Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Alan Kirby

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. postdlf (talk) 21:04, 24 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Alan Kirby

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Was PRODed in the past. Fails WP:GNG and WP:NFOOTY. Has not played first-team football in a fully professional league or received significant media coverage. JMHamo (talk) 14:47, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This discussion has been included in WikiProject Football's list of association football-related deletions. JMHamo (talk) 14:49, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Given the length of his career and apparent related honours - albeit in a semi-pro league system - he could well WP:GNG. However, in the absence of any reliable sources to verify the claims I will say delete for now. Feel free to notify me if sources are found, and I will be happy to come back and reconsider. Giant Snowman 14:57, 16 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Keep - article has been much improved, meets GNG. Giant Snowman 14:52, 22 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Keep. May not pass WP:NFOOTY, but I'd be interested in knowing the basis for nominator's decision that this particular subject "has not ... received significant media coverage". It's a damn sight quicker to for an enthusiastic nominator to put up dozens of these things every week, apparently indiscriminately, than it is to find the time to actually look up whether they do pass WP:GNG or not, let alone to produce enough evidence to convince at AfD, and definitely let alone putting said evidence into decent English prose on the page in question. Which makes it inevitable that notable subjects are being deleted.
Google-searching the Irish Independent website produces numerous results, most of which are obviously minor mentions in match reports, but there are some with more than trivial content, e.g. (from the regional press) [1], [2]. When he was with St Pat's they got through the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Cup to the First round,[3] which is probably the same as the Play-off round today so wouldn't confer football notability, but holding Hertha Berlin to a draw and a fighting 2–0 defeat got a bit of coverage.
The earliest mention I can find in a quick search of the Irish Times archive (accessing via library, so can't do urls, but I'll include enough citation so anyone with access can confirm) is from a long-ish preview of Ireland's semifinal in the 1997 edition of what is now called the FIFA U20 World Cup, which briefly speculates on whether Kirby will be used in a man-marking role against Pablo Aimar ("Tired Irish again try to defy odds", 2 July 1997, p.19) and incidentally mentions his father Dave having been a footballer. The Irish squad for that tournament were followed for a strand in the RTÉ magazine programme The Soccer Show ("World U-20 Championship: The television producer", 27 Dec 1997, p.A7). There's a post-2004 FAI Cup final piece contrasting his reaction to scoring a goal that beat his former club Waterford with the elation of the other goalscorer ("Pleasure and pain for United old boy", 25 Oct 2004, p.A2). A piece about the miraculous effects on Mr Kirby of a return to full-time professionalism with St Pat's ("Strikingly good times for Kirby and St Patrick's", 13 Apr 2007, p.19). Contrasted with a long piece from two years later focussing on the fear of the out-of-contract footballer with bills to pay and Mr Kirby's gratitude for a part-time contract in the second tier, which he was combining with taking a business degree at Dublin City University ("Bookies believe Fingal have more than a sporting chance", 5 Mar 2009, p.27). And the usual amount of routine match-related coverage over a long career, i.e. a lot. cheers, Struway2 (talk) 13:08, 17 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Comment - I've read what you found but what here makes him notable exactly? JMHamo (talk) 19:16, 19 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry for belated reply. I'll quote WP:GNG: "If a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list." I'd say that the small selection of bits of media coverage mentioned above, that you've read, plus the slightly larger selection now cited in the article, that you may not have yet, demonstrate a breadth of coverage over the length of Mr Kirby's football career that satisfy the requirements of GNG. But that's what those !voting here have to judge. cheers, Struway2 (talk) 14:41, 22 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Ireland-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 15:37, 17 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Football-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 15:37, 17 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Sportspeople-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 15:37, 17 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

weak keep - I'm prepared to AGF that the sources above are significant in terms of length. the headline and description of a number of the articles do seem to indicate that the focus is on the player, not his club or a match. Fenix down (talk) 07:05, 18 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. Following Struway2's expansion of the article. It is now clear that the subject passes WP:GNG. Mattythewhite (talk) 14:30, 22 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - not because of the quality of the article, but because Struway has demonstrated that the subject passes the general notability guideline. Mentoz86 (talk) 12:36, 24 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.