Football League of Ireland
The Football League of Ireland, usually known simply as the League of Ireland or the eircom League (from the league's sponsorship by Irish telecommunications company eircom), is a league of football clubs in the Republic of Ireland. It should not be confused with the Irish Football League, which is the league in Northern Ireland.
The Football League of Ireland includes one club from across the border, Derry City. Derry City formerly played in the Irish Football League, but was forced to leave that league following the 1972-73 season because of safety and security concerns. Derry City joined the Republic's league at the second level in 1985, after a special dispensation from the Irish Football Association (IFA) and UEFA. It won promotion in 1987, and has stayed in the top flight ever since. No teams from the Republic play in the northern league.
History
Formed in 1922, the league originally contained 8 teams and was first won by St. James' Gate FC. Over the next forty years the league grew to eventually twenty-two clubs, with the introduction of 6 teams in 1985, when a First division was introduced. The new Premier Division contained 12 teams and the First division 10. Clubs are promoted and relegated between the Premier and First divisions at the end of each season. Also, the club which finishes bottom of the First must reapply for league membership.
In the 1960s and 1970s the League of Ireland reached its height of popularity with clubs in Dublin commanding crowds of up to forty thousand however, in recent years, with the growing popularity of the national team coupled with the local media's obsession with the FA Premier League in England and the Scottish Premier League (many Irish football fans prefer to follow English or Scottish clubs' fortunes rather than their local clubs), attendances began to dwindle from thousands to hundreds in some cases.
Meanwhile the Premier Division's representatives in European competitions performed poorly with clubs from smaller European nations such as Lithuania, Moldova and Iceland beating Irish opposition easily. There were however, some highlights, Cork City's draw with Bayern Munich in front of 13,000, Derry City's entertaining Benfica and St. Patrick's Athletic narrowly going out to Glasgow Celtic.
In the last several years a mini-revival has occurred with clubs such as Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, Bohemians and Cork City progressing in European competition. Most recently, in 2004 Shelbourne progressed to the third qualifying round of the Champions League after knocking out KR Reykjavík and Hajduk Split, only going out to Spanish giants, Deportivo La Coruña after drawing 0-0 in front of 25,000 fans at Lansdowne Road. Shels then entered the UEFA Cup first round where they gained a highly creditable 2-2 home draw with French side Lille before losing 2-0 away. Cork City also qualified for the first round proper of the UEFA Cup.
Until recently the league followed the pattern of the other leagues in the western Europe of starting their league campaigns towards the end of Summer and playing through the Winter until late Spring and playing no league games during the height of Summer. With a need to improve the European results and to a lesser extent the more favourable climate, the league has switched to playing Summer football (like the Scandinavian leagues for example).
Domestically, with the advent of summer soccer both skill and attendances have improved with many clubs going professional and many former international stars returning home. However, professionalism has cost some clubs. Former greats Shamrock Rovers, without a home ground since the sale of Glenmalure Park in 1987, were put into administration in 2005 and subsequently taken over by a fans' group, the 400 Club now known as the SRFC Members Club. Rovers suffered their first ever relegation by losing a two-legged play-off 3-2 to Dublin City at the end of the 2005 season.
However in the emergence and re-emergence of clubs such as Cork City, Derry City, Drogheda United and Shelbourne, among others, have helped improve the fortunes of the league in the past several seasons.
Dublin City (formerly Home Farm F.C.) resigned their league membership on 19 July 2006 after the Company which owned the club ceased trading. Games the club had played in the Premier Division during the season were expunged from the record, with the league table recalculated.
Clubs in Membership
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Premier Division |
First Division |
List of Winners of the League
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Footnotes
- Template:Fnb St. Patrick's Athletic finished top of the league but due to fielding an inelgible player for five games, they were deducted 15 points and Shelbourne awarded the title.
First Division Winners
- 1985/86 Bray Wanderers
- 1986/87 Derry City
- 1987/88 Athlone Town
- 1988/89 Drogheda United
- 1989/90 Waterford United
- 1990/91 Drogheda United
- 1991/92 Limerick City
- 1992/93 Galway United
- 1993/94 Sligo Rovers
- 1994/95 UCD
- 1995/96 Bray Wanderers
- 1996/97 Kilkenny City
- 1997/98 Waterford United
- 1998/99 Drogheda United
- 1999/00 Bray Wanderers
- 2000/01 Dundalk
- 2001/02 Drogheda United
- 2002/03 Waterford United
- 2003 Dublin City
- 2004 Finn Harps
- 2005 Sligo Rovers
See also
- Professional Footballers Association of Ireland
- Football League of Ireland Cup
- FAI Cup
- Football League of Ireland 2006 season
External links
- Football League of Ireland Website
- League of Ireland spreadsheet — computes standings from scores; includes historical results.