What to buy for NL fans

The coverage given to the National League of Ireland by the so-called "Irish" papers is quite shameful and has fuelled much pessimism among us. Further frustration surfaces when we analyse the treatment of foreign rival leagues in the aforementioned "Irish" publications. To outsiders visiting Ireland oblivious to the soccer environment here, this must surely prove baffling. The "Irish" press is prioritising the leagues of England in their publications, a baffling phenomenen to so many. Nationalism dies an ignominious death to financial greed. "Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone", said Yeats.

So we have to do with what is available. I am most insistent on praising the papers sa tír seo who do there best to support the National League. Since there simply aren’t any, I will reluctantly look at the best of a bad lot…

DAILY PAPERS:

Two spring to mind as "generally being accepted as the best", namely The Irish Examiner and The Star. The Irish Examiner is an absolute essential read for Cork people, as despite the seeming neutrality proposed in the name, the paper very much prioritises Ireland’s largest county in its content.
This season however, the Eircom League coverage in the paper has been a little disappointing. Their lack of eL-related content on Saturday especially is rather disappointing. Their coverage on Monday is thankfully better.
The paper is a must-buy for Corkonians, but perhaps for few others.

The Star is more documented as being the best NL daily. While it is the best British tabloid in covering and indeed promoting the league it is flawed in many respects. Looking at the glass of water as half full rather than half empty, the Star can boast that its Saturday edition does a very comprehensive job on the NL. Also on Monday, it is well worth 65p. However, on the negative side there are far too many qualms. On Monday, while being decent, it also leaves much to be desired: the attendance’s quoted for some of the games, especially Division 1 can border on the ridiculous as can the misleading player and match officials ratings. Also, I recall them putting "Brit tabloid", as they called it, The Sun down for treating Roy Keane badly in an edition during last season. While it emphasised on this "Brit" word, the Star’s back page, on the same day, dedicated more content to the salaries of an English club’s players than to the sensational Bray victory in the Cup Final the night before. Hmm. Yet despite the fact that it is an English paper – regardless of what it might tell you – it still does a decent job, as NL treatment goes in our daily papers.
This season, however, it must be noted that the Star led the "Bash Pat's" campaign following their infamous 10-0 defeat in Europe. Since and arguably consequently, the Eircom League coverage in the paper has suffered.

It's a pity The Evening Echo is not available countrywide.
The newspaper covers the south of the country, and one of its great admirers, a Cork City fan, commented thus:
"What makes this paper a class act is the absence of the Premiership!
"The only time the Premiership is ever referred to is in relation to Roy Keane or Denis Irwin.
"A day doesn't go by where you don't get a main article on the eL and every, every, day there is at least one story on Cork City and another on Limerick, not only that but sheer quality articles."
Hats off to all those who work with the publication, and congratulations to them for their appreciation their nationality - something most Editors sadly ignore.

And the rest?

Of the remaining contenders little praise is necessary. The Irish Independent has average NL coverage and prioritises the Premiership as Ireland’s league. Then again so does very other paper.
The Indo does, however usually have good in-depth match reports for the major Dublin games of the weekend, and is possibly the best paper for quality match reports on Saturday / Monday. Yet unlike the Star, it ignores Saturday's games in terms of reports in the Monday Sports Supplement, although Monday's supplement contains all the line outs of the weekend. Also, Philip Quinn - acclaimed as being the best eircom League writer - is employed by the Indo.

The Irish Times is perhaps the best paper covering the Eircom League on the internet, with a pretty impressive section of its webpage dedicated to it. Their coverage on Monday in their actual paper however, of the weekend games, is an embarrassment to the paper’s name. Emmet Malone is a good passionate writer, with a good Tuesday column, but then again we have Mary Hannigan who in my opinion should question her general prioritisation of foreign Leagues.

The Sun, I recently noticed, dedicated its main story – the Back page – to the NL on more than one occasion. Annoyingly, it does contain extracts high in quantity from the English edition. Yet, with Pat Dolan writing a quality column weekly, and improving emphasis on the Eircom League, this paper is threatening to become the most quality paper in regards to National League content. Saturday's edtion is often impressive.
It's just a pity though that the paper contains so much articles from the English edition, which make it seem less Irish.

The Mirror does little to conceal its Britishness. A paper which is superb reporting on issues of enormous irrelevance: the Monday after the wedding of two foreigners, Victoria Adams and David Beckham, prompted the heading
"AND THEY BOTH CRIED", under which read,
"David was first to sob".
Well, very relevant issues for front page news. A rag of a "Brit tabloid". For the NL it's pretty poor, with occasional blows of hot and cold, the latter more common; Not recommended.

The Evening Herald is pretty awful and should be avoided at all costs, it could even be the most woeful daily in NL coverage distribution.

I really have not seen the other ones – if there are any.

Sunday Papers:

Only one avenue to explore here, namely Ireland on Sunday / The Title. It could be better, but in general it does a decent job. It reports on the matches on Saturday night although admittedly variably, gives good previews of Sunday’s games and contains good articles on NL players. Their enormous treatment on the rise from the gutter of a Longford Town player last season indicated their appreciation of Ireland’s league.
This season, an inspiring Supplement was produced one Sunday with the paper which very much impressed Eircom League fans accordingly. The interest of Dave Kelly, Jack White, Cathal Dervan and Rory Hafford in the League was evident and the Supplement, in celebrating the League, reinforced the perception that this paper is the paper to buy on Sundays for NL supporters.
Again, inevitably there are legitimate criticisms due to this paper. The publication made a mockery of our neutral position in relation to the European Cup Final this year. The final was contested by the German representatives and the English representatives. Therefore, Éire has a neutral allegiance. Yet The Title produced a pull-out poster and section, dedicated towards the English winners. Granted Manchester had an Irish player, nontheless this ridiculous bias was puzzling. Would the same paper dedicate such treatment to the English national team if they happened to win, let us say, the European Championships, meas tú?
However, allowing for that disappointment, IoS is leading the way. When Cork City played St Patrick's this season on one Saturday afternoon, the match report the following day was larger than all the Premiership battles, including Manchester United Vs Liverpool in England. This statistic should encourage every EL fan to purchase this production weekly.

And the rest?

The Sunday Independent covers the games the night before most of the time. However articles on the League are rare and their coverage of Sunday’s games is poor. Treats the English league as ours.

The Sunday World is the most ridiculous Sunday paper in terms of soccer coverage that I have ever came across. They dedicated almost TEN PAGES to a foreign Cup Final last season while the Cup Final Replay here got ONE PAGE of coverage. Also, after Terry Eviston joined Dundalk in a shock move, this rag didn't bother to acknowledge it, whilst informing its Irish readers that a Sunderland nobody was set to join Millwall for £200,000. Despite this, it still has the audacity to claim that it is "No. 1 for the National League" on occasions.
John Byrne is the NL writer in the paper and although his articles are usually rather banal previews of the main Sunday game incorporating an interview with a player, he is obviously a huge Shamrock Rovers and Eircom League supporter. Poor Mr Byrne however is seemingly only entitled to this meagre coverage every week.
Without Con Houlihan, their coverage would be even worse. Connie loves all sports and rarely writes - but annoyingly does write - about the happenings of English soccer. Unfortunately, though, Connie hasn't been writing about soccer alot so far this season.
In conclusion, when the Sports Editor is supposedly John Brennan, a total hypocrite, anyone who buys this paper and considers himself or herself a National League fan should analyse the situation. This rag angers me even more when I consider that it is Irish.

The News of the World is horrendous, period. Totally English.

That really is all the papers I know about, with experience.

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