn’t entirely his. Or any other failed manager for that matter.
As a Englishman Ireland does very well supporting and playing 4 major codes of Gaelic Football, Hurling, Rugby Union and Soccer with a small population and compere that to Scotland who have a similar size population yet it's manily Football ( and the Scottish team and crowds are poor apart from the Big Firm) as Rugby is only popular in Edinburgh and the Scottish/Northumberland Borders and Shinty is nowhere near as popular as Hurling....I think you do alright over 40,000 for the FAI final, 50,000 for Leinster v Munster and 80,000 for both All Ireland finals for Football and Hurling.
The last few times Scottish and Irish teams have faced off in Europe has shown the LOI isn't far off the SPFL. Sligo Rovers kicking ten shades of sh** out of Motherwell home and away being a prime example. The LOI needs investment in facilities. Everyone makes fun of Shamrock Rovers "council house" in Tallaght but it should be the rule rather than the exception. Finn Harps have a bleak future ahead of them without a new stadium, Oriel Park is an embarrassment to LOI fans. Galway United, Drogheda United and St Pats are all outgrowing their current grounds. The government giving 50 million for a GAA white elephant outside the jurisdiction of the state while grounds (not just football) are literally falling apart. 50 million would revolutionize a good chunk of stadia in the league
@@Dubliner-un9lwThe fact that Donegal a county with a unique rural soccer tradition have not been given the funds (in a once off commitment, as opposed to drip feeding) to provide Finn Harps with a modest new municipal new stadium in Ballybofey-Stranorlar tells you all you need to know about the true support for football from official Ireland. I’m not from Donegal, but I have watched this saga for years, and I firmly believe this is a true test whether the Irish authorities are serious about supporting football, or not. If Finn Harps cannot get a modest new municipal stadium, which would be a great asset for the whole county of Donegal, then I truly believe Ireland has no right to expect anything from football.
Great video, nail on the head. Loved the optimism at the end cause that’s what keeps us as fans going through this period, the thought that soon there could be players that would beckon in another golden era
Great video. I am a big league of Ireland fan and I lived in a town in the north west of England for a few years too and I can see the same patterns (that happened in the LoI) which are also leading to the decline of the football league teams there too. The town I lived in had a League 2 team but always struggled because they were so close to some of the big Pship teams from nearby Manchester and Liverpool. Then there were a small number of fans which watched the big local Pship teams on TV and then went to watch the local team too.
Good video. I find Irish soccer supporters to fall into two broad churches: the bar stoolers that watch the Premier League (and often have distain for the local game) and the League of Ireland diehards, which are definitely in the minority. The second group, whilst they do support the local game, can be annoying when often blame the GAA/rugby/the Government for soccer's woe's when in fact it's mostly self inflicted.
I’m from Australia; the dynamic here is quite similar. There’s a decent number of people who like soccer but aren’t much interested in the local product as they don’t think it’s very good (they’re called Eurosnobs here). Then there are the true believers who are heavily invested in Australian soccer but are becoming increasingly embittered and paranoid about its failures, blaming it all on the AFL or on a lack on government funding. Unfortunately these types make the game even less attractive, driving down interest further.
@PixelsinMySoup. I don’t agree that soccer’s woes are mostly self inflicted. The fact is Ireland is a small country with limited resources and choices have to be made by the Irish people themselves. They have made those choices and for the majority of people Irish football doesn’t really feature in their choices. A good example of this would be the league of Ireland grounds. In any other EU country the clubs would be provided with municipal stadiums.
@davidpryle3935 Well Shamrock Rovers, Derry and eventually Bohemian's ground are municipal. But none of the rugby or GAA are either, it's just not the model used in Ireland. The FAI's organisation of the sport in Ireland has been shambolic at times plus most Irish soccer fans spend their money and attention on British clubs. So yeah, I'd say that is self inflicted.
@@PixelsInMySoup I suppose one could describe Irish people’s lack of support for Irish football as “self inflicted”. Its just not the way I would describe it. I would describe it as Irish people making their choices. Certainly no blame attaches to the league of Ireland clubs, who against all the odds have kept a professional football league alive in Ireland. I simply cannot praise clubs like Sligo rovers enough, who have defied the odds and kept a professional football club going in the west of Ireland for nearly a hundred years.
@@PixelsInMySoup Let me just add that Irish people are fully entitled to make their choices any which way they like. But then having made those choices, what they are not entitled to, is for a top class international football team to magically appear out of nowhere.
just found this channel and it's exactly what I've always wanted from an Irish channel talking about Ireland, reminds me of the Dutch youtuber Hoog in a sense
Another major factor was that our last great team (2002 team) was wasted when the Fai appointed Brian Kerr for two seasons, and then Steve Staunton. That was 6 years without a proper decent coach. Wasted a great crop of players.
Very interesting. As a Scot, I’m always interested in how Ireland are getting on. We have a similar demographic and history, though obviously not identical. I’m old enough to know that football, like everything, is cyclical. I remember Scottish sides being some of the top in Europe, as recently as the 80s. I recall that too for the Dutch, French and Yugoslavian teams. England’s bubble can’t remain forever - it too will burst - and with it, a reliance on Irish, Scottish and Welsh players will return - I’m sure of it. Unfortunately, I find this too really distasteful and subservient. I’d prefer to see all countries thrive. I want to see a more even competition and rising interest in not just Ireland, but Scotland and Wales too. I’d like to see Dutch, Swedish and Belgian clubs given the same. Basically, we need more equality in the game. As Ceferin said, “we need the Rangers and Celtics, the Galatasaraays etc” - he knows it too. This then makes for more competitive national teams, as more citizens see an interesting local pathway, and play the game more. They’re not just fixated on the PL or CL (both of which I find increasingly tedious). I hope Ireland gets back producing great players again. Sometimes, as in our case, that’s not enough, and it needs a great manager too. All the best
Football or soccer in ireland as many call it here is just one of 4 major field games whereas though you have rugby scottish football has much less competition for its best athletes.
Rangers and Celtic don't want more equality in the Scottish game. I'm an Aberdeen fan who enjoys watching their glory hunting/bigoted fans crying about joining English league. 😆 stay and suffer like rest of us lol
Hahahaha that would never work mate. Works with rugby because the fans are middle class and don’t really have a history of conflict but in football that doesn’t work . NI supporters are from the shankill, sandy row etc and despise catholics and everything about us.
One reason is that they are missing a goal scorer since Robbie Keane retired. He scored so many goals for them and he bailed them out so many times with his goals.
Theres a way bigger emphasis on GAA and rugby, than soccer all the way up through school. A lot of good potential tied up on senior level of football and hurling teams
The big big problem is the people think of football as a foreign sport. It's frowned upon in this country. The Gaa is our national game and football has been in decline for 20 years. I think football as a whole is in decline. Just my opinion.
I am absolutely blown away by the reaction to this video. Thank you all very much for watching, liking and subscribing. Below, there are some really interesting comments that highlight points I may have overlooked or missed in my research. I recommend giving them a read for a more in-depth analysis of this issue. I am a solo documentary maker focusing on Irish and European stories. If you liked this video please feel free to explore my other work on this channel.
Honestly, pin literally all the blame on Delaney and the FAI board. We had been to 3/4 world cups immediately prior to his appointment as CEO and 0 since.
@Richard1A2B it's the boards responsibility for investing money in grassroots in order to produce players to put on the pitch..instead, the money and fandom from 3 world cups was squandered.
It’s a good point, but we’d only first qualified for a World Cup in 1990 so was something wrong beforehand or maybe 16 team World Cups were always too much of a reach to qualify for
@@bongofury89 it could be that the conditions just optimised for us in the 90s in a way that they hadn't prior to that. The GAA abolishing rule 27 probably helped a little, Jack's policy of pursuing English born players probably helped too. Then as you say, the expansion of teams permitted to the finals was probably the biggest factor.. what is your take? I could be totally wrong on rule 27, that may have had no impact at any point!
I’m Irish but the main reason for our national teams poor performances is the demands for other sports our rugby team is brilliant and our GAA is massive in Ireland so theirs not much left for football and our football clubs aren’t big enough to play in Europe which leaves the players at a salary cap so you’d be honestly better playing rugby or GAA or even hurling and if you come to Ireland you’ll notice Celtic’s or Liverpool jerseys or other national team jerseys and you won’t see any Irish club jerseys like shamrock rovers and Sligo rovers 😅
Has nothing to do with the other sports. Ireland is simply not serious about soccer. It plays hack and slash football and depends on English league football. GAA has nothing to do with that culture.
It's been the same since I was a kid.. I'm from dundalk a council estate in dundalk, no scouts will come look at us wen I was young.. not saying I was good enough to make it, but there was plenty of good footballers in my estate, then my town? Was loads... but we're council estate kids no1 came to scout.. I grew up watching us actually goin toe to toe wit anyone
If they didn't come to watch you Tom, or your friends, it wasn't because you were council estate kids. That makes zero sense. You will find that most of the superstars in world football were council estate kids (Robbie and Roy Keane and Liam Brady were 3 examples from Ireland).
Hi Thomas, I just discovered your channel. A bit harsh puttint Evan Ferguson on the thumbnail when he's our only decent player but it seems to have done the trick. Congratulations on the big break-through for your channel. Keep up the good work.
Hey Tom! Thanks very much. I really hope you stick around and subscribe to see more from me in the future. It has been truly amazing seeing the response from everybody and I wish I could thank them all individually. I love what I do and want to continue making entertaining and thought provoking content, especially for Irish audiences. Yes, I take your point on Evan, but I wanted to use him as his expression in that moment captures a lot of what I think rish fans are feeling - a sense of deflation and disappointment. But as you noted, it also helps generate interest in the video and attract clicks. This is an unavoidable reality of being on UA-cam but I will try and tread that line carefully.
Good video with some good points. I’d add massive popularity of GAA in big towns now like Dublin where football dominated before. The lack of emigration from Ireland to the uk- the 80’s & 90’s teams had considerable numbers from the diaspora that went over in the 60’s & 70’s- growing up where football is the dominant sport and going through the English or Scottish club systems, that’s gone since the Celtic tiger and it’s more tenuous now then before- ray houghton, Kevin Killane, Andy Townsend were good servants for Ireland. Despite some other comments I disagree with rugby as a factor as it’s still a middle class sport in Ireland- in the Ireland rugby team if they aren’t from a private school they are likely from the Southern Hemisphere.
Poverty in Ireland created a generation of world class players from Liam Brady, Paul McGrath and Roy Keane right up to Duff and Robbie Keane.The very same way poverty has traditionally helped Brazilian football. Skills that are learned on the street, or the back garden. That's all gone now since we've been wealthy for over 20 years and kids have 100 other things they can do now. The other factor is that the emigration to England in the 50s and the 60s supplemented our homegrown talent with lots of players born to Irish parents who either saw themselves as Irish or who just couldnt get in the England team. Either way it was a win win for us.
Having lived and played in both Ireland and Spain I think that the standard of pitches alongside the level of coaching are major factors. Everywhere in Spain they play on artificial grass. I don't much like it, but it means you can trust the bounce of the ball and therefore can pass it out from the back etc. Also in Spain management and coaching is held in higher regard, football is the number one sport, and there are often young coaches who decide to coach because they love that side of the game. In Ireland I think it happens because you need to retire so you take over coaching, or because your kid plays, but you havnt actually delved deep into tactics and philosophy of play..... Which is hard to implement in the first place playing on cut up pitches in the winter. Honestly, of course you are going to just try to send it long or nod it on instead of taking it down. Another factor is the weather, windy and rainy. They don't play here half the time if it rains, and it doesn't rain often! In cold and windy weather it's more likely a battle takes place rather than a game of nice passing football, therefore (along with GAA influence and general weather hardiness), we tend to go into battles easier and therefore don't develop the technical or tactical side as well......
It's the "curse" of the small football nations that is responsible about the downfall of the Irish national team. Ireland is just having a "bad breed" of footballers. Small countries (in population), are keen on football quality fluctations, because the pool from which they have to pick their players is limited. Ireland is a country of 5 million people. A bad breed can result in very poor results in international level. But Ireland is lucky... Most small nations (population
What has happened to us we used to produce talented names such as Roy Keane, Paul Mcgrath, Dennis Erwin, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff now the only good one we have is Ferguson but he is young and cant carry us to a world cup *sigh* before i die i just wanna see us in a world cup tournament im 20 so i have a long way to go so hopefully 🤞 anyways brilliant video on the issues irish football is going through top stuff 👍
The main issue is the domestic league is still semi-professional at best. If young kids want to make it, they either have to leave Ireland or hope to get scouted by an overseas club.
Yes this a huge problem. Some players get scouted by English teams at when they are teenagers but it's not always possible to just move to another country when you are that young. Some players miss thag opportunity because they are just not in a position to relocate abroad.
There is no deep rooted love for "football" in Ireland for many reasons , not least of which is that football was and will always be associated with our greatest nemesis, the English. Also football is motivated by money while our hurling and gaelic are motivated by pride and honour which is something money can't buy. 👍
Until Jack Charlton came along, Ireland's footballing history was impoverished to say the least. These things often work in cycles. Ireland will come again.
Don't agree with that, we had teams that just missed out on qualifying a few times , mist notable under Eoin Hand ,when France who made the semis of World Cup in 82 , we missed out on goal difference and had some very dodgy ref decisions in France .
@@jueja310doyle7 They had a formidable team. By the mid to late eighties the Irish team had a well oiled team that would work by just picking the players nothing else needed. No fancy tactics was needed just let the players go out. Charltons style was to defend by putting every man behind the ball and hitting the opposition on the counter.
Is noone going to mention how truly horroble irish football facilities are. I remember how excited we would get if we got to play against a team with a pretty flat pitch as most of the pitches we played on were horrible, basically farmland. In rugby, clubs have showers and clubhouses, in soccer you're lucky if they have the back of a trailer for you to change in
In 2002, Rugby & Boxing for example, were amateur sports. Ireland had a few Olympians and no World Champions at anything (apologies to some marathon or distance runners if I'm out by a year or two?). We got entirely behind Jack and he made dreamers better than their dreams. That was one of the best passages in the entire History of our young aggressively passive Nations History. It should not and will not be forgotten EVER. It is this inclusive attitude and basic 'Pride' that will allow us to WIN at every Sport, at every level. Stick with the basics. We are Superb at teamwork.
Quite a few reasons for our decline: 1 - over dependence on the English Premiership for player development 2 - too many governing bodies in the domestic football scene in Ireland 3 - the FAI 4 - lack of necessary facilities for training and conditioning young players 5 - shortage of coaching/training talent Every Ireland fan who has followed the game for 20+ years knows that we always had a supply of talent playing in the English First Division/Premiership - either Ireland born or qualified. Then the EEC employment laws opened the door to widespread influx of better players from Europe, Africa, Asia, South America. Premiership Owners became far less inclined to sign Irish/Scottish/Welsh players when they had better options available. This continues to this very day. Players of the caliber of Brady, Stapleton, O'Leary, Daly, Keane (Roy & Robbie), Duff, Whelan, McGrath were signed by English clubs in their late teens and moved to England to be developed. The single biggest impediment to reversing this decline remains - too many governing bodies. It is laughable (sadly) how Soccer in Ireland has so many independent bodies claiming authority over specific age groups, etc. The GAA oversees Gaelic Football, Hurling, Camogie, Handball for all age levels for Women & Men all over the island - just ONE Organization. Compare that situation to what soccer has. Most of us are well aware that there are contentious histories between these soccer bodies over issues that never seem to get resolved. The FAI? What exactly is their role in soccer in Ireland? Over the last 4 decades this organization has come to define the term a Jekyll and Hyde performance - with the emphasis firmly on the Hyde part in the last 20 years. What's the point in one body making any plans to address the issues of properly developing the game in Ireland when the other governing bodies refuse to engage in the process? It was, is and, will remain chaotic so long as this 'Too Many Chiefs' scenario remains. The Irish Government has some influence (financial) but it has chosen to stay out of this.
Dennis Irwin is my favourite Irish player, it’s a shame we don’t get to see as many Irish players play in England as we used to, but that’s the Premier League for you. Lots more competition from the rest of the world. It affects the English national team also. We have invested heavily in English youth though which is now showing abit more promise than it used to… I’m not sure why there aren’t more Irish players coming through our youth system, although it would be detrimental to the Irish league. I now this may be controversial but I would like to see a European Super League (with promotion and Relegation, maybe with more than one division) done properly it could open up the ‘smaller’ countries league systems to more money and thus better trained youth coming through…
Play station and prosperity. In my era there was no point in going inside. We had one tv channel and it was rubbish. All we lacked was the facilities and coaching. We had lots of very good players in ireland. You must get them playing as much as possible
Yes indeed, its hard for a small country like Ireland to compete in the truly global game of football, when most of the limited resources available go into supporting local games no other country plays.
Part of me wonders how much of this is to do with "first world" lifestyle factors. When George Best was growing up, he would have spent hours a day just kicking a ball against a wall in his council estate. [Generalisation] These days, many kids are more interested in computer games and are reared on a diet of ultra-processed food. There's also less open space in housing developments for kids to have a kick about with their mates. And maybe these days, a kid's best friends don't live that close to them anyway.
Brother, every country in Europe is first world but are still very good at football. Spain literally just won the euros with England getting to the final. Both wealthy nations
Irish football's biggest problem is its own football league. Just look at those countries that don't have a competitive football league like Estonia or Moldova. Irish football remains in the European League B because there are the English who have the Irish grandfather and those few talented pure Irishmen play in the premier league.
Yeah, but if Irish people prefer to support sports no other country plays, or prefer to support other countries football leagues, there’s not really that much the League of Ireland can do about that.
So I think also that the Irish must have been lax in their "fiduciary obligations". Any organisation responsible for the expenditure of the group funds must have an audit program from a neutral unaffiliated auditor. Say an annual audit along with quarterly QA reviews. The Annual Audit would fall due at the end of the financial year. The quarterly QA reviews would not have a set date but be due in the last month of each quarter in a spot check type approach. Any appointment to leadership needs to be by committee with goals set for the appointee. Failure to achieve those goals should result in a review of contract. Contracts should be limited to short periods, no longer than 3 years maximum. As for Irish players. There still could be the Liam Brady's, George Best and Norman Whiteside's in Ireland north or south. But they are now competing with imports from Europe who are being overmarketed by unscrupulous player managers. There seems to be less development in English football, though with the performance of English youth squads, it could be that is turning around. I would note that Scotland appear to be in the same boat as far as players being brought south of the boarder is concerned.
Who was born in Ireland an represented England at any age? From 11- senior team? Who? You talking bout Grealish or Rice??? Born in England.. Don't spout shite Wen you don't have a clue
What about the changing style of football re tactics and officiating? Possession is now the base tactic of almost all teams which isn’t out natural style, and aggressive Irish defending and attacking style much more likely to be penalised (particularly with VAR). Irish people are made for the long-ball game but that tactic is no longer popular
The English football league traditionally consisted of footballers from the all over the British isles and the Commonwealth, mainly Caribbean and African players. It was not only football, but in other sports ie rugby, cricket, athletics, tennis, Olympians etc. A northern Irishman captained the first British team , Tottenham Hotspur, to win the league and cup double. And off course the greatest footballer in the world came from Belfast. George Best even the great Brazilian Pele said so. He also said, ‘ thank God to the British, they bring the beautiful game to Brazil. It all changed off course when Sky launched the premier league, we had players come from Europe and the rest of the globe. The premier league is now globally by over a billion people. The football in the irish republic didn’t develop for political reasons. It was purely down to extremist groups and their politics.
League of Ireland is getting more and more popular. While the football is league one standard the atmosphere and craic at the games is second to none . English Premiership is overpaid divas watched by the rich and Asian tourists
Thomas, as a Liverpool born, Dublin raised lad I've represented Ireland proudly in triathlon, the generations come and go but I have to say this generation is by the far the worst of any generation pre Jack or Eoin Hand/John Giles. The problem lies in the quality and standard of player, Cuiv Kelleher would definetly be no1 for Liverpool if a certain worlds best wasn't in front of him, the fact is we've no players playing a top tier teams or CL plummeting our ability to compete so now we are more akin to Slovenia or Slovakia from once ranked 6th under Jack Charlton, has been a real drop off. I have to correct you Caoimhin Kelleher won the PL in 2020 with Liverpool, plus CL, FA cup and 2 League Cup, Euro Super Cup, World Club Cup, making him Ireland's most succesful player in modern times.
Many factors into the mix but another for me is the current obsession with these what I would call systems over everything type managers. Many of them are like cookie cutter managers coming out with their UEFA licenses. They know all the nice cute drills and passing sequences. They bring it onto the training ground and think they can be the next Pep. They must play short and out of the back etc etc. Its all so one dimensional. If you want to go back to the idea of total football and the great Ajax side of the past, they were a side who could play short, direct, long, pretty, ugly, dirty. The clue was in the name. They could adapt and do what they had to win. It didnt always have to be 5 yard passes side to side. Now we have midfielders who wont spread the first time ball to the wing when a player is free to attack. They will play 3 passes nice and safe to get it to the player and the space is gone by the time it gets there. And we will hear about the fantastic passing stats and ball possession. This is the metrics they currently worship. Overcoaching is killing natural instinct and restricting talent to play the game as they see it in the moment. You still have tactics and structure with this of course but you dont micromanager players down to them being so robotic. I am getting sick of the direction the game is heading in tbh. There is nothing wrong with being real with the group you have in front of you and playing to their strengths. Sometimes that means looking at the group and being good with going direct. It doesnt mean it is caveman football. The beauty of this game is there are so many ways to skin the cat. Its somewhat ironic that the group Big Jack had could have played Kenny's football brilliantly and the group kenny has would be more suited to Big Jacks football. Ireland need to go back to being pragmatic and drop the idealism. Put some fight back into the performances, show the so called fighting spirit that used to be on display. Technically they will be better than us but they wont outwork us.
It’s all down to the fans. If the fans put their money. into the Domestic game instead of throwing at foreign English teams then it would be a completely different situation. Millions upon Millions is brought over or spent by Irish fans on English teams every year. It’s sad
You could argue Ireland are the Australia of UEFA losing plays-offs in qualifying. FIFA World Cup 1966 0-1 Spain (Paris) 1998 2-3 Belgium (H/A on aggregate) 2002 2-1 Iran (H/A on aggregate) 2010 1-2 France (H/A on aggregate) 2018 1-5 Denmark (H/A on aggregate) UEFA European Championship 1996 0-2 Netherlands (Liverpool) 2000 1-1 Turkey (H/A on aggregate, away goals) 2012 5-1 Estonia (H/A on aggregate) 2016 3-1 Bosnia (H/A on aggregate) 2020
Simple answer is, there’s not enough Irish Born players in the team no more. It’s nothing more now than a gather up of folk who think they have a connection to Ireland. Sad times.
Acquiring talent via "The Granny Rule" only went so far....the LOI was indispensable as well and the Premier League owes them a sizeable debt....Roy Keane being the most obvious one but also John Giles, Liam Brady, Tony Dunne, Paul McGrath, David O'Leary, Kevin Moran, Frank Stapleton, Ronnie Whelan and of course our new interim manager John O'Shea....some of the best players to ever grace their pitches, we gave them on a silver platter.....John Delaney let LOI atrophy over the 20 years he was in charge...causing it to lose that core function of developing dangerous players that go on to ply their trade in the neighbour's garden and when they're called up for international duty, they're locked and loaded because they have the experience of playing both with or against many of their opponents in the World Cup and the Euros....
Ireland have always been dreadful at Football when they appoint a Republic of Ireland born coach. Stephen Kenny was way out of his depth and was clueless at how to coach the players to score goals. He had zero creative goalscoring ideas. All the 4 non Irish born coaches have got the Republic to a major finals. Jack Charlton, Mick McCarthy, Giovanni Trappatoni and Martin O'Neill. Go outside the Republic to bring in an outside coach because home born managers are of a very poor Standard when it comes to CREATIVE FORWARD COACHING.
The Saipan affair poisoned the well. When the "feel good" factor was taken out of the equation the Ireland set up became a less attractive entity to be around (both for fans and prospective players). Ireland could go into a future world cup as bookies favorites to win and I don't still think the Irish public would even care as much as they did back in the Charlton/McCarthy years, because there is now a disconnect between the public and the players.
Its because of GAA. Most of Ireland's best athletes choose that over football. And most of them call GAA football and normal football soccer, which shows the mentality towards the sport. If it wasn't for that Ireland would have a great national football team.
If you’d like to support my work, I’ve partnered with Ground News. It’s a brilliant platform that pulls stories from all sides, helps highlight biases, and gives you a balanced view of the news.
If you fancy a 15% discount on any subscription, just follow this link: check.ground.news/Blade
Well made video, it deserves more views. As a Macedonian, whose dmestic league is quite poor, I hope that the Irish league gets better and can develop more talent 🇲🇰🤝🇮🇪
Thanks very much. Your name is exactly right. You are a LEGEND!
@@thomasblade1 no worries, I subscribed
Same to you too man love from Ireland I hope our countrys can atleast compete at the top level one day again
As an Irish football fan: thank you. Our domestic league is growing in attendances (which is great to see!) but only time will tell how many kids here will stop wearing UK club shirts in the future...!
I wouldn’t argue with those points, but think there’s a lot more to it. I’d suggest the influx of Irish emigrants to England in the 60s was a factor in our successes in the 80s and 90s. Many of those players were born over there and came up through their system, not the League of Ireland, which wasn’t exactly well supported in the 80s. Better times are a factor in other ways too, kids have more distractions outside sport. Within sport, rugby has gained popularity. The GAA are still a factor of course. On top of all that there’s the influx of players into the English game from outside of the UK and Ireland, both scouted young and bought for outrageous fees. It’s simply harder to make the grade with more competition.
Excellent point. And it also shows our over reliance on the UK system to supply our national team.
Yea but look at Europe and how no clubs in Germany France or Spain take in Irish players. Why is that. It can’t be ability because the premier league is the most competitive and we were in the top 4.
The success of the Irish rugby team is only one factor, but the incredible popularity of Gaelic football and hurling is another. In other countries football is the main sport. Not in Ireland. Many potentially great footballers don't even play the game.
There are other factors. The Irish are not fanatical about football, as fans are in other countries. In fact most Irish fans see football as a means of working up a thirst for the pub afterwards. In fact you could say that the only thing the Irish are fanatical about is drinking alcohol. I remember when Ireland played Iran in a World Cup playoff some years ago. I was almost hoping Iran would win, because their fans are fanatical about the game. Even when Ireland qualify for major tournaments, their fans travel mainly for the 'craic' (as they spell it) with the football being little more than an afterthought.
We got away with it in the Charlton years mainly because of good management and recruitment. Now players like Kane, Rice and Grealish don't want to touch us.
Finally, Irish fans have for too long tolerated the fact that there are two teams on this island. An all -Ireland team (as in rugby) would create a much larger pool to choose from, and would greatly increase our chances of qualifying for major tournaments.
Then how come Portugal does it and the RoI doesn't?
@@killianmccluff36 that is changing now many are now going to italy after brexit
Delaney destroyed us but we haven't been smart as a national team. How didn't we get Jack Grealish and Declan Rice capped? You could've given them a few minutes off the bench in competitive games and they'd be locked down permanently. Having one or two top class players can make a huge difference as we saw with Wales having Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. We did this way better in the past when Jack Charlton scoured the secondary divisions for players with recent Irish ancestry and got those players secured.
Also, we could have been cute and boosted our world ranking the way Switzerland did. They looked at the rankings, arranged friendlies against beatable teams and treated those matches like competitive fixtures working their way up the rankings table. The higher your FIFA world ranking is, the easier groups you get drawn in.
We destroyed ourselves. FAI is only a part of it. Irish fans bandwagoning on English and Scottish clubs stopped the development of Irish football. No investment going into the clubs.
Grealish and Rice are English and way too good for Ireland. They want to play on a team that will be playing in every major tournament. Ireland are a pub team .
@@marcbruton836 Rice played for Irish U17, U19 and U21, so they could have reasonably gotten Rice on the Irish squad
@@marcbruton836 Rice played for Irish U17, U19 and U21, so they could have reasonably gotten Rice on the Irish squad
@@ItsTheBoombox Not to mention three non competetive Irish caps.
As our football team has gotten worse, our rugby team has gotten better. Kids gravitate towards success.
Plus playing rugby professionally means you can also stay in the country and have a successful career. Not every kid wants to emigrate to Burley or Stoke at age 16.
Well they can’t go to stoke or Burnley at 16 anymore. But the number of kids participating at football has never really dropped and rugby is a very closed off sport at a professional level .
Doubt if rugby has much to do with The type of athlete needed for rugby is totally different to soccer and the structure is not set up to cater for a large influx of players only 200 odd clubs and a handful of private schools acting as academies for the provincial and national team.
little to do with it, 3 times the amount of kids in Ireland play soccer vs rugby according to sport ireland
Money comes with football that's why it will always be the most sought after sport. The problem is done to the set up. England invest millions in kids football and development. Any clubs around me have a few coaches that are old alcoholics or dads that had to step in to help out their kids football team
It's also far easier to succeed in rugby. There's only about 5 Europeans clubs that are any good and three national European sides that are any good. Far less skill is also needed to play the sport in most positions. You just need speed and strength.
1:33 "They give everything and that's what counts"
...
"I'd like to say Hello to my mother"
That had me roaring !!!!!!!!
Mother's are overrated. Mine's a cow.
Another factor is the success of the Irish Rugby team. A lot of young people made the switch to play Rugby instead.
Yes, I was trying to get some stats on this but couldn't find anything concrete. But rugby turning professional and how well it is run in Ireland is definitely a contributing factor.
West brits
@@Maarthelswapping one British sport for another. Real Iriah gaels play Gaelic football, Hurling or box
I don't see rugby as a negative. The IRFU is well funded, has standards of excellence and produces quality professionals here in Ireland. If anything, it should be something the FAI is modelled upon. Football still has great youth participation and choosing rugby can often be about which schools you go to and whether you're a bigger sized athlete anyway. Both can exist and be run well.
@@Irish-Gael-sg4lvtroll
I'm half-Irish. Every time I go to Ireland, I see all the kids wearing Celtic, Liverpool and Man Utd shirts. I don't think I've ever seen anyone with an Irish club shirt.
That was always the case but it was an unspoken compromise. The Premier League is indebted to LOI for providing them with some of the greatest footballers to ever grace their pitches. Roy Keane, John Giles, Liam Brady, Tony Dunne Paul McGrath, David O’Leary, Kevin Moran, Denis Irwin, John O’Shea etc. they served their apprenticeships on home soil before Man U, Arsenal and Leeds spotted them…John Delaney has stripped LOI of that core function and it’s why Irish football is in the doldrums today. Rugby has become a far more attractive sport due to our international success there…..
It’s because most people play and watch local GAA and have their English football team they support aswell especially in the north where the football league is dominated by Protestant teams and the catholics in the area would all rather watch GAA locally including myself
@@jclad10 the english clubs are protestant as well...
Sure if you did see people wearing the league of Ireland jerseys would you recognise what they are .... probably not
@@rampageclover9788All those players you mention have one thing in common. They are ALL Irish born & bred. That’s why they gave it all for Ireland football. Today the team is nothing more than a gather up of players who THINK they are Irish because of this that or the other. Where I come from they speak about the B&Bs, that means Born & Breds, their birth certificate confirms them, nothing else. ☘️
My uncle from athlone was scouted by Everton when he was 16, sadly though, he was diagnosed with cancer a month later and passed nearly a year later.
Communities in Ireland of like 500 people have GAA clubs it by far the most common sport and let’s be honest English football doesn’t need Irish players as much as they used to as they can recruit from anywhere in the world, even though I think a lot of Irish lads dream of playing professional football in England the simple fact is a lot don’t make it and end up playing GAA.
Rugby thrives due to it bring a private school game but also that rugby requires a different type of athlete compared to football/gaa players.
Competition in Europe is tough these days but hopefully the lads can break through into a major tournament 🇮🇪🇮🇪
See statistics, there are far more participants in football in Ireland than the gaa,that's fact. It's logical as there's more clubs. My parish had 8 football clubs as against 2 gaa but all cooperated greatly. Rugby is a minority game competing at a similar level internationally,only 8 or 9 nations any good and only new Zealand where its the premier sport. Irish football has slipped due to fai mismanagement, lower numbers in premiership and a small national population. Let's face it perhaps in our golden years we were away above our capabilities when we could hold huge countries like Spain or Italy or Holland!
I agree with most but The GAA is way more popular in rural areas than soccer and i agree with FAI mismanagement but you also have to blame the general irish football supporter. The majority of irish football supporters would much rather support premier league team and they pump millions of euros into the british football economy. then we try compare oursleves to countries of similiar population like denmark croatia slovakia etc but they have a football industry in their country which is supported by the majority of their population and their leagues are far superior and can develop players to a higher standard
@@oliver69cork46 deffo agree with that, football is a far more laid sport than GAA at least at the local level.
Playing both going to my local football club it’s just a bit of a laugh, nobody real cares if you turn up to training, go to the gym or turn to a game hungover.
Where as GAA especially when it comes to the county championship either senior/intermediate you’re expected to show commitment, just look at that Clarinbridge player contract recently.
If you conducted a survey asking the question ‘do you take your sporting commitments seriously’ GAA would come out on top for Yes answers.
The reality is most lads probably take both seriously when they’re younger but when they turn 15/16 they realise they probably won’t make it at football so turn over to GAA.
@@Chesneydad yes I agree that soccer at a low level isn't taken seriously and the gaa is. Its always been like that,local soccer is more of a keep fit game so less commitment. But at more senior levels it becomes quite different and ofter players have to choose. Commitment is dependent on one's level.
There are lots of soccer players though but the game is incredibly badly administered & that follows through to talent identification & development.
Here after last night's win away, against Finland. Just hope we can push on. amazing that everyone was slagging on Brady and again, he pulls it out the bag for a winner.
I’m from Ireland and it is kind of sad for me to think about
man, i just went through your entire video catalogue and absolutely love it
always great to see good content around our little isle, keep up the work.
43 subs will soon be 43k :)
@don_chanGD thank you so much for your comment. You wouldn't believe the amount of work that goes into these videos so to see someone saying something like that means the world.
My hope is to keep growing and produce interesting stories about 'our little isle' . I was motivated to start because I kept seeing non-Irish UA-camrs making documentaries about Ireland but they were full of mistakes and they felt disingenuous. My goal is create something interesting, factual and entertaining. And maybe one day I can reach that 43k and beyond!
Thanks again my friend!
If you're enjoying this video and finding it informative, please give it a thumbs up👍
And if you want to see more content from this channel, consider becoming a subscriber.
I am a new UA-camr and these little acts of support by you really helps me grow.
Thank you for watching!
Short answer: Paul McShane was born
As an England fan since 70s l was surprised as how Ireland football had fallen since 2004....They used to be do strong under manager Jack Charlton n players like Houghton, Paul McGarth, Kelvin Sheedy etc etc n e early 2000 Roy Keane...but after that they seem to go down all e way...sad to see this situation for e Irish!!! Hope they can bounce back to Glory soon again!!
I always found the juxtaposition of the FAI and the IRFU fascinating. With rugby in Ireland being historically mismanaged particularly in the 90s and early 2000s while football was seeing a lot of success and a flip almost happening around the late 2000s with the sports find of swapping places.
But the FAI were being mismanaged in the 80s and the 90s the success they had had nothing to do with the Fai themselves. With the IRFU I think they greatly helped by the private schools essentially running their academies for them the IRFU can’t take much credit for them
The private schools have been there for generations now but Ireland have only started seeing success since 2009 ish just leveraging the resources at hand.
Yes, me too. And one of the factors that inspired me to research this topic. Maybe a follow up on 'the rise of Irish rugby' is needed.
Would love to see a follow up 🔥
You were part of Jackie's army!
Soccer just isn't well supported. Almost every GAA club in the country has their own ground and is the heart of every community.
Irish people don't generally support the League of Ireland, thus millions of euro crosses the Irish Sea every week and doesn't come back. Until this changes, the national side will struggle to reach its potential.
Corporate governance has also been a big problem for the FAI; John Delaney almost single-handedly destroyed the Association.
Compare this with the GAA and IRFU, which are well supported and which largely manage to keep the money within the country, and are much better organised than the FAI.
1million went to LOI this year thats on a par with GAA and Rugby.Most grounds have been sold out but the capacities and facilities at those grounds are low.
exactly most people who give out about how poor the Irish national team are will gladly go to liverpool manchester etc and watch premier league football and they dont realise the damage they are doing to irish football
@@gallowglass2630 Sure, and that’s a step in the right direction. Maybe the cost of living crisis will be beneficial for the LOI in making domestic football more attractive to spectators.
It’s also good that the likes of Kerry FC and latterly Mayo FC have been formed, as it’s hard to follow a team that doesn’t represent your locality.
Traitors support Celtic or Man Utd
I believe a personality like Jack Charlton was still in charge we would have grealish rice etc playing for Ireland 🤔
Could have had Gazza as well
The main problems are :
1. The countries best players play GAA
2.Many good players give up on soccer at 16 because there is basically no leagues to play in , so when you turn 16 you have to wait until you're 18 again to play adult soccer .
3.Culture in Ireland is GAA first ,often GAA MATCHES clash with soccer on a Saturday as a kid and people will choose GAA because their parents force them to .
4.Coaching at the youth level(6-16) isn't the best either .
Great video! I still think that one of the reasons that our football team is so useless is because of the GAA (not that it's necessarily a bad thing). Every rural village in Ireland has a gaelic team, but how many have a football team? If you really want kids to play football then you have to target those that don't have the option. That being said, I wouldn't want gaelic to decline. Maybe there's room for both, who knows.
Defo. I’d add that the GAA is by now at a professional level in all but pay, taking players away from football (e.g greedy managers not allowing players to play other sports, or there simply not being enough days in the week to train w/ multiple teams). Maybe that might actually push people towards football again in the medium to long term but let’s see? Plenty to go around at the end of the day
Statistics shows that there are near 2 times the number of football clubs v gaa clubs-4000 v 2300. Rugby hss 256 official clubs. The gaa won't decline because they're great games and have deep roots.
I am from county sligo and my local LOI team is Sligo Rovers and they seem to be well supported but the problem is there is only one local player on the team which means many youngsters don't feel that getting to play for sligo rovers is arealistic goal.Sligo is doing very well at under age Gaelic may not be solely be the reason but its probably a factor.
@@oliver69cork46I agree with there being more football clubs in Ireland than GAA however the majority of the GAA clubs would be u6 the whole way up to adult whereas with football clubs there are many underage clubs or adult only clubs. Or clubs with 2/3 underage teams and an adult club especially in rural Ireland. Football clubs and GAA clubs don’t follow the same structure and are hard to compare
@@liamb0142 quite true and let's enjoy what sport we can.
Anyone who says the rugby team doing well is causing the football teams decline is actually deluded . It’s not even a factor .
As someone who has played football and rugby my whole life, out of the 200 or so I played with in club football , club rugby, school rugby and school football I think I know like 3 people who ever played both sports past u12 levels.
Rugbys player base is still the exact same , it’s just that the private schools which they draw most their players from have legitimate professional coaching and set ups so the standard has improved as a result.
GAA is the sport that loses talent to rugby not football . As they can get a pro contract while living in Ireland as opposed to not earning any money playing gaa.
The gaa player base of country lads and middle class city lads is the same player base that rugby draws from so they are typically in direct competition for players , the town in limerick im from for example half of the rugby team played gaa and vice versa where as the football lads never played rugby and didn’t really play gaa if they took football seriously and played for a big schoolboy football club.
I agree. The most glaring difference between the sports in Ireland is the mismanagement on the part of the FAI.
I'm so confused by this comment. You're calling soccer football and saying gaa players play rugby? Fuck no. I've met 1 person who ever played both. Rugby is a protestant sport and you'd get all sorts of abuse for it
It's not a reason at all....why is Italy one of football's great meccas but their rugby team is the drizzling shits? GAA is the one sporting institution not deflowered by big money. Yes some do get lost to rugby but it's a small price....I place the blame squarely on John Delaney....
@@Dylan20579let me guess you’re a working class dub ? I’m from limerick and the soccer heads were the biggest west Brits of all time. All diehard English premier league fans .
Rugby is most certainly not a Protestant sport in limerick , we’ve teams beside moyross ffs.
@@eoin8156 Belfast m8
Another factor is when you hire an amature level manager you get amature level football. Scotish or league of Ireland football is not international level of experience required
Great summary of our decline Delany has been a large part of it but make no mistake it was not the only factor.
John Delaney, that's what happened to Irish football.
Delaney was a bad Administrator However You can't excuse bad coaches like Kerr, Staunton and Kenny who qualified for zero tournaments because of their slow low tempo friendly paced tactics.
Kenny's failure has nothing to do with Delaney you can't sugarcoat Kenny's awful time in charge of Ireland he simply was not up to the demands of the job and neither was Kerr and Staunton before him .
@josephm.d.p.finnegan Whatever about Staunton, he was a Delaney pick and was instantly in over his head. Brian Kerr is unfairly maligned. He wasn't a Delaney yes-man, brought Roy Keane back into the fold - which given his exit was no mean feat. In my opinion he wasn't given enough time. He managed most of that team to great success at underage level. Two bad results against Israel and an Henry worldie in Landsdowne cost him his job, unfairly, in my opinion. I reckon his sacking was political more than anything else.
Delaney was more than an administrator. He ran the FAI into the ground.
@@josephm.d.p.finneganKenny was dealing with a bad bunch of players with zero grassroots system. Yes, he was truly awful (and should never have got the job) but the blames isn’t entirely his. Or any other failed manager for that matter.
@@Ricky_BaldyIf only it was as simple as blaming one man.
Don’t forget Stephen ‘chances’ Kenny.
Thanks for your honesty,Thomas
High quality video mate, was a pleasant watch
As a Englishman Ireland does very well supporting and playing 4 major codes of Gaelic Football, Hurling, Rugby Union and Soccer with a small population and compere that to Scotland who have a similar size population yet it's manily Football ( and the Scottish team and crowds are poor apart from the Big Firm) as Rugby is only popular in Edinburgh and the Scottish/Northumberland Borders and Shinty is nowhere near as popular as Hurling....I think you do alright over 40,000 for the FAI final, 50,000 for Leinster v Munster and 80,000 for both All Ireland finals for Football and Hurling.
The last few times Scottish and Irish teams have faced off in Europe has shown the LOI isn't far off the SPFL. Sligo Rovers kicking ten shades of sh** out of Motherwell home and away being a prime example.
The LOI needs investment in facilities. Everyone makes fun of Shamrock Rovers "council house" in Tallaght but it should be the rule rather than the exception. Finn Harps have a bleak future ahead of them without a new stadium, Oriel Park is an embarrassment to LOI fans. Galway United, Drogheda United and St Pats are all outgrowing their current grounds.
The government giving 50 million for a GAA white elephant outside the jurisdiction of the state while grounds (not just football) are literally falling apart. 50 million would revolutionize a good chunk of stadia in the league
@@Dubliner-un9lwThe fact that Donegal a county with a unique rural soccer tradition have not been given the funds (in a once off commitment, as opposed to drip feeding) to provide Finn Harps with a modest new municipal new stadium in Ballybofey-Stranorlar tells you all you need to know about the true support for football from official Ireland.
I’m not from Donegal, but I have watched this saga for years, and I firmly believe this is a true test whether the Irish authorities are serious about supporting football, or not.
If Finn Harps cannot get a modest new municipal stadium, which would be a great asset for the whole county of Donegal, then I truly believe Ireland has no right to expect anything from football.
Great video, nail on the head. Loved the optimism at the end cause that’s what keeps us as fans going through this period, the thought that soon there could be players that would beckon in another golden era
Great video. I am a big league of Ireland fan and I lived in a town in the north west of England for a few years too and I can see the same patterns (that happened in the LoI) which are also leading to the decline of the football league teams there too. The town I lived in had a League 2 team but always struggled because they were so close to some of the big Pship teams from nearby Manchester and Liverpool. Then there were a small number of fans which watched the big local Pship teams on TV and then went to watch the local team too.
Good video. I find Irish soccer supporters to fall into two broad churches: the bar stoolers that watch the Premier League (and often have distain for the local game) and the League of Ireland diehards, which are definitely in the minority. The second group, whilst they do support the local game, can be annoying when often blame the GAA/rugby/the Government for soccer's woe's when in fact it's mostly self inflicted.
I’m from Australia; the dynamic here is quite similar. There’s a decent number of people who like soccer but aren’t much interested in the local product as they don’t think it’s very good (they’re called Eurosnobs here). Then there are the true believers who are heavily invested in Australian soccer but are becoming increasingly embittered and paranoid about its failures, blaming it all on the AFL or on a lack on government funding. Unfortunately these types make the game even less attractive, driving down interest further.
@PixelsinMySoup. I don’t agree that soccer’s woes are mostly self inflicted. The fact is Ireland is a small country with limited resources and choices have to be made by the Irish people themselves.
They have made those choices and for the majority of people Irish football doesn’t really feature in their choices. A good example of this would be the league of Ireland grounds. In any other EU country the clubs would be provided with municipal stadiums.
@davidpryle3935 Well Shamrock Rovers, Derry and eventually Bohemian's ground are municipal. But none of the rugby or GAA are either, it's just not the model used in Ireland.
The FAI's organisation of the sport in Ireland has been shambolic at times plus most Irish soccer fans spend their money and attention on British clubs. So yeah, I'd say that is self inflicted.
@@PixelsInMySoup I suppose one could describe Irish people’s lack of support for Irish football as “self inflicted”. Its just not the way I would describe it. I would describe it as Irish people making their choices. Certainly no blame attaches to the league of Ireland clubs, who against all the odds have kept a professional football league alive in Ireland. I simply cannot praise clubs like Sligo rovers enough, who have defied the odds and kept a professional football club going in the west of Ireland for nearly a hundred years.
@@PixelsInMySoup Let me just add that Irish people are fully entitled to make their choices any which way they like. But then having made those choices, what they are not entitled to, is for a top class international football team to magically appear out of nowhere.
just found this channel and it's exactly what I've always wanted from an Irish channel talking about Ireland, reminds me of the Dutch youtuber Hoog in a sense
Another major factor was that our last great team (2002 team) was wasted when the Fai appointed Brian Kerr for two seasons, and then Steve Staunton. That was 6 years without a proper decent coach. Wasted a great crop of players.
@@RossMcCarthy1990 keer unlucky done ok
Very interesting. As a Scot, I’m always interested in how Ireland are getting on. We have a similar demographic and history, though obviously not identical. I’m old enough to know that football, like everything, is cyclical. I remember Scottish sides being some of the top in Europe, as recently as the 80s. I recall that too for the Dutch, French and Yugoslavian teams. England’s bubble can’t remain forever - it too will burst - and with it, a reliance on Irish, Scottish and Welsh players will return - I’m sure of it.
Unfortunately, I find this too really distasteful and subservient.
I’d prefer to see all countries thrive. I want to see a more even competition and rising interest in not just Ireland, but Scotland and Wales too. I’d like to see Dutch, Swedish and Belgian clubs given the same.
Basically, we need more equality in the game. As Ceferin said, “we need the Rangers and Celtics, the Galatasaraays etc” - he knows it too.
This then makes for more competitive national teams, as more citizens see an interesting local pathway, and play the game more. They’re not just fixated on the PL or CL (both of which I find increasingly tedious).
I hope Ireland gets back producing great players again. Sometimes, as in our case, that’s not enough, and it needs a great manager too.
All the best
Football or soccer in ireland as many call it here is just one of 4 major field games whereas though you have rugby scottish football has much less competition for its best athletes.
Money has made it harder for snaller European countries. Until 30 years ago Scottish Swedish Belgian Romanian clubs could win European competitions.
Rangers and Celtic don't want more equality in the Scottish game. I'm an Aberdeen fan who enjoys watching their glory hunting/bigoted fans crying about joining English league. 😆 stay and suffer like rest of us lol
I think it’s time for the north and south to join forces .
Hahahaha that would never work mate. Works with rugby because the fans are middle class and don’t really have a history of conflict but in football that doesn’t work .
NI supporters are from the shankill, sandy row etc and despise catholics and everything about us.
No thanks we don't want to be united with scumbags like your lot. No Surrender 🇬🇧
One reason is that they are missing a goal scorer since Robbie Keane retired. He scored so many goals for them and he bailed them out so many times with his goals.
Theres a way bigger emphasis on GAA and rugby, than soccer all the way up through school. A lot of good potential tied up on senior level of football and hurling teams
This was excellent- thanks for posting. The awful truth is, as a national aide we simply weren't very good: very dull tactics, no flair or style.
a very nice concise video on the timeline, great watch for anyone wanting a quick intro to what went wrong!
The big big problem is the people think of football as a foreign sport. It's frowned upon in this country. The Gaa is our national game and football has been in decline for 20 years. I think football as a whole is in decline. Just my opinion.
I am absolutely blown away by the reaction to this video. Thank you all very much for watching, liking and subscribing.
Below, there are some really interesting comments that highlight points I may have overlooked or missed in my research. I recommend giving them a read for a more in-depth analysis of this issue.
I am a solo documentary maker focusing on Irish and European stories. If you liked this video please feel free to explore my other work on this channel.
Honestly, pin literally all the blame on Delaney and the FAI board. We had been to 3/4 world cups immediately prior to his appointment as CEO and 0 since.
The board aren't on the pitch. The players are pathetic... a national embarrassment.
@Richard1A2B it's the boards responsibility for investing money in grassroots in order to produce players to put on the pitch..instead, the money and fandom from 3 world cups was squandered.
It’s a good point, but we’d only first qualified for a World Cup in 1990 so was something wrong beforehand or maybe 16 team World Cups were always too much of a reach to qualify for
@@bongofury89 it could be that the conditions just optimised for us in the 90s in a way that they hadn't prior to that. The GAA abolishing rule 27 probably helped a little, Jack's policy of pursuing English born players probably helped too. Then as you say, the expansion of teams permitted to the finals was probably the biggest factor.. what is your take? I could be totally wrong on rule 27, that may have had no impact at any point!
@@pacman1412James Bond birthday party, though
This was way too well made for a channel with 227 subscribers, you’re going to the top!
I’m Irish but the main reason for our national teams poor performances is the demands for other sports our rugby team is brilliant and our GAA is massive in Ireland so theirs not much left for football and our football clubs aren’t big enough to play in Europe which leaves the players at a salary cap so you’d be honestly better playing rugby or GAA or even hurling and if you come to Ireland you’ll notice Celtic’s or Liverpool jerseys or other national team jerseys and you won’t see any Irish club jerseys like shamrock rovers and Sligo rovers 😅
Has nothing to do with the other sports. Ireland is simply not serious about soccer. It plays hack and slash football and depends on English league football. GAA has nothing to do with that culture.
It's been the same since I was a kid.. I'm from dundalk a council estate in dundalk, no scouts will come look at us wen I was young.. not saying I was good enough to make it, but there was plenty of good footballers in my estate, then my town? Was loads... but we're council estate kids no1 came to scout.. I grew up watching us actually goin toe to toe wit anyone
If they didn't come to watch you Tom, or your friends, it wasn't because you were council estate kids. That makes zero sense. You will find that most of the superstars in world football were council estate kids (Robbie and Roy Keane and Liam Brady were 3 examples from Ireland).
Back in 2002 it was all soccer everyone wanted to go pro these days we focus on the IRFU
Football
@@brodogoks2526 yes we are talking about football. Rugby football, Gaelic football and association football.
@@brodogoks2526 soccer I always called it.
you didnt really touch on the idea of players now choosing to play for england due to dual nationality such as Jack Grelish
Not suprised , was plenty of talent around country but not scouted by English clubs in areas outside of Dublin .
Its remarkable that it took so long to get rid of Delaney.
What about Caoimhin Kelleher? Didn't he win the Prem with Liverpool in 2019/20?
He was their number 1 goal keeper liverpool but I think Alison joined that season
@@charlieww23 Don't talk shite .Kelleher was 3rd choice that season you idiot
Hi Thomas, I just discovered your channel. A bit harsh puttint Evan Ferguson on the thumbnail when he's our only decent player but it seems to have done the trick. Congratulations on the big break-through for your channel. Keep up the good work.
Hey Tom! Thanks very much. I really hope you stick around and subscribe to see more from me in the future. It has been truly amazing seeing the response from everybody and I wish I could thank them all individually. I love what I do and want to continue making entertaining and thought provoking content, especially for Irish audiences.
Yes, I take your point on Evan, but I wanted to use him as his expression in that moment captures a lot of what I think rish fans are feeling - a sense of deflation and disappointment. But as you noted, it also helps generate interest in the video and attract clicks. This is an unavoidable reality of being on UA-cam but I will try and tread that line carefully.
Good video with some good points. I’d add massive popularity of GAA in big towns now like Dublin where football dominated before. The lack of emigration from Ireland to the uk- the 80’s & 90’s teams had considerable numbers from the diaspora that went over in the 60’s & 70’s- growing up where football is the dominant sport and going through the English or Scottish club systems, that’s gone since the Celtic tiger and it’s more tenuous now then before- ray houghton, Kevin Killane, Andy Townsend were good servants for Ireland. Despite some other comments I disagree with rugby as a factor as it’s still a middle class sport in Ireland- in the Ireland rugby team if they aren’t from a private school they are likely from the Southern Hemisphere.
This video is spot on !
Poverty in Ireland created a generation of world class players from Liam Brady, Paul McGrath and Roy Keane right up to Duff and Robbie Keane.The very same way poverty has traditionally helped Brazilian football. Skills that are learned on the street, or the back garden. That's all gone now since we've been wealthy for over 20 years and kids have 100 other things they can do now.
The other factor is that the emigration to England in the 50s and the 60s supplemented our homegrown talent with lots of players born to Irish parents who either saw themselves as Irish or who just couldnt get in the England team. Either way it was a win win for us.
Extremely simplistic take
As an Irish fan all i can say the that the main thing is our manager he is not good enough we should honestly sack him
Having lived and played in both Ireland and Spain I think that the standard of pitches alongside the level of coaching are major factors. Everywhere in Spain they play on artificial grass. I don't much like it, but it means you can trust the bounce of the ball and therefore can pass it out from the back etc.
Also in Spain management and coaching is held in higher regard, football is the number one sport, and there are often young coaches who decide to coach because they love that side of the game. In Ireland I think it happens because you need to retire so you take over coaching, or because your kid plays, but you havnt actually delved deep into tactics and philosophy of play..... Which is hard to implement in the first place playing on cut up pitches in the winter. Honestly, of course you are going to just try to send it long or nod it on instead of taking it down.
Another factor is the weather, windy and rainy. They don't play here half the time if it rains, and it doesn't rain often! In cold and windy weather it's more likely a battle takes place rather than a game of nice passing football, therefore (along with GAA influence and general weather hardiness), we tend to go into battles easier and therefore don't develop the technical or tactical side as well......
It's the "curse" of the small football nations that is responsible about the downfall of the Irish national team. Ireland is just having a "bad breed" of footballers.
Small countries (in population), are keen on football quality fluctations, because the pool from which they have to pick their players is limited.
Ireland is a country of 5 million people. A bad breed can result in very poor results in international level.
But Ireland is lucky...
Most small nations (population
but they are always loved🇩🇪❤
When Delaney took over Irish football we were on our knees......when he left we were on our backs
What has happened to us we used to produce talented names such as Roy Keane, Paul Mcgrath, Dennis Erwin, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff now the only good one we have is Ferguson but he is young and cant carry us to a world cup *sigh* before i die i just wanna see us in a world cup tournament im 20 so i have a long way to go so hopefully 🤞 anyways brilliant video on the issues irish football is going through top stuff 👍
The main issue is the domestic league is still semi-professional at best. If young kids want to make it, they either have to leave Ireland or hope to get scouted by an overseas club.
Yes this a huge problem. Some players get scouted by English teams at when they are teenagers but it's not always possible to just move to another country when you are that young.
Some players miss thag opportunity because they are just not in a position to relocate abroad.
well you have to be 18 to go to the UK now
@@yoloswaggins7121
I think it's mad that before 1995 Ireland had 3 codes which were strictly amateur GAA Footbal/ Hurling and Rugby Soccer was only semo pro.
I read that the league is now professional. Not well paid but professional apparently. I was surprised when I heard that.
There is no deep rooted love for "football" in Ireland for many reasons , not least of which is that football was and will always be associated with our greatest nemesis, the English. Also football is motivated by money while our hurling and gaelic are motivated by pride and honour which is something money can't buy. 👍
Only Americans call it soccer
👍 corrected
absolutely class video deserves more views
Until Jack Charlton came along, Ireland's footballing history was impoverished to say the least. These things often work in cycles. Ireland will come again.
Ireland had amazing players before Charlton came along.
Don't agree with that, we had teams that just missed out on qualifying a few times , mist notable under Eoin Hand ,when France who made the semis of World Cup in 82 , we missed out on goal difference and had some very dodgy ref decisions in France .
@@mulletheadbanger nearly qualifying and not qualifying does not a great team make.
@Art-is-craft amazing individuals, maybe, but not an amazing team.
@@jueja310doyle7
They had a formidable team. By the mid to late eighties the Irish team had a well oiled team that would work by just picking the players nothing else needed. No fancy tactics was needed just let the players go out. Charltons style was to defend by putting every man behind the ball and hitting the opposition on the counter.
Is noone going to mention how truly horroble irish football facilities are. I remember how excited we would get if we got to play against a team with a pretty flat pitch as most of the pitches we played on were horrible, basically farmland. In rugby, clubs have showers and clubhouses, in soccer you're lucky if they have the back of a trailer for you to change in
In 2002, Rugby & Boxing for example, were amateur sports. Ireland had a few Olympians and no World Champions at anything (apologies to some marathon or distance runners if I'm out by a year or two?). We got entirely behind Jack and he made dreamers better than their dreams. That was one of the best passages in the entire History of our young aggressively passive Nations History. It should not and will not be forgotten EVER. It is this inclusive attitude and basic 'Pride' that will allow us to WIN at every Sport, at every level. Stick with the basics. We are Superb at teamwork.
Quite a few reasons for our decline:
1 - over dependence on the English Premiership for player development
2 - too many governing bodies in the domestic football scene in Ireland
3 - the FAI
4 - lack of necessary facilities for training and conditioning young players
5 - shortage of coaching/training talent
Every Ireland fan who has followed the game for 20+ years knows that we always had a supply of talent playing in the English First Division/Premiership - either Ireland born or qualified. Then the EEC employment laws opened the door to widespread influx of better players from Europe, Africa, Asia, South America. Premiership Owners became far less inclined to sign Irish/Scottish/Welsh players when they had better options available. This continues to this very day. Players of the caliber of Brady, Stapleton, O'Leary, Daly, Keane (Roy & Robbie), Duff, Whelan, McGrath were signed by English clubs in their late teens and moved to England to be developed.
The single biggest impediment to reversing this decline remains - too many governing bodies. It is laughable (sadly) how Soccer in Ireland has so many independent bodies claiming authority over specific age groups, etc. The GAA oversees Gaelic Football, Hurling, Camogie, Handball for all age levels for Women & Men all over the island - just ONE Organization. Compare that situation to what soccer has. Most of us are well aware that there are contentious histories between these soccer bodies over issues that never seem to get resolved.
The FAI? What exactly is their role in soccer in Ireland? Over the last 4 decades this organization has come to define the term a Jekyll and Hyde performance - with the emphasis firmly on the Hyde part in the last 20 years.
What's the point in one body making any plans to address the issues of properly developing the game in Ireland when the other governing bodies refuse to engage in the process? It was, is and, will remain chaotic so long as this 'Too Many Chiefs' scenario remains. The Irish Government has some influence (financial) but it has chosen to stay out of this.
Dennis Irwin is my favourite Irish player, it’s a shame we don’t get to see as many Irish players play in England as we used to, but that’s the Premier League for you. Lots more competition from the rest of the world. It affects the English national team also. We have invested heavily in English youth though which is now showing abit more promise than it used to… I’m not sure why there aren’t more Irish players coming through our youth system, although it would be detrimental to the Irish league.
I now this may be controversial but I would like to see a European Super League (with promotion and Relegation, maybe with more than one division) done properly it could open up the ‘smaller’ countries league systems to more money and thus better trained youth coming through…
Play station and prosperity. In my era there was no point in going inside. We had one tv channel and it was rubbish. All we lacked was the facilities and coaching. We had lots of very good players in ireland. You must get them playing as much as possible
The rugby team and the gaa has never been better
The irish dont really care about football gaelic games and rugby is much bigger
Says who? Rugby is shite played by prods and middle class but GAA is the hub of every community
@@Dylan20579 that's why I said gaelic games and rugby are bigger in Ireland
Football or soccer isn't big in Ireland
@@liammorriss comma is important 😂 sorry
Yes indeed, its hard for a small country like Ireland to compete in the truly global game of football, when most of the limited resources available go into supporting local games no other country plays.
Part of me wonders how much of this is to do with "first world" lifestyle factors. When George Best was growing up, he would have spent hours a day just kicking a ball against a wall in his council estate.
[Generalisation] These days, many kids are more interested in computer games and are reared on a diet of ultra-processed food. There's also less open space in housing developments for kids to have a kick about with their mates. And maybe these days, a kid's best friends don't live that close to them anyway.
Brother, every country in Europe is first world but are still very good at football. Spain literally just won the euros with England getting to the final. Both wealthy nations
Then wouldn’t every country be gobshite🤦♂️
Thank you so much for leaving in "I'd like to say hello to my mother."
Look on the bright side at least they got a draw against New Zealand 😅
Irish football's biggest problem is its own football league. Just look at those countries that don't have a competitive football league like Estonia or Moldova. Irish football remains in the European League B because there are the English who have the Irish grandfather and those few talented pure Irishmen play in the premier league.
Yeah, but if Irish people prefer to support sports no other country plays, or prefer to support other countries football leagues, there’s not really that much the League of Ireland can do about that.
So I think also that the Irish must have been lax in their "fiduciary obligations". Any organisation responsible for the expenditure of the group funds must have an audit program from a neutral unaffiliated auditor. Say an annual audit along with quarterly QA reviews. The Annual Audit would fall due at the end of the financial year. The quarterly QA reviews would not have a set date but be due in the last month of each quarter in a spot check type approach. Any appointment to leadership needs to be by committee with goals set for the appointee. Failure to achieve those goals should result in a review of contract. Contracts should be limited to short periods, no longer than 3 years maximum.
As for Irish players. There still could be the Liam Brady's, George Best and Norman Whiteside's in Ireland north or south. But they are now competing with imports from Europe who are being overmarketed by unscrupulous player managers. There seems to be less development in English football, though with the performance of English youth squads, it could be that is turning around. I would note that Scotland appear to be in the same boat as far as players being brought south of the boarder is concerned.
The players born there also choose to play for England instead of Ireland
Like who ?
Who was born in Ireland an represented England at any age? From 11- senior team? Who? You talking bout Grealish or Rice??? Born in England.. Don't spout shite Wen you don't have a clue
@@thejannerofplymouth3654grealish,declan rice and etc
@@njflip4984 grealish born Birmingham, declan rice born Kingston upon Thames......have another try
You are running out of passport micks
What about the changing style of football re tactics and officiating? Possession is now the base tactic of almost all teams which isn’t out natural style, and aggressive Irish defending and attacking style much more likely to be penalised (particularly with VAR). Irish people are made for the long-ball game but that tactic is no longer popular
Oh man, that point about the FAI improving has not aged well
Was kelleher not on the 2019 Liverpool squad or was that before he joined/ was on loan
He was in the squad but he didn't play enough to qualify for a medal
The English football league traditionally consisted of footballers from the all over the British isles and the Commonwealth, mainly Caribbean and African players. It was not only football, but in other sports ie rugby, cricket, athletics, tennis, Olympians etc. A northern Irishman captained the first British team , Tottenham Hotspur, to win the league and cup double. And off course the greatest footballer in the world came from Belfast. George Best even the great Brazilian Pele said so. He also said, ‘ thank God to the British, they bring the beautiful game to Brazil.
It all changed off course when Sky launched the premier league, we had players come from Europe and the rest of the globe. The premier league is now globally by over a billion people.
The football in the irish republic didn’t develop for political reasons. It was purely down to extremist groups and their politics.
League of Ireland is getting more and more popular. While the football is league one standard the atmosphere and craic at the games is second to none . English Premiership is overpaid divas watched by the rich and Asian tourists
Yeah the premier league is so boring
Not so sure it's English League One standard- from what I've seen I'd say National league (tier5)
@@rolandgent5754 my assumption would be the same as yours.
Watched by plenty of Irish Tourists as well .
@@rolandgent5754 what have you seen
Ireland soccer = American college football. EPL = NFL. Shouldn’t be any wonder why Irish football is a feeder league.
Don't forget the Fai took the money UEFA where paying Dundalk.
I think I can sum up why Ireland became bad at football in two reasons:
- Rugby
- The GAA.
Thomas, as a Liverpool born, Dublin raised lad I've represented Ireland proudly in triathlon, the generations come and go but I have to say this generation is by the far the worst of any generation pre Jack or Eoin Hand/John Giles. The problem lies in the quality and standard of player, Cuiv Kelleher would definetly be no1 for Liverpool if a certain worlds best wasn't in front of him, the fact is we've no players playing a top tier teams or CL plummeting our ability to compete so now we are more akin to Slovenia or Slovakia from once ranked 6th under Jack Charlton, has been a real drop off. I have to correct you Caoimhin Kelleher won the PL in 2020 with Liverpool, plus CL, FA cup and 2 League Cup, Euro Super Cup, World Club Cup, making him Ireland's most succesful player in modern times.
Basically every good Irish player when to England and now plays for Engalnd
Many factors into the mix but another for me is the current obsession with these what I would call systems over everything type managers. Many of them are like cookie cutter managers coming out with their UEFA licenses. They know all the nice cute drills and passing sequences. They bring it onto the training ground and think they can be the next Pep. They must play short and out of the back etc etc. Its all so one dimensional. If you want to go back to the idea of total football and the great Ajax side of the past, they were a side who could play short, direct, long, pretty, ugly, dirty. The clue was in the name. They could adapt and do what they had to win. It didnt always have to be 5 yard passes side to side. Now we have midfielders who wont spread the first time ball to the wing when a player is free to attack. They will play 3 passes nice and safe to get it to the player and the space is gone by the time it gets there. And we will hear about the fantastic passing stats and ball possession. This is the metrics they currently worship. Overcoaching is killing natural instinct and restricting talent to play the game as they see it in the moment. You still have tactics and structure with this of course but you dont micromanager players down to them being so robotic. I am getting sick of the direction the game is heading in tbh.
There is nothing wrong with being real with the group you have in front of you and playing to their strengths. Sometimes that means looking at the group and being good with going direct. It doesnt mean it is caveman football. The beauty of this game is there are so many ways to skin the cat. Its somewhat ironic that the group Big Jack had could have played Kenny's football brilliantly and the group kenny has would be more suited to Big Jacks football. Ireland need to go back to being pragmatic and drop the idealism. Put some fight back into the performances, show the so called fighting spirit that used to be on display. Technically they will be better than us but they wont outwork us.
Absolutely 100 % corruption. Needs a huge clear out in fai
It’s all down to the fans. If the fans put their money. into the Domestic game instead of throwing at foreign English teams then it would be a completely different situation. Millions upon Millions is brought over or spent by Irish fans on English teams every year. It’s sad
Most of the fans support gaa or hurling. Soccer isn’t as popular as people think in Ireland
why was delaney not locked up
You could argue Ireland are the Australia of UEFA losing plays-offs in qualifying.
FIFA World Cup
1966 0-1 Spain (Paris)
1998 2-3 Belgium (H/A on aggregate)
2002 2-1 Iran (H/A on aggregate)
2010 1-2 France (H/A on aggregate)
2018 1-5 Denmark (H/A on aggregate)
UEFA European Championship
1996 0-2 Netherlands (Liverpool)
2000 1-1 Turkey (H/A on aggregate, away goals)
2012 5-1 Estonia (H/A on aggregate)
2016 3-1 Bosnia (H/A on aggregate)
2020
Ireland has a much larger soccer culture than Australia. What Australia has achieved makes Ireland look incompetent.
Simple answer is, there’s not enough Irish Born players in the team no more. It’s nothing more now than a gather up of folk who think they have a connection to Ireland. Sad times.
The prime Irish team of the 90s had many English born players
Acquiring talent via "The Granny Rule" only went so far....the LOI was indispensable as well and the Premier League owes them a sizeable debt....Roy Keane being the most obvious one but also John Giles, Liam Brady, Tony Dunne, Paul McGrath, David O'Leary, Kevin Moran, Frank Stapleton, Ronnie Whelan and of course our new interim manager John O'Shea....some of the best players to ever grace their pitches, we gave them on a silver platter.....John Delaney let LOI atrophy over the 20 years he was in charge...causing it to lose that core function of developing dangerous players that go on to ply their trade in the neighbour's garden and when they're called up for international duty, they're locked and loaded because they have the experience of playing both with or against many of their opponents in the World Cup and the Euros....
The Republic of Ireland look like they’re about to go through a golden generation hopefully with Ferguson up front but Mark Travers is a legend 🇮🇪
Nah, we just had a 5 year period where we weren't embarrassingly poor
Ireland have always been dreadful at Football when they appoint a Republic of Ireland born coach.
Stephen Kenny was way out of his depth and was clueless at how to coach the players to score goals.
He had zero creative goalscoring ideas.
All the 4 non Irish born coaches have got the Republic to a major finals.
Jack Charlton, Mick McCarthy, Giovanni Trappatoni and Martin O'Neill.
Go outside the Republic to bring in an outside coach because home born managers are of a very poor
Standard when it comes to CREATIVE FORWARD COACHING.
In general, countries tend to be ethier great at one spot or good at a couple, England is good at a few because a lot of the spots came from there.
The Saipan affair poisoned the well. When the "feel good" factor was taken out of the equation the Ireland set up became a less attractive entity to be around (both for fans and prospective players).
Ireland could go into a future world cup as bookies favorites to win and I don't still think the Irish public would even care as much as they did back in the Charlton/McCarthy years, because there is now a disconnect between the public and the players.
Its because of GAA. Most of Ireland's best athletes choose that over football. And most of them call GAA football and normal football soccer, which shows the mentality towards the sport.
If it wasn't for that Ireland would have a great national football team.