I was astounded to hear that National League officials are actually contemplating a Summer season, I just had to speak out against this. This is completely nuts, has the world gone mad ! I present to you ...
1. GAA, if we think current coverage is bad then imagine it during the Summer. GAA every bloody Sunday right from March until October, coinciding with our season. Bloody brilliant
2. Related to number one.We want weekly highlights on Sunday night? Not a hope in hell unless we are suggesting scrapping the Sunday Game.
3. The one thing I hate reading in the news is players out because of work commitments. It will be better during the Summer. Player x out because he's on holidays etc. Bloody hell.
4. March-October season means we'll have an influx of players during Summer months making a quick bob who will then pop back up North for the seasons start.
5. Night football out the window for most of the year. We all love a game under lights, we all fuss about getting floodlights. Now most clubs have them lets move to Summer. Wahay ! Insanity.
6. Back to GAA again, dual purpose players. There's a brand new set of arguments to worry about and plenty more chances for the Louth County Board to whinge about soccer
7. Being out of sync with all other leagues around us, its madness I tell you, madness.
8. I love football around Christmas time, plenty of people home for the Christmas holidays from all over the world. What better than a St Stephens Day local derby ?
9. The National League gets its best coverage around December time, we get dreadful coverage at the start of the season when we are in the Summer months. Do we want to make this full time, do we really ??
10. People go off on work experience for the Summer. I'm talking about fans here. Go away for the Summer and miss the whole season ??
11. UCD move games to Friday nights so more students will come. Lets move them to the Summer instead when no-one's in college and they'll get no crowds at all
12. Back to number four again. Can you imagine how likely that is to happen. Its a certainty and could just end up in a complete and utter farce
13. Nice hard pitches so players can break their ankles and the ball bobbling all over the place, terrific
14. The FAI Cup final in October, great time for seasons showpiece !!
15. What do we do every second year when the World Cup or Euro Championships is on, not to mention youth championships. Just postpone the League for a month so we can all watch. Talk about advertising your League properly. Competing with Brazil-Argentina would be completely insane.
16. The whole reason for this Summer football idea is to be better in Europe. We wouldn't be having this problem if some of the National League players and clubs just prepared and acted like professional footballers in the run up to the European games. A bruising game on a hard pitch with ferocious tackles leading to injuries is hardly good preparation is it ?
17. Technically a team that qualified for Europe at the end of the season in October would have 8 months before they actually play in Europe. Players will come and go during this period so the team that plays in Europe will only be a shadow of the team that qualified
18. Pre-season in February. Trial games in February. What big names will you attract for friendlies. Do we postpone games during the season so Shels can play Liverpool or something.I t just doesn't sound right, why do we want to change our whole tradition for such a stupid, nonsensical idea
19. All the trouble of actually breaking into the mode, what do we do. Stop a season in May and don't start until next May or as some are suggesting have a short season from August to December one year. WHAT ! Imagine being relegated after just four months in the top flight after working towards it for seasons
20. The pure simple fact is football despite what some Norwegians say was always a winter sport. The thrill of following your team around and having something to do on dark November nights is an essential part of the experience. Doing so during July would be completely alien. It would just leave a gaping four month gap from November-February where people would only have Premiership soccer to watch and these people may get so engrossed and not bother coming back the following March. The football season is great the way it is, it takes in all the seasons and has its different cycles and fits in beautifully with all the bank holidays. To change away from this, even for a trial season [how would that work ?] would be absolute and utter insanity.