Greatest League in the World 2026 [LOI Thread]

There's a real possibility one of them ends up being paired with an Israeli club. Clubs that have qualified will have budgeted for at least a round in Europe. They will then have to choose between blowing a huge hole in their budget or facing a media/social media sh1tshow.

As for the national team, The whole thing has been left fester without any leadership from the FAI or the government. If the FAI had come out straight away and said the gate would be donated to a Palestinian charity it would have taken a lot of heat out of it. They've stayed silent. The way it is playing out now it'll end up being played in a neutral venue behind closed doors. The players who play in it will be vilified for being footballers. Seamus Coleman alluded to it being unfair to leave that responsibility on the players.

I have to say that I do agree with the Governments position that they will support whatever the FAI decide to do.

I agree that the FAI have not shown leadership here, have left the Irish players in a terrible position and will leave any LOI club who is unlucky enough to find themselves in a tie against Israeli opposition in the same boat.

As regards to whether I'd want Boh's to fulfil their fixture - if I had a vote I'd be voting not to. I would then be looking forward to buying the inevitable "Boycott" jersey next season 😉

We turned down Athlone over a perception of Dundalk having an advantage in the plastic pitch.

The sum of it all is we should have had these two weeks where there are potential Gaa clashes sorted before the season started. We didn't and now we're scrambling.

Which is perfectly fine, not upto Dundalk to accommodate that request. We should have had all our ducks in a row before fixtures were released. JC is trying to create a siege mentality around it. If fans were the main concern then Athlone would have been picked.

Galway county has plenty of venues like Tuam stadium and the Sportsgrounds. They don't seem to have looked into anything like that and just assumed they'd be accomodated. Galway/Caufield just didn't fancy playing it on Friday night and either wanted it on the Monday in Pearse or to be pushed out later into the season. That's just too picky for a club that knew this could be an issue. As you rightly say if it was about the fans it'd be played in Athlone irregardless of the plastic pitch.

Did Galway or the GAA call off the Friday game?

I'd certainly have less sympathy if it was Galway! I presumed that the GAA made that decision.

Galway GAA footballers have a game on the Saturday against Westmeath. Galway United made zero contingency for that happening. Galway GAA offered them the use of Pearse on the Monday but Dundalk turned that down. Difficult to criticise the GAA on this one when they are offering the use of Pearse and Celtic Park to LOI clubs.

Putting it on Monday just punishes Dundalk who haven't done anything. They have Bohs away on Friday so why should they inconvenience themselves to help fix the mess GUFC created?

Surely in December they could've went to the FAI and asked to play 2 or 3 games in a row away from home around this period if there was a risk they'd be kicked out of Pearse at short notice.

Just can't wrap my head around picking Cork on a Friday night. Fair enough the Athlone pitch is crap, but they could've played in Longford or Sligo. Zero regard shown for fans.

Mostly loanees. We have a pile on short term contracts.

Darragh wasn't one of those listed I'm afraid.

Interestly, Brian Maher won't sign a contract extension. Must want out too.

In response to Oat as the quote didn't show up.

Longford unavailable as two games being played on it at the weekend and optics of playing in Sligo wouldn't have been great if assume.

Just what I've read as an excuse against it.

Just listened to the Bohs podcast 'One Up Top'. It features John 'Chippie' O'Connor, our resident numbers nerd. He is a professional accountant and served on the Bohs board for years.

Topic was money in the League of ireland, not just Bohs. Very interesting conversation that should be of interest to all fans of the league. Well worth a listen.

LOI reject in the Aussie squad