Attendances 2014

[outspoken]

I go to see Warrenpoint a bit (use to go to Newry a good bit before they went balls up) and the away attendances def have improved.

That's what I missed most in the first division, a weekly away support, say what you like but it does improve the home atmosphere as well. In our first season down here the away followings were generally good with Wexford and waterford two I could always remember bringing a vocal crowd but in the last few years you'd be lucky to see more than 2 large away followings at a home game.

[oriel]

Portadown have just tweeted to say there has been a 12% increase in premiership games up there, an equipment of an extra 109 fans at each game. That's an incredible stat, great to see.

I'm not sure it seems as good as it sounds. The average in the Irish Lge Prem is still under 1k, (950 I think) There are very few games with more than 2k at it, and majority are well under 1k.

They will not change from sat 3pm though.

[dundalkfc10]

I'm not sure it seems as good as it sounds. The average in the Irish Lge Prem is still under 1k, (950 I think) There are very few games with more than 2k at it, and majority are well under 1k.

They will not change from sat 3pm though.

A good few of their games are played on a Friday night now!

[outspoken]

I'm not sure it seems as good as it sounds. The average in the Irish Lge Prem is still under 1k, (950 I think) There are very few games with more than 2k at it, and majority are well under 1k.

They will not change from sat 3pm though.

Fair point but they are still attracting new fans/bringing back old ones. Why is this and can the LOI do something similar is my question?

[oriel]

A good few of their games are played on a Friday night now!

I think they only have one match on each week on Friday nights. Still think they could find a much better time than 3pm on Saturday.

[wonder88]

Brendan Ogle doing a lot of good work these days. I know he is a Dundalk fan so question I want to ask; has the club ever tried to get him involved. Clear that he is an impressive organiser and able to get people/crowds motivated and participating. Talents often lacking in the league of Ireland.

[Yossarian]

Brendan Ogle doing a lot of good work these days. I know he is a Dundalk fan so question I want to ask; has the club ever tried to get him involved. Clear that he is an impressive organiser and able to get people/crowds motivated and participating. Talents often lacking in the league of Ireland.

I'll assume that this is a sarcastic post.

[jinxy lilywhite]

Brendan Ogle doing a lot of good work these days. I know he is a Dundalk fan so question I want to ask; has the club ever tried to get him involved. Clear that he is an impressive organiser and able to get people/crowds motivated and participating. Talents often lacking in the league of Ireland.

Not sure. His love for DFC only surfaced during the Palestinian flag debate when he and others tried to portray that the club were lying about the fine. People like Ogle who I do admire could be detrimental to the club if they were actively involved as I believe he is a person who has to be the centre of attention.

We vitally needed someone of his calibre in '12 when we were on deaths door. Wonder were he was?

[wonder88]

Not sure Ogle is doing what he is up to now just to get attention. He is on Vincent Browne now and he is quite compared to rest of the panel (ok he has a long day I suppose). I was glad he replied to the stuff R Sadlier came out with on rte and I don't think he was having a go at Dundalk as a club, more standing up for some of the fans.
There is no reason why someone on the left for example should not be involved in running a club, have we not have had many from the "business community" involved in LOI clubs over the years? Have they been for good? some examples I can think of left some mess behind them.
However it looks like Brendan Ogle will be busy enough in the near future anyway.

[Nesta99]

He is a divisive character and runs toward a cause of his choosing only. He is fond of being in the public eye. I think he is sometimes misguided in the battles he takes on but he can articulate his point of view fairly well and is wholehearted when he does decide to get stuck in. He would be a liability as representative at any club though in saying that would be a decent adversary for Delaneyites, if he picked that battle skin and hair would fly as they would be quite similar in their use of media and the legal system.

[AnnaghRed]

Irish League is much worse supported than the League of Ireland. League as a whole seems to be much better run though. IFA actually give a crap about their league.

How do the two leagues compare when you factor in the far smaller population-base our league has to draw from?

[AnnaghRed]

I'm not sure it seems as good as it sounds. The average in the Irish Lge Prem is still under 1k, (950 I think) There are very few games with more than 2k at it, and majority are well under 1k.

Taking last seasons figures. The LoI would have needed an average of 2252 to match the 887 average the IL managed.

Thats allowing for your jurisdiction having app 2.5 times our population - which is generous - because not many from a nationalist background in NI would attend games in the IL.

[nigel-harps1954]

How do the two leagues compare when you factor in the far smaller population-base our league has to draw from?

Taking last seasons figures. The LoI would have needed an average of 2252 to match the 887 average the IL managed.

Thats allowing for your jurisdiction having app 2.5 times our population - which is generous - because not many from a nationalist background in NI would attend games in the IL.

Clutching at straws there. Population density has no place in your argument seeing as a large proportion of the country has no team within a comfortable driving distance down here, especially given that some rivalries between clubs often see a half an hour or an hour drive between the two. Derry to Ballybofey is a 30-40 minute drive, Sligo to Galway two hours, Limerick to Cork an hour and a half.

Also the fact away travel is much easier in the North where no game is more than a 2 hour drive away. It's often difficult to get 10 people to travel from Derry to Cork and back on a Friday night, having to take a day off work in some cases and end up back home around 4am or 5am after the match, where 200 people can comfortably travel from Belfast to Ballinamallard on a Saturday morning and back in good time to have the dinner and off for a few pints afterwards.

'Your jurisdiction' made me laugh too. No harm, but that's hilarious. If you want to use that argument, the Irish League doesn't have the same competition with the GAA that the League of Ireland does.

[jinxy lilywhite]

Taking last seasons figures. The LoI would have needed an average of 2252 to match the 887 average the IL managed.

Thats allowing for your jurisdiction having app 2.5 times our population - which is generous - because not many from a nationalist background in NI would attend games in the IL.

I am not sure you can gauge it properly. Many parts of the country are not represented with an loi club. If you took counties like Kerry, Clare, Mayo, Roscommon, Monaghan, Cavan, Meath, Kildare, laois, Offaly, Carlow, kilkenny and Tipperary all do not have a senior club.

Many Irish people would not look at a league of Ireland match but would prefer to follow English teams and sell thick instead

[AnnaghRed]

Couldn't quote exact figures but i'd imagine far more folk up here watch GAA than soccer, even if you include the NI team. We also suffer from folks travelling to the mainland for their fix.

Just gets on my goat the superiority complex many posters on here seem to have when referring to the IL, suppose its not unlike two bald men arguing over a comb at the end of the day. Neither league has much to shout about attendancewise.

[AnnaghRed]

Oh, and population density very much plays a role in my argument. Dublin has what, 5 senior clubs, and 3 times the population of Belfast and its 4 senior clubs....Derry and Cork are the only major clubs in cities with populations round the 100k mark.

[oriel]

There is no question the biggest sport in NI is GAA Football, possibly Rugby next then soccer I'd say.

I don't buy the argument on population density. Would most of those towns/areas that have an IL premier side, not have a majority unionist population anyway? The obvious exceptions been Warrenpoint, but that's just a large village, and the area where Cliftonville draw their support from.

[AnnaghRed]

Most towns with a club would probably have a unionist majority yes, but you also have to figure that none of Portadown, Lurgan, Coleraine and Ballymena have populations anything like Galway, Limerick, Derry or Cork, therefore the larger populations in the southern towns at least have the potential to attract more supporters.

[Charlie Darwin]

I didn't think arguments about who's got the smallest attendances could get any more inane, but I stand corrected.

[JC_GUFC]

Both leagues suffer from exactly the same problems. Run-down stadia, neglect from the Association (The IFA seem to be better than the FAI) and the attraction of English/Scottish Football.

In both leagues there are large population areas that have no representation, such as Omagh and Enniskillen up North (I guess some from the latter support Ballinamallard) and then the likes of Kilkenny/Tralee/Mullingar etc. - also don't forget that the 2nd City of the North has their main team playing in the League of Ireland.

When I think of the Irish League, I think of what a proper Munster Senior League would be like if Limerick didn't play in it. Obviously Belfast is bigger than Cork but aside from that you'd have teams from Waterford, Tralee, Ennis, Clonmel, Youghal, Carrick, Cahir, Cobh and Killarney and then 3 from Cork. Not exactly an exciting proposition.

There are obviously political issues regarding games in the Irish League - the first Irish League game I tried to go to was Crusaders v Cliftonville a few years ago which was postponed due to a flag protest. I was bringing along my brother in law who lives in Belfast and had never been to an Irish League game - he certainly won't be going back on his own! Recently I went to see Glentoran in the Oval and was made feel very welcome, which is generally the feeling I get from all Irish League fans.

The Irish League, with the creation of NIFL, seem to at least be progressive in trying to promote support for the league up there. The League of Ireland still doesn't have any plan of action it seems. Are there any actual targets for the league to achieve? It just seems to be making sure that the clubs balance their books, which is a step in the right direction but there should be something more ambitious than that. Why not a target for the league as a whole to achieve 10% higher attendance figures in the coming season?