What do Macclesfield Town and the Eircom League have in common?

It's hard to imagine a more perfect analogy for how Premier League soccer, or rather the determination of Irish fans to support English clubs, is crushing our domestic Eircom League game than the example set by Macclesfield Town.
Macclesfield is located in east Cheshire and only 20 miles from Manchester.
They’re an active bunch these Maxonians - in 2006 Sport England published a survey which revealed that residents of Macclesfield were the third most active in sport in the entire country.
So why do Macclesfield Town, 15th in League Two, struggle to attract an average home crowd of 2,000 in a town of 51,000? Well, the reason why Macclesfield Town are 91st in the attendance chart of the 92 football league clubs (only Accrington Stanley attract less), is because every Tom, Dick and Harry in the borough either supports Manchester United or Manchester City.
Indeed Macclesfield Town’s hand-to-mouth existence contrasts wildly with the wealth displayed by some of the leafy borough’s residents i.e. Wayne Rooney, Mark Hughes, Alex Ferguson and Robinho (said footballer pictured below).



The situation is just as ridiculous here in the good old Republic. Every week thousands of ‘Irish soccer fans’ (ha!) travel across the Irish sea to take in Premier League games - if only a fraction of that number stayed at home and attended Eircom League games domestic soccer in Ireland would be completely transformed.
In 1956 West Germany, the world champions at the time, paid a visit to Dalymount Park and were handed a 3-0 thrashing by a Republic of Ireland side dominated by seven individuals who were plying their trade in the domestic league.
God be with the days when Irish domestic football was on top of the world.

Brian McDonnell