Northern Ireland Diamond Open Cup.
Here is an idea. As a way to improve football / soccer in Northern
Ireland.
My idea is to have a open competitive football cup trophy.
With the idea being that the first teams of all tier one Northern Irish sides,
but also that teams are invited from outside Northern Ireland to take part,
including big clubs B teams.
My idea would be that all Northern Irish tier one sides play
in the trophy. But that B teams from the big Scottish, and English sides take
part.
The Scottish Challenge Cup already allow Scottish
Premiership clubs to enter B teams. And the first teams of Welsh league teams,
and Northern Irish league teams have played in the Scottish Challenge Cup. The
English lower tier EFL Trophy already has big EPL teams enter under-21 teams.
So my idea is for Northern Ireland to copy this idea by
creating a trophy that has all tier one Northern Irish sides, but also the B
teams of the big Scottish sides, such as Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers.
Plus the B teams of the big English sides such as of Manchester United,
Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Leeds
United, Sunderland, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, West Ham United, Sheffield
United, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa, and Leicester City.
The idea is that the big Scottish and English sides have so
many fans, that even their B teams are well supported. So the big Scottish and
English sides will have such big supports and attract big supports to see them
play the first teams of Northern Irish tier one sides.
The idea is that this will enable Northern Irish sides to
get bigger attendances, marketing, tv ratings, and advertising from this.
The cup final could be played in Belfast. With in earlier
rounds teams travelling home and away as normal.
Also the trophy could have first team tier one sides from
the Irish Republic taking part. Plus representative teams from Cornwall, the
Isle of Man, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. Plus the first teams could be
invited in from Southern Scotland, and North West England. Southern Scottish
sides could include Stranraer, Ayr United, Annan Athletic, and Queen of the
South.
The trophy could be a group stage trophy with tier one
status in Northern Ireland.
The Scottish Challenge Cup, and EFL Trophy has shown big
Scottish and English sides have been prepared to enter second string teams in
competitive trophies, as it is a very good way develop young players. The big
teams of Scotland and England would be unlikely to enter their first teams in
tier one Northern Irish trophies due to fixture congestion, but I am sure they
would be prepared to enter B teams in a high status Northern Irish club trophy.