Scottish football

[Ireland4ever]

How can you claim that soccer is the most popular and most played sport in ireland?

The amount of GAA stadia around the country dwarfs the amount of soccer ones and shows that football is by far and away the most played sport.

[Fingal hoop]

How can you claim that soccer is the most popular and most played sport in ireland?

The amount of GAA stadia around the country dwarfs the amount of soccer ones and shows that football is by far and away the most played sport.

have a look at the backpage of any newspaper & you will see what is more popular- There are more soccer players than GAA players

[Ireland4ever]

I disagree, when you look around the country every small parish has an under-age gaa set up and a couple of senior teams. The same CANNOT be said about soccer and the FAI.
And even in dublin, you just have to look at the support the dublin football team gets to show how popular it is. Regardless of the opposition you never see an empty seat.

[Stevo Da Gull]

sure football sucks anyway, who cares abou ..... aww no am I on the wrong forum again?

Anyway, we should strive to follow the SPL but there are a lot of stumbling blocks - one obvious one being SPL/ EPL/Championship etc are right beside us = top players leaving, competition for attracting foreign players.
The imprvement of stadia and training faciliteis should be the top priority at the moment and this seems to be happening.
Ireland4ever has a good point too, IMO all EL club's could do with having a set-up from under7 (or whatever the starting age is) upwards.

[Fingal hoop]

I disagree, when you look around the country every small parish has an under-age gaa set up and a couple of senior teams. The same CANNOT be said about soccer and the FAI.
And even in dublin, you just have to look at the support the dublin football team gets to show how popular it is. Regardless of the opposition you never see an empty seat.

80,000 jump on the bandwagon 4 games a year- same as with jacks army-
look how many leagues & teams playing soccer in dublin & compare that to the GAA

[passinginterest]

According to the National Sport Council in the report: Ballpark Figures, A Guide To The Key Facts About Report In Ireland available from http://www.irishsportscouncil.ie/

Swimming, Golf and then soccer are the most popular participant sports in this country, soccer well ahead of GAA 9% to 4%.

[dcfcsteve]

Well said Fingal Hoop, there are some people on this forum who think that the Eircom Premier league is on a par with the SPL which is laughable. A few freak results in Europe against SPL clubs and lower league Scottish sides do no make the Eircom premier better that than the SPL.

I'm not Fingal Hoop....!

[dcfcsteve]

According to the National Sport Council in the report: Ballpark Figures, A Guide To The Key Facts About Report In Ireland available from http://www.irishsportscouncil.ie/

Swimming, Golf and then soccer are the most popular participant sports in this country, soccer well ahead of GAA 9% to 4%.

Irrelevant though.

We're talking about spectator sports. There's a huge difference between someone going out for a swim at the local lesisure centre or a quick round of golf than someone donning a scarf and going to an EL or GAA game.

[pete]

The only spectator sport in Scotland is football. Attendances outside the top half of the SPL not far off eL levels. Attendances are rugby are dire.

[Fingal hoop]

their lowest probably better than our highest

they have the same attendcances for Rugby
L H
Celtic 57,928 59,659
Rangers 49,955 50,488
Hearts 16,937 17,369
Hibernian 14,587 16,747
Aberdeen 12,475 20,045
Dundee United 7,147 12,329
Kilmarnock 6,807 13,506
Dunfermline Athletic 6,106 8,561
Motherwell 5,877 11,745
St Mirren 5,609 10,251
Falkirk 5,387 7,245
Inverness CT 4,879 7,522

[Fingal hoop]

All figures in for the first weekend - averages as follows (2005 in brackets).

PREMIER DIVISION
Bohs - 2446 (1976)
Bray - 2800 (1550)
Cork - 3800 (3644)
Derry - 2390 (2698)
Drogheda - n/a (1682)
Dublin City - n/a (175)
Longford - n/a (1004)
Pat's - 1700 (1599)
Shels - n/a (1949)
Sligo - n/a (1794)
UCD - n/a (653)
Waterford - n/a (1513)

[gspain]

Football is quite a big spectator sport here. It is also by far the biggest sport in terms of participation. Unfortunately many of those spectators won't be reading thisas I type ebcause 4,000 of them will be on their way to Old Trafford today. Another significant number go to Anfield etc etc.

The Old Firm are an anomaly in Scotland but there is no reason why our clubs can't be as big as Hearts, aberdeen or Hibs etc.

Rugby and GAA may get bigger crowds in this country but there is no way they are bigger sports. Their playing numbers are dwarfed by thos eof football (13% play football in this country next biggest was 8% for GAA according to the recent ESRI study).

However your average football fan in Dublin will watch most of it from a barstool, make the odd trip to Old Trafford or Anfield and watch the Dublin GAA team in the summer. They don't go to domestic football except maybe Shels v Depor. They do of course support the national team.

I know of 7 people going to Old Trafford today in 4 different groups and 2 of them don't even have tickets.

I really think this is an opportunity for our league though and not one to knock the barstoolers. A successful club or 2 here competing in europe.

We do have another advantage in that many of the football fans in this country are fickle. i'm sure everyone knows people who have changed their English club. The Blackburn and Newcastle jerseys are now replaced by Chelsea and maybe soon by Arsenal. I think a successful domestic club would hoover up much of this support. However then we'd be moaning aout all the bandwagon jumpers.

[Sniffer]

Why not start up a team called Dublin something or other, use the sky blue and navy colours, tap into the whole Dubs thing. Make big money from jersey sales, pump it into the club - europe, hoover up fans, it's a no-brainer.

PS The Dubs struggle to fill Parnell Park for your average National League fixture. THe tens of thousands who come out with the big yellow thing in the sky are bored EPL fans waiting for their beloved league to resume.

[madblaa]

Scottish football is muck. 2 clubs dominating a mickey mouse league. Most boring predictable league in the world. Biggest 2 teams dont even claim to be scottish anyway. Celtic are full of idiots with tricolours pretending to have some magical mystical relationship with Ireland and rangers are full of union jack waving UK lovers.
The Welsh league has far more credibility then those jokers up there.

Ha ha, well said!

[superfrank]

Why not start up a team called Dublin something or other, use the sky blue and navy colours, tap into the whole Dubs thing. Make big money from jersey sales, pump it into the club - europe, hoover up fans, it's a no-brainer.

You try push Rovers, Bohs, Pats, UCD and Shels fans into a stadium together and tell them they're all supporting the same football team?

[dcfcsteve]

Wrong Steve ! Do you follow football at all mate ?

You're wallowihng in your own obscurity now RT. That post just didn't make any sense.

There's a huge difference between participating in a sport and spectating it. Hence - quoting how many people like to swim or play golf is totally irrelevant to a discussion about the appeal of attending live Irish soccer matches versus other live spectator sports. I'm sure that swimming or golf would also be the highest rankiong participatory sports in England and Scotland, but what that would have to do with attendances at live football in those countries I know not.

Do you follow logic at all mate ?

[dcfcsteve]

they have the same attendcances for Rugby

There are only 2 provincial rugby clubs in Scotland - and even those 2 are struggling to survive as meaningful entities.

And their attendaces on a good day would be about as high as the lowest SPL teams. So rugby and football do not have the same attendnaces in Scoitland - even with phenomenally less clubs in rugby.

Even at a national level rugby in Scoltand is in somewhat of a crisis. I bought a ticket for a Scotland v Ireland match about 4 years ago, and ever since then I get bombarded with offers for discount price tickets to almost every Scotland game at Murrayfield. Unless it's England or sometimes France, they struggle to fill the place and have to turn to hawking thei wares to randoms who once showed an interest in their product years ago.

Scotland is a football nation - first, second and third.

[Fingal hoop]

predictibly enough Hibs beat rangers

[Fingal hoop]

There are only 2 provincial rugby clubs in Scotland - and even those 2 are struggling to survive as meaningful entities.

And their attendaces on a good day would be about as high as the lowest SPL teams. So rugby and football do not have the same attendnaces in Scoitland - even with phenomenally less clubs in rugby.

Even at a national level rugby in Scoltand is in somewhat of a crisis. I bought a ticket for a Scotland v Ireland match about 4 years ago, and ever since then I get bombarded with offers for discount price tickets to almost every Scotland game at Murrayfield. Unless it's England or sometimes France, they struggle to fill the place and have to turn to hawking thei wares to randoms who once showed an interest in their product years ago.

Scotland is a football nation - first, second and third.

rugby has only recently become popular here as the bandwagoners bought into the hype- hopefully it might die down a bit now- the scottish sports fan would be more discerning

[NeilMcD]

Good thread and I agree that Scotland is a good benchmark and a good comparision for us both in the league and the international team It was interesting to hear that more Scottish players were playing Champions League football last week than English players and the English had twice as many teams.

I am not sure what the answer is but its an interesting discussion. Last night there was a good Dublin derby on and I would say there was at most 2,500 at the game.