Are the Ireland team losing support?

[Scram]

The empty seats at Croker were very noticeable at the last game and the Poalnd game will probably be 40-50% empty? This would not have happened in previous years.

The good news is that it screws the scumbag touts over, but is this a trend?

Note the contrast with the massive vocal crowd supporting the rugby team today.

[Colbert Report]

Croke Park is much much bigger than Landsdowne was.

40-50% of seats empty would be a full house at Landsdowne.

Think before you post a redundant thread again please.

[Razors left peg]

was there still not something like 65000 at the last qualifier..... not many countries would have that many against Cyprus

[Scram]

Croke Park is much much bigger than Landsdowne was.

40-50% of seats empty would be a full house at Landsdowne.

Think before you post a redundant thread again please.

:rolleyes: Pathetic.

Anyway, for anyone with any sort of intelligence; Lansdowne would have been filled twice over for almost any Irish game, the touts were guaranteed business.

There is a noticeable deterioration in interest in tickets (noticeable to those who are awake). I thought Trappatoni was going to reignite the passion but with decisions like leaving Andy Reid out, it may be going the other way.

[hp123]

:rolleyes: Pathetic.

Anyway, for anyone with any sort of intelligence; Lansdowne would have been filled twice over for almost any Irish game, the touts were guaranteed business.

There is a noticeable deterioration in interest in tickets (noticeable to those who are awake). I thought Trappatoni was going to reignite the passion but with decisions like leaving Andy Reid out, it may be going the other way.


who gives a sh*t about Andy Reid or any other player who gets left out as long as we get results???

[eirebhoy]

Colbert Report - that's twice you've critisised a poster opening up a thread. After you're thread in here about Dave Mooney and FIFA you're hovering around the list of wind up merchant's so leave it out.

[Dodge]

Anyway, for anyone with any sort of intelligence; Lansdowne would have been filled twice over for almost any Irish game, the touts were guaranteed business.


:rolleyes: x 1 million

[Razors left peg]

:rolleyes: Pathetic.

Anyway, for anyone with any sort of intelligence; Lansdowne would have been filled twice over for almost any Irish game, the touts were guaranteed business.

There is a noticeable deterioration in interest in tickets (noticeable to those who are awake). I thought Trappatoni was going to reignite the passion but with decisions like leaving Andy Reid out, it may be going the other way.

Really think you have it wrong. Tickets were hard to come by for Lansdowne because there was only a max of 40000 availible... now compare that to the amount of people at any of our recent qualifiers in Croke Park and even friendlies there have been over 60000 at these games. So obviously it means that people that would be finding it hard to come by tickets for Lansdowne are getting them easily now.

[soccerc]

There is a noticeable deterioration in interest in tickets (noticeable to those who are awake).


.........RAFLMAO.


Considering some persons, no names mentioned, didn't take up their allocation and failed to respond to requests for payment during last campaign despite agreeing at the outset. :D

[craig7042]

who gives a sh*t about Andy Reid or any other player who gets left out as long as we get results???

I agree completely that the andy reid debate is completely over-exaggerated. The atmosphere at the last game was excellent and a major improvement on Stans time.

[tetsujin1979]

The empty seats at Croker were very noticeable at the last game and the Poalnd game will probably be 40-50% empty? This would not have happened in previous years.

Are you seriously comparing the draw of the Polish soccer team over the All Blacks??

[mypost]

Now that the novelty of playing in Croke Park has worn off, we are getting attendances suitable to the quality of opposition.

It'll be 80k for the Italy game of course. :rolleyes:

Ireland played the All Blacks* today, and Canada last week. While the All Blacks game was sold out, there were still tickets going for the Canada game in Limerick as late as Friday last week. :rolleyes:

*= One of the few times you can openly say that without been branded "racist" :D

[gspain]

The empty seats at Croker were very noticeable at the last game and the Poalnd game will probably be 40-50% empty? This would not have happened in previous years.

The good news is that it screws the scumbag touts over, but is this a trend?

Note the contrast with the massive vocal crowd supporting the rugby team today.

I don't think Poland will be that empty.

The rugby team played the number 1 ranked rugby playing nation in the world (albeit not the world champions). Cyprus is not a fair comparison. However you do have a point on the levels of interest. It was totally full with lots of people outside looking for tickets and no public sale.

I wouldn't agree with the vocal bit btw. I went to Tolka afterwards and the atmosphere was much better with a small fraction of the crowd.

[shelsfan1]

we can't count on the bandwagon army to always be there:)

[sullanefc]

The empty seats at Croker were very noticeable at the last game and the Poalnd game will probably be 40-50% empty? This would not have happened in previous years.

The good news is that it screws the scumbag touts over, but is this a trend?

Note the contrast with the massive vocal crowd supporting the rugby team today.
Its been happening for a while now, but it seems to be more fashionable to support the Irish rugby team now than the Irish soccer team.

In the Celtic tiger era when money and social status are more valued than older traditions, people were on the look out for a higher class sport, one that is played by private school kids and supported by toffs and yummie mummies, and rugby fits that bill.

Also, rugby seems to the second adopted sport of GAA heads. Swapping one brutish sport with low skill levels with another isn't a problem for them it seems.


Are you seriously comparing the draw of the Polish soccer team over the All Blacks??

To be fair, when Ireland played Brazil, there wasn't half the fuss as there was for the rugby team playing NZ. Rubgy gets bigger kudos in the media.

[paul_oshea]

:rolleyes: x 1 million

grow up.

[paul_oshea]

Its been happening for a while now, but it seems to be more fashionable to support the Irish rugby team now than the Irish soccer team.

In the Celtic tiger era when money and social status are more valued than older traditions, people were on the look out for a higher class sport, one that is played by private school kids and supported by toffs and yummie mummies, and rugby fits that bill.

Also, rugby seems to the second adopted sport of GAA heads. Swapping one brutish sport with low skill levels with another isn't a problem for them it seems.



To be fair, when Ireland played Brazil, there wasn't half the fuss as there was for the rugby team playing NZ. Rubgy gets bigger kudos in the media.

Apart from the obvious WUMing your 3rd point first sentence is very true.

[sullanefc]

Apart from the obvious WUMing your 3rd point first sentence is very true.

Who am I Wumming? If it were a rugby site you could argue I was wumming, but this is a football site.

And I stand by everything I posted. It is no coincidence that the celtic tiger era (and all its values) coincides with the rise in popularity of rugby in this country. And so soccer loses out as a result.

[Scram]

Are you seriously comparing the draw of the Polish soccer team over the All Blacks??

Is Croker not full for all the rugby games? Just happened to be the All Blacks yesterday, so what's your point?

Are you saying there is no deterioration in interest? I've never had so many e-mails at work from people with tickets they want to get rid of.

Also, the atmosphere at the international football games has been dreadful for years, Lansdowne Library to Croke Park Church.

Amazing how defensive a few posters get on here to an observation, a little bit of growing up to be done methinks!

[Paddy Garcia]

On another note was anyone watching the New Zealand game yesterday for the national anthem? Aside from the 3 Ulster lads the other 20 or so lads were bellowing out the anthem with pride and gusto, tears in John Hayes eyes. The point of the anthem is a team rallying call and they certainly used it.


..actually whilst many did sing, there were quite a few, not Ulster lads, who were not singing, esp amongst the subs.

I'd be more cooncerned whether they give their all on the field.

[Paddy Garcia]

Though more relevant to the thread I think Rugby has overtaken Soccer here, I remember last year a Six Nations game and (I think) the away Czech Republic qualifier were on the same week, same channel and the Six Nations got ~700,000 viewers while the qualifier only managed ~500,000.

Personally I think its down to the state of our local league. In Rugby people are far more connected to Munster and Leinster players and its the pick from these teams that represent the national side. While in soccer its more like a premiership subs bench select 11 at times where everyone has little or no connection with the players.

I'd say its more to do with the quality of the game.

Over the last 4 years you have had :

* passion; world class players; fantastic technique; and a belief in their own team - Rugby




Vs

* an unwillingness to even play; poor technique, negativity, limited players and even more limited management - Soccer. How many great soccer gaems have I watched us play in recent years!

If your money is hard earned then attending an Irish soccer team game may not be the best investment. Compared for example to Munster heineken cup semi!

McGrath, Houghton, Brady, Sheedy, Aldridge, Quinn etc played in the English top division - did not stop us all (the whole country at times) having a connection.

[EastTerracer]

Though more relevant to the thread I think Rugby has overtaken Soccer here, I remember last year a Six Nations game and (I think) the away Czech Republic qualifier were on the same week, same channel and the Six Nations got ~700,000 viewers while the qualifier only managed ~500,000.

It's stretching things a bit to conclude that egg-chasing is more popular than football based on the viewing figures for one game. In general Irish football matches produce some of RTE's highest viewing figures (especially for important qualifying games against big name teams). By the time we played in Prague it was pretty obvious that our chances of qualification were slim. I could show you plenty of pubs in Ireland where the Premiership will be on TV on a February Saturday afternoon instead of the Six Nations. Rugby is a much more regional game and will never provide the type of global profile that football has. You can travel all over the world and football fans will recognise the name of Robbie Keane or Shay Given - outside perhaps 8 countries that does not exist for rugby players.

As for the "decline" in attendances it was always clear that Croke Park is far too big a stadium for the FAI. In Lansdowne Road tickets for qualifying games became very hard to get due to the seating restrictions (approx. 35000 capacity). For friendly games, when the capacity was closer to 45,000 it was usually possible to get tickets very easily either from the FAI/Ticketmaster or at face value outside from fans who had spare tickets.

The 1990 and 1994 qualifiers were really our peak when we could sell out 48,000 tickets for qualifying games. That number is probably the natural level of our support and a good reason why the new Lansdowne Road capacity is much more appropriate than 80,000 at Croke Park. Even in the early Jack Charlton days friendlies against teams like Israel were drawing crowds of less than 10,000.

There is no doubt that the GAA is the most-followed sports body in the country but apart from the All-Ireland final and Dublin games, Croke Park is very rarely full for other games. The numbers who are willing to or can afford to pay EUR55 to see a friendly game bears no relation to the relative popularity of football versus rugby or any other sport.

[bmorgan87]

at the last match, cyprus..
tickets were been given away to children, schools etc to fill up the stadium a bit...
plus ppl around me wer shoutin abuse at trapp about not makin subs and how crap d team were playin and its sadly true...

[elroy]

Though more relevant to the thread I think Rugby has overtaken Soccer here, I remember last year a Six Nations game and (I think) the away Czech Republic qualifier were on the same week, same channel and the Six Nations got ~700,000 viewers while the qualifier only managed ~500,000.

Personally I think its down to the state of our local league. In Rugby people are far more connected to Munster and Leinster players and its the pick from these teams that represent the national side. While in soccer its more like a premiership subs bench select 11 at times where everyone has little or no connection with the players.

im not sure your factually correct there! I think gspain posted the highest ratings in ireland recently and in something like 8 out of the last 10 years, football has drawn the biggest ratings.

The croke park factor is evident in both football and rugby, we have plenty of people going to the football games that arent really all that bothered if we win lose or draw. Likewise with rugby, it was obvious (and noted in a few of todays papers) that alot of the crowd at croker last night didnt understand why Bowe was sin binned and why a penalty try awarded.

When an Irish football team performs well, it captures the country alot more than when the rugby team is successful. When we played Brazil in a friendly last year, tickets were hard to come by, same scenario with the rugby team last night. For the poland game, the attendance will get near the 55k-60k mark. For a comparative rugby game....say italy in a test (non six nations game) i doubt they would manage a bigger crowd. Thomond wasnt sold out last week for example.

An awful lot of Irish people are event junkies and will go to large supporting events and follow successful teams.

[Stuttgart88]

I agree with John Delaney in The Examiner this weekend:

I’ve always said that if Kilkenny play Waterford in a hurling final or Kerry play Tyrone in the All Ireland football final, there’s a big level of interest. When Ireland play in the rugby World Cup, there’s a greater level of interest. But when we qualify for a World Cup or European finals in soccer, the country shuts down. It really does. I don’t think there’s any other sport that captivates this country as much as when we qualify for the finals of a tournament. Everyone wants those moments back.

[gspain]

Rugby is still miles behind football in terms of popularity. From a participation point of view it is in 3rd place well behind gaelic which is the 2nd most popular sport in the country. Rugby is growing in popularity though in many areas where the game was never played. Football is already played everywhere in the country.

From a tv perspective the viewing figures for Cyprus were well ahead of the 6 nations this year. The England rugby game last year was if I recall correctly the most watched sporting event on RTE. However this was the first time since I've seen records that a rugby game has been number 1. An International football match has almost always been in top spot.

Having said that there is clearly far more interest in fans attending big rugby games now than big football matches. However only 16,000 showed up in Limerick for the Canada match last week despite a public sale of tickets. Tickets for the Argentina rugby match on saturday are still on public sale. Yet Munster play New Zealand in Thomond Park on Tuesday with terrace tickets having the same face value as the stand tickets for Canada and the stand being double the price. Not only will the ground be packed but it could have soldout many times over.

If the Italy match next October is to decide WC qualification (we can still dream) then I'd reckon tickets would be every bit as scarce as they were for New Zealand rugby and then some. I think the point here is that many Irish "sports" fans want to just go to the big games and the big events.

[gspain]

im not sure your factually correct there! I think gspain posted the highest ratings in ireland recently and in something like 8 out of the last 10 years, football has drawn the biggest ratings.

.

It's actually something like 18 out of the last 20 however rugby was top last year. I think the special Olympics was the other one. I have the stats somewhere.

[back of the net]

The empty seats at Croker were very noticeable at the last game and the Poalnd game will probably be 40-50% empty? This would not have happened in previous years.

The good news is that it screws the scumbag touts over, but is this a trend?

Note the contrast with the massive vocal crowd supporting the rugby team today.


as another poster said - its hard to judge due to croker being so much bigger than lansdowne
an awful lot of bandwagon support out there - as fine a stadium as croker is - i cant wait to go back to lansdowne
have never seen so many rugby jerseys been worn at a soccer game as i have in croker or ppl leaving 15/20 mins b4 half time to get a flippin hot dog and the amount of ppl ive seen leaving the game with 20mins left to go.....

[Captain2007]

No one's mentioned the price of a ticket,bought 3 for the cusack stand for 2 kids and myself at € 75 each for a friendly against Poland, now today 2 of our best players pull out Keane & McGeady, IMO they may only get 40,000 at this game.

[paul_oshea]

im not sure your factually correct there! I think gspain posted the highest ratings in ireland recently and in something like 8 out of the last 10 years, football has drawn the biggest ratings.

The croke park factor is evident in both football and rugby, we have plenty of people going to the football games that arent really all that bothered if we win lose or draw. Likewise with rugby, it was obvious (and noted in a few of todays papers) that alot of the crowd at croker last night didnt understand why Bowe was sin binned and why a penalty try awarded.

When an Irish football team performs well, it captures the country alot more than when the rugby team is successful. When we played Brazil in a friendly last year, tickets were hard to come by, same scenario with the rugby team last night. For the poland game, the attendance will get near the 55k-60k mark. For a comparative rugby game....say italy in a test (non six nations game) i doubt they would manage a bigger crowd. Thomond wasnt sold out last week for example.

An awful lot of Irish people are event junkies and will go to large supporting events and follow successful teams.

Italy sold out croke park for the rugby.

[Founders]

Though more relevant to the thread I think Rugby has overtaken Soccer here, I remember last year a Six Nations game and (I think) the away Czech Republic qualifier were on the same week, same channel and the Six Nations got ~700,000 viewers while the qualifier only managed ~500,000.

Personally I think its down to the state of our local league. In Rugby people are far more connected to Munster and Leinster players and its the pick from these teams that represent the national side. While in soccer its more like a premiership subs bench select 11 at times where everyone has little or no connection with the players.

Personally i think your a muppet,you say it has to do with the state of our national league.Yet you don't go:confused: If more people went it would have more money,sorry forgot then you would miss Corrie on Friday:rolleyes:

And its called football not soccer.

[elroy]

Italy sold out croke park for the rugby.

Yes but if you look at my post again i did say that compare it to Italy in a non six nations test ie comparable as the poland game is only a friendly. From my reckoning the last time we played Italy in a non 6 nations test it was played in ravenhill........not sure what exactly the capacity of that place is but they wouldnt have got near 50-60k for the match anyways.

Look at the games across europe this week, very few if any will have an attendance in excess of ours.

[mypost]

Who am I Wumming? If it were a rugby site you could argue I was wumming, but this is a football site.

And I stand by everything I posted. It is no coincidence that the celtic tiger era (and all its values) coincides with the rise in popularity of rugby in this country. And so soccer loses out as a result.

You might stand by what you posted, but it's blx to be fair.

The 5/6-nation rugger internationals always drew capacity crowds going way back to the 70's and 80's, even when we had no money, and the Irish team were crap. While most of the football internationals drew half the capacity of Lansdowne or less, until Jack Charlton arrived. Remember how many were at the Denmark game in '85?

The reason why the football international crowds are slipping now, is a combination of an average home side, poor opposition, and crazy ticket prices in a recession. In the current climate, €70 standard ticket p.p. to see us play Cyprus and related travel and transport costs, is hard to justify for people who need that money for other things.

[gspain]

No one's mentioned the price of a ticket,bought 3 for the cusack stand for 2 kids and myself at € 75 each for a friendly against Poland, now today 2 of our best players pull out Keane & McGeady, IMO they may only get 40,000 at this game.

It's €55 and €40 for the cusack stand for wednesday night. The Davin stand is also €40. The cheapest seat for the New Zealand rugby match was €80.

[trevy]

What kind of a crowd is expected for Wednesday's game? The Polish fans should boost the attendance. Its a pity Keane and McGeady are out and Andy Reid is not picked as they are exciting players.

[lionelhutz]

Though more relevant to the thread I think Rugby has overtaken Soccer here, I remember last year a Six Nations game and (I think) the away Czech Republic qualifier were on the same week, same channel and the Six Nations got ~700,000 viewers while the qualifier only managed ~500,000.

Personally I think its down to the state of our local league. In Rugby people are far more connected to Munster and Leinster players and its the pick from these teams that represent the national side. While in soccer its more like a premiership subs bench select 11 at times where everyone has little or no connection with the players.

Never thought I'd say this but I agree with Ciaran. I'm from Limerick and all I hear is non stop chat about meeting Munster players around town or on a night out. This definitely contributes to the popularity of rugby here. At the same time about 80% of the people from Limerick who claim to be true rugby supporters couldn't give a damn how the Irish rugby team get on which baffles me.

Also, these so called fans would almost definitely completely lose interest in rugby if Munster started losing a couple of games. It's the same in soccer - if we get to a world cup, a few hundred thousand extra supporters come out of the woodwork. I still believe soccer has a much bigger genuine fan base in Ireland than rugby.

[Oink]

The reason why the football international crowds are slipping now, is a combination of an average home side, poor opposition, and crazy ticket prices in a recession. In the current climate, €70 standard ticket p.p. to see us play Cyprus and related travel and transport costs, is hard to justify for people who need that money for other things.

I would agree with that summarization, though lets be fair its not a drastic fall in numbers. Comparitive to other nations we get a lot more going to games. Attendance at the Poland game will be due to a number of unrelated reasons, not all of them footballing.

It will be the first one i've missed in 7 years, I really need the 40 bills, but its not easy finding buyers as only 2 from 4 have gone.

I personally cant wait for Lansdowne to re-open, the atmosphere in Croker is morgue-like.

[Pád Von Tirpitz]

To be fair, when Ireland played Brazil, there wasn't half the fuss as there was for the rugby team playing NZ. Rubgy gets bigger kudos in the media.

It's not a fair comparison. Because it's only played seriously in a handful of countries, 'friendlies' are are a bigger deal amongst rugby folk. Sometimes they're taken almost as seriously as competitive games, depending on the circumstances.
In football, a friendly against Brazil is still a friendly and is not played at the same pace or with as much enthusiasm as a competitive game, regardless of the opposition.

I agree that that the media has elevated rugby to a status beyond its actual playing numbers or popularity. Of course, the Heineken Cup has enabled the IRFU to make its provincial teams powerhouses, thereby generating the kind of 'event' support that Irish people are world-beaters at. And fair play to them.
And, as someone said before, there is a noticeable unholy alliance between the GAA man and the rugby man these days, with Irish football more often than not the subject of ridicule in the media and in, em, 'white collar' workplaces.
Sticking to the international team here, as to include domestic troubles would be too much for one post, I think that all we need is to string a few good results together and you'll see football restored to its rightful place, because the people really want Ireland to do well, whereas they don't actually care too much about rugby. That's just a sideshow and a bandwagon that can be fun to hop on. Rugby will never cause the devastation to anyone that I and thousands of others felt, for example, after the penalty shoot-out loss to Spain or the injury time goal for Macedonia.
Football means more to more people.

[Noelys Guitar]

You might stand by what you posted, but it's blx to be fair.

The 5/6-nation rugger internationals always drew capacity crowds going way back to the 70's and 80's, even when we had no money, and the Irish team were crap. While most of the football internationals drew half the capacity of Lansdowne or less, until Jack Charlton arrived. Remember how many were at the Denmark game in '85?

The reason why the football international crowds are slipping now, is a combination of an average home side, poor opposition, and crazy ticket prices in a recession. In the current climate, €70 standard ticket p.p. to see us play Cyprus and related travel and transport costs, is hard to justify for people who need that money for other things.

I can remember going into the Harp bar on D'olier street after coming back from the 79 away game to France. About 50 fans decked in colours being asked where we had been by most of the customers. Having to beg the barman in Blades of Terenure to turn on the France v Holland game (a 0-0 draw would have put us in a play-off) in 81. In many ways 40,000 plus for a friendly against Poland is excellent.

[philliyk]

I would say that one major factor in the down turn in our crowd levels is the fact the vast majority of our support follow either one of the big 4 EPL teams or Celtic & would have very little connection with the national team other than 1/2 of their club players will be on show for the national team. because of this they would rather save their money to go watch these teams at the weekend or for a big european night.

I think it was Jamie Carragher who said in his book that it is the fans of the smaller teams in England(i.e. championship teams) who are the core of the English fan base whereas the fans of Liverpool/Man Utd/Arsenal/Chelsea only really care about their national team when it comes to World Cup/Euro finals.

[Oink]

I would say that one major factor in the down turn in our crowd levels is the fact the vast majority of our support follow either one of the big 4 EPL teams or Celtic & would have very little connection with the national team other than 1/2 of their club players will be on show for the national team. because of this they would rather save their money to go watch these teams at the weekend or for a big european night.

I think it was Jamie Carragher who said in his book that it is the fans of the smaller teams in England(i.e. championship teams) who are the core of the English fan base whereas the fans of Liverpool/Man Utd/Arsenal/Chelsea only really care about their national team when it comes to World Cup/Euro finals.

Your point holds true with Engerland fans but not with Irish, I personally don't know one Irish person who would rather see the EPL (or otherwise foreign club) club they support win over the Irish national team.... if there are any like that they are the smallest fraction of prats you get with anything in life.

[elroy]

Your point holds true with Engerland fans but not with Irish, I personally don't know one Irish person who would rather see the EPL (or otherwise foreign club) club they support win over the Irish national team.... if there are any like that they are the smallest fraction of prats you get with anything in life.

Unfortunately i do know a few who give more of a fcuk when liverpool are playing than Ireland.........REALLY REALLY pi**es me off.

[Stuttgart88]

I know loads of people more interested in English football than anything to do with the Irish team.

[lionelhutz]

Ya I've a good few friends who are absolutely gutted when Celtic or Man U lose a game but sometimes don't even know Ireland are playing.

For example, yesterday a friend asked me was there any Champs League matches this week and when I replied there were internationals this week and Ireland were playing he was bemused. Then after a few seconds he says "who gives a s*** about Ireland?"......

He never even bothered to ask me who they were playing......

[geysir]

The 5/6-nation rugger internationals always drew capacity crowds going way back to the 70's and 80's, even when we had no money, and the Irish team were crap.
True enough.

While most of the football internationals drew half the capacity of Lansdowne or less, until Jack Charlton arrived. Remember how many were at the Denmark game in '85?
Mostly nonsense.
That Denmark game was a dead rubber for us, only the fortified braved the poison flying around.
Before that, Lansdowne was generally full for most of the qualifiers, that was 50k then to fill it.
And remember no lights, those were Wed afternoon kickoffs or leave work for the early evening kick off.

[Noelys Guitar]

True enough.

Mostly nonsense.
That Denmark game was a dead rubber for us, only the fortified braved the poison flying around.
Before that, Lansdowne was generally full for most of the qualifiers, that was 50k then to fill it.
And remember no lights, those were Wed afternoon kickoffs or leave work for the early evening kick off.

Ground was just over half full for the 1979 home qualifier against Holland. Same for the home 84 qualifier against Russia. And many of the friendly games at both Dalymount and Lansdowne played to half-full stadiums during this period. I have always believed there is a hardcore of about 50,000 Ireland fans around the world. Followed by a softer core of a couple of 100,000. Then a million or so who get interested when we qualify for Tournament. I would suggest slightly smaller numbers for Rugby. The first time I ever had a problem getting a ticket for a game (having gone to games since the early 70's when cash was also accepted at some games) was the home against France in 1981. And that was the first time I encountered what are now known as eventers at an Ireland game.

[Wolfie]

The Euro 88 qualifiers was the first campaign of home matches I attended.

I can distinctly remember crowds of no more than 20,000 attending the Luxembourg and Bulgaria qualifiers and the Brazil friendly.

Things were quite different for the 90 qualifiers. Gay Byrne was in regular attendance. :rolleyes:

[OwlsFan]

The Euro 88 qualifiers was the first campaign of home matches I attended.

I can distinctly remember crowds of no more than 20,000 attending the Luxembourg and Bulgaria qualifiers and the Brazil friendly.

Things were quite different for the 90 qualifiers. Gay Byrne was in regular attendance. :rolleyes:

Don't forget Gerry Ryan is now well and truly on the band wagon.

I think the Brazil friendly was a sell out but you are correct about the other two games.

There are about 25k who will go to a game, even if it's a friendly against the Outter Hebrides. Another 20k who will go to most competitive games while most of the rest are event junkies, although one has to remember that many supporters do no live in Dublin and can't make the games.

To answer the original poster, yes interest will wane if we continue not to qualify for tournaments but that wouldn't bother me (the lack of interest - not the failure to qualify) one iota.

[Pád Von Tirpitz]

The Brazil game in '87 was my first Ireland game, and the ground was about half full.
The first couple of games of the Euro '88 qualifiers had full houses - Scotland and Belgium. For Bulgaria and Luxembourg, the ground was about half full, probably because it looked like we weren't going to qualify as usual, and I suppose people were pessimistic then.

Yeah, the 5 or 6 Nations games have always been sell-outs, but again this has to be seen in the context of the culture of the sport. They were Saturday afternoon days out, socialising events for club members and people of a certain class that were looked forward to at the same time every year. It didn't matter that Ireland mostly lost.
An Ireland football match is not a get-together of pals, it's not like Christmas, it doesn't have that social win-lose-or-draw tradition. It's a different animal entirely, without the safety-net of just being a good aul session and not as attractive when the team is poor.

[geysir]

Ground was just over half full for the 1979 home qualifier against Holland. Same for the home 84 qualifier against Russia.
The Russia game was packed. Against France twice - absolutely jam packed.
Qualifiers against the big teams mostly would be from 40k to 50k
smaller teams average 25k.
But consider Wed afternoon kick off time as well.