Madam, - Paul Buttner's recent article on the plight of the First Division of the Eircom League was timely. Summer soccer has scarcely been the panacea for all the ills of the domestic game and First Division clubs appear to now have a nigh impossible task in charting even a survival course.
Attendances, atmosphere and a sense of sporting occasion are largely absent in this League. There is a limit to how many times one can expect clubs, players and supporters to "discover Ireland". Moreover the Premier Division's decision that there is only one automatic promotion berth makes the exit route from the First Division all too narrow.
One wonders whether the FAI's élite senior game should now be more correctly described as the League of Dublin. - Yours, etc.,
BERNIE O'CONNELL,
Barna Road,
Galway.