2009 attendances

[Rovers Maniac]

1,700 as per extratime.ie.

That should read per Sligo Brewer ;), deffo over 2,000 at it, main stand was totally full. We don't release official crowd figures.

[Inside Man]

To tell the truth it was never that low. Now I'm not getting into an arguement with people over a couple of hundred people as to be honest it doesn't matter a hoot to me but i assure you there was over 2,000 at the match as I was in around 7.55pm and was chatting to a mate at the turnstiles who told me there were 2,000 already through the turnstiles. Now i took an estimate and added 300 hundred to the figure as that would be my guess on what went through within the next 5mins. Red stand was full = 1,700 anyway. so that can be dissmissed because we had the jinks stand about 3/4 full.
On another note Cork had great support down. a good 200-300 from then. Great to see.

[Buile Shuibhne]

Most figures quoted above are round even figures:

Are they subjective guesstimates from individual supporters?

Official estimates?

Or hard actual attendances as reported by clubs to the FAI?

[gael353]

325 was what I was told would seem high. it was a good crowd for kildare about 250 most id say. weather was unreal, gale force minus 10 wind lashing rain. kildare did what was required, ie score against the wind. Clever manager too in his player positioning and usage. Harps, in trouble me thinks

[pineapple stu]

Most figures quoted above are round even figures:

Are they subjective guesstimates from individual supporters?

Official estimates?

Or hard actual attendances as reported by clubs to the FAI?
Where've you been the last seven years?

Almost all attendances ending in 0 are guesstimates.

[Kildare Lad]

Heard official attendance was 353 at Station Road last night. Good crowd considering the weather

[Philly]

Definately over 300 at the KCFC-Harps game. Lots of younger fans in the uncovered half of the main stand too. And plenty of fans got into the corporate box to watch the game.

Biggest home crowd in a good while, mainly ndue to the all-local side and lack of John Ryan from what I can see.

[stann]

Where've you been the last seven years?

Almost all attendances ending in 0 are guesstimates.

:D
Except ours last night.
620 is the official paid-in figure.
Trying to find out if that includes season tickets or not, though looking at the crowd and the state of the weather I'd guess it does.

[Longfordian]

Around 600 at Longford-Mons I reckon. About 5 Monaghan fans I believe!. The atrocious weather in the run up to kick off would have kept a few away so not too bad a crowd. Entertaining game too.

[Magicme]

More like 25 and can name them for you if you like!!

[Longfordian]

It's ok I'll take your word for it, it was very quiet whenever ye scored however so it was hard to know.

[Magicme]

Yeah we dont have the most vocal of support. If you had been near the press box tho you would have heard me roaring!

[Maynard]

Why should I have to pay PD prices to see MY team play as a away supporter. Charge your own fans what you like

Eh, you don't. Stay at home and keep your 15 bills in your pocket twice this season. Shels aren't hiding what they charge. If you don't like it don't pay it. Simple really. I'm sure you would have done marvelous things with that fiver anyway. Fair play to you.:rolleyes:

[dcfcsteve]

Im tellin ye! we'll have a lot better crowds this year average attendance at the end of the year will be a serious increase on last year

You're getting far too carried away too early here CT.

Crowds at the start of the season are probably higher on average across all clubs than at any other part of the year, as people have been starved of footie for a few months and the new season brings new hope.

Once the reality of poor performance and mid-table mediocrity kicks in, attendances across most of those clubs will almost certainly fall.

One thing that I expect to boost the overall league average this year is Rover's in Tallaght, as the novelty and their marketing will combine to produce relatively good crowds across certainly the first half of the season.

Conversely - the economic circumstances will doubtless play a part to supress attendnaces in general as well, and at some clubs more than others.

All-in-all, it's far too early to be making any predictions on the basis of the opening day's attendnaces - thoiugh I suspect we'll have a small year-on-year overall increase by the end myself.

[oldyouth]

Eh, you don't. Stay at home and keep your 15 bills in your pocket twice this season. Shels aren't hiding what they charge. If you don't like it don't pay it. Simple really. I'm sure you would have done marvelous things with that fiver anyway. Fair play to you.:rolleyes:
You're getting me wrong. Firstly, I like going to Tolka Park. Nice ground, close to the action and always a bit of banter between fans. My point is that I don't usually go to games on my own and bring the family with me. The game on Friday would set me back €20 more for my circumstances than at most 1st Division grounds. I appreciate that every club has different expenses but I think it is bad form to be out of step with other teams in the same division. Every club's season ticket offers fans reasonable savings by purchasing one but visiting fans don't have this option.
PS, I would have bought another portion of curry chips with the fiver. Yummy

[gspain]

I would have put the UCD v Limerick attendance at 120 and thought we did have almost half the crowd.

A friend was at Bray v Rovers and put the attendance at 4,000. It said 3,000 on the radio. He also said that Rovers had much bigger support than Bray.

[oriel]

we had 4,500 at home versus bohs

I`m not sure if it was this high, I also heard a figure of 4,200 with 3,600 paying in (+ 600 season tickets) - this was just after the game, maybe the figures were just out and still unconfirmed ?

Includes 500 + bohs support - very impressive

[pineapple stu]

I would have put the UCD v Limerick attendance at 120 and thought we did have almost half the crowd.
I did a quick count and there was 100 in the block I was in alone, and 40 in the outside right block. Didn't see the Limerick side fully, but if you reckon youz had half the crowd, that puts the crowd at 300. So someone Shannon-side is telling porkies.

Also baffled how Limerick can claim half the crowd.

[Maynard]

You're getting me wrong. Firstly, I like going to Tolka Park. Nice ground, close to the action and always a bit of banter between fans. My point is that I don't usually go to games on my own and bring the family with me. The game on Friday would set me back €20 more for my circumstances than at most 1st Division grounds. I appreciate that every club has different expenses but I think it is bad form to be out of step with other teams in the same division. Every club's season ticket offers fans reasonable savings by purchasing one but visiting fans don't have this option.
PS, I would have bought another portion of curry chips with the fiver. Yummy


Right, I'll say this and call it a day. I understand that it might cost a bit extra to bring the family etc to Tolka, but if you think that a) you can charge home fans more than away fans then you are looney, and if you think that b) all PD clubs and FD clubs should have a set gate charge then your complaint should be with the FAI.

And it is a reasonable arguement.

But Shels need the money. We actually would have broken even/made a small profit last season were it not for debts accrued during the old Ollie years that we are still paying off (and not at one cent in the euro I'll have you know)

Also, on a value for money issue; I will happily part with 15E every other week without fuss to watch a match in Tolka, pay and extra 3E for the best programme in the league, browse in the shop and have a scoop in the bar if I can - This overall matchday experience beats the sh1t out of what I was treated to when I went to Ferrycarrig for the first time last season

10E got me, no seat, a portaloo and leaning against a fence for 90minutes craning my neck past the dugouts.Not only would your stewards not allow me and my missus to go to the stand, but they would also not allow us to stand behind the f***ing goal.

So PLEASE. Give it a rest.

[Grey Boy]

I would have put the UCD v Limerick attendance at 120 and thought we did have almost half the crowd.

A friend was at Bray v Rovers and put the attendance at 4,000. It said 3,000 on the radio. He also said that Rovers had much bigger support than Bray.

Unfortunately your friend was wrong about the attendance, but right about being outnumbered by the Rovers support. 3000 was about right for the attendance, I'd say 1700 or so were Rovers fans. The Star must pluck figures out of the air for attendances, they had it down as 4500.

[oriel]

Unfortunately your friend was wrong about the attendance, but right about being outnumbered by the Rovers support. 3000 was about right for the attendance, I'd say 1700 or so were Rovers fans. The Star must pluck figures out of the air for attendances, they had it down as 4500.


The star figures have been a load of sh'#te for at least 5 years, they had 2,800 for us v Bohs.

They continously got a host of other clubs, hugely incorrect last season for eg.

Just ignore any crowd they report in future.

[Ronnie]

Real shame we can't get official figures to at least compare ouselves. If you want some very sobering comparisons with English football, look at fansfocus.com, they produce attendances for the 7th and 8th tiers of English football, the likes of the Ryman and Unibond leagues, but even more scary is the size of some of these support bases compared to our league.

[pineapple stu]

Look at Tony Kempster's site, where they have official figures for the seventh and eighth level of non-league football. I think that's every senior league in England, even the ones where attendances drop below 10.

[Boh_So_Good]

Im tellin ye! we'll have a lot better crowds this year average attendance at the end of the year will be a serious increase on last year


I think you are right. There is more layman interest this year for some reason.

Tallaght alone should go mega.

[dannydundalk]

sure the star said there was 4,500 at bray game?:eek:
i was like :rolleyes:nah
then i heard there was 2,800 or sommething

and it say's on dundalk website 4,500 at our game versus bohs maybe a bit exaggerated to be honest though

but close enough to it which is fantastic

[pete]

What are the final weekend numbers? Are attendances up or down?

[Fribbler]

Of course you shouldn't use the first game of the season as a benchmark. It's a unique occasion with a higher than normal attendance.

[John83]

Of course you shouldn't use the first game of the season as a benchmark. It's a unique occasion with a higher than normal attendance.
Yes, it's usually much higher than the season mean. The middle third of the season is usually a bit of an attendence slump too.

[Dodge]

Pats figure is 2,3xx. Can't remember last couple of digits. From a well placed club source

[irishultra]

no..the newness of the season starts to wear off, leading to a decline.

[John83]

During the summer period,Possible proof we should go back to winter?
It was the same during the winter season. There's less to play for in the middle third. The good teams are generally near the top, the bad ones near the bottom. No 'important' games - the title, or Europe or relegation aren't yet imminent. You've already played everyone once. Boredom. Maybe it's an argument for a 20 team division, but it's not an argument for winter soccer.

[John83]

Good,because i dont want winter football (yet)
But seriously, a 20 team Loi? you've got to be kiddin me
I didn't say it was a good argument, just an argument.

[jinxy lilywhite]

Good,because i dont want winter football (yet)
But seriously, a 20 team Loi? you've got to be kiddin me

Whats wrong with a 20 team league. It would provide much needed revenue for the lower clubs when the big clubs come to town. There may be a gulf in class but i don't think a 20 team league should openly be dissmissed. Afterall we are only a small country with a limited number of senior teams but the Shels, Waterfords, Fingals (you know the minnows) could really do with big clubs coming to their grounds every once in a while

oh sorry for going off topic

[pete]

This would give an average attendance of 2,900

So numbers up around 50%. FAI must be doing a great job.

[superfrank]

It's a unique occasion with a higher than normal attendance.
Agreed. Our unique occasion was that we were playing Rovers. They brought about 2k on Friday. Our next home game against Galway will have a much smaller crowd.

[gspain]

I did a quick count and there was 100 in the block I was in alone, and 40 in the outside right block. Didn't see the Limerick side fully, but if you reckon youz had half the crowd, that puts the crowd at 300. So someone Shannon-side is telling porkies.

Also baffled how Limerick can claim half the crowd.


There was about 50 in our block from the end of the pressbox down.

I thought there was at most 70 in front of the pressbox and to the side of it. I didn't count them. I was not in the best position to see/count the home support so I may well have been wrong. Also I didn't think about what the crowd was overall until afterwards but I did think on the night we had about 50 fans although maybe I'm claiming a few on our side not in colours whom I also don't know.

[pineapple stu]

You had about 50 fans alright. But the crowd was about 220 in total. Didn't get an official figure as our CPO wasn't in attendance on Friday.

[Black and White]

In order to boost attendances and revenue the league should resort to the same layout as the Scotish Premier League, the split after so many games, would make the middle of the table teams be more competitive towards the end of the season.

[pineapple stu]

It would mean the mid-table teams would have nothing to play for as they either can't drop any lower and get sucked into a relegation dogfight or they can't go any higher and get an outside chance for Europe. With a ten team league, cutting off sixth with five games to go could easily have those effects. Attendances would then drop rather than rise. In addition, the bottom teams would all get one half-round of poor attendances with none of the big teams to play (assuming the bigger clubs end top half). The split also gives rise to playing teams at home three times and away once, or vice versa. It's silly, tbh.

There is no quick fix to attendances.

[ashbournebohs]

I actually think the attendances will hold up for the first quarter of the league at least.We have lost two clubs with poor attendances ucd and cobh and replaced them with Dundalk who historically have had good crowds.Rovers will probably have 3500 at every home game and if the had a stand on the far side you could be looking at 5000 plus for the visits of Bohs and Pats.I would expect at least 1500 to travel to dalymount in 2 weeks giving us a 4000 plus crowd.If Rovers Cork Derry and Dundalk can stay near the top and in the cups the crowds this season could be very good indeed as Bohs excepted it is good value at 12 to 15 euro in the current climate

[thischarmingman]

The split also gives rise to playing teams at home three times and away once, or vice versa. It's silly, tbh.



Yeah, imagine playing each other home and away an unequal amount of times. :rolleyes:

[pineapple stu]

Indeed! Though a 3-1 split is sillier than a 2-1 split obviously.

Will wait until after this weekend's games to post the first update, once everyon'e played a game. Then the fun begins as people moan that I haven't taken their guess. :)

[pineapple stu]

The average Premier Division attendance will probably be up. But that's irrelevant as (a) the Premier Division isn't a club, so all ten Premier teams could show decreases in attendances and yet the division average could increase and (b) there's more than the Premier Division.

[Steve Bruce]

Indeed! Though a 3-1 split is sillier than a 2-1 split obviously.

Will wait until after this weekend's games to post the first update, once everyon'e played a game. Then the fun begins as people moan that I haven't taken their guess. :)

How do you work that out?

For instance, Linfield will play Glentoran twice at Home and once away before the split. After the split we will play them away because we had an extra home match before the split.

And this is how it has been worked out for every team.

I'm not trying to be a WUM or anything, because I am genuinely confused as to how one team could have 3 home games and 1 away in the case of a split.

[pineapple stu]

Check out some historic tables; it works.

Hypothetically, say team A - let's call them UCD :) - finish fifth in a league of ten teams which has a top half bottom half split. We played every team in the top half twice at home and once away, and every team in the bottom half once at home and twice away. The only options open are (a) for us to play our last four games away from home to keep a 2-2 balance or (b) to have a 3-1 or 1-3 split against some teams.

The likes of Celtic v Rangers and (presumably) Linfield v Glentoran are possibly kept as 2-2 as they're big title-deciding games and there's be uproar from one or other if it went 3-1, but you can check previous SPL fixtures (soccerbot's cross table is good for a start) and you'll see plenty of 3-1s. Obviously my example is extreme, but the principle exists.

[jinxy lilywhite]

Attendances should be up this season because there are no more small town teams like Harps and Cobh and Ucd are gone now aswell.
Plus its a 10 team league now which means every 2nd home game you're playing a big team that will bring many fans along with them .
Also for those of you who think it'll be down coz of repitition grow up will ye it shouldnt matter who you are playing you're there to see your team.
Playing the big clubs more often is a good thing not a bad thing.
Yes i agree our crowd will be down v Galway,but then the next home game is v Pats which will be a good crowd when we're playing Rovers,Bohs,Pats,Cork,Drogheda,Derry and Dundalk there will be at least 1.5k there which is good but then when we're playin Sligo and Galway it wont be as good.

CT my opinion on attendences is how the team performs. If your team is doing poorly then attendences will drop because supporters don't want to see their team get rolled over. Last weekends attendence where due to the first game of the season and all that. Over the next month attendences will pan out to a normal factor. after that attendences will dip again because supporters will go on holidays intermittently over the course of the summer. Then when the dark evenings come into play the crowds will increase due to the games being of atmosphere and certain teams will have something to play for.

[Dodge]

so all ten Premier teams could show decreases in attendances and yet the division average could increase

What?!? Are you talking about individual games or club averages? if its averages...

I ain't no Carol Vorderman but I think its impossible for the 10 clubs to have decreasing averages and then have the overall average increase

[pineapple stu]

It is (doing great maths explaining today!).

Take 10 teams with averages of 1500, and 2 teams with averages of 500. Overall average - 1333. Those bottom two teams get relegated, so we now have 10 teams, all of whom suffer a drop to 1400. New average - 1400. Premier Division crowd is up although every team has had a decline. So saying the Premier Division crowd will probably increase is irrelevant, as was the point CT was kind of making (noting crowds will be up because us and Cobh are gone).

QED. :)

[Dodge]

Oh, so we're still talking about going from 12 to 10? I don't see celtictiger's posts...

using your example, I was thinking that if clubs went from 1,500 to 1,400 the average would still be 1,400...

[pineapple stu]

Going from 12 to 10 teams highlights it, but it could also happen if a team with a really small crowd this year got replaced by one with a really big crowd next year, and then they all went down. So for example, 9 teams with 2000 and 1 with 500 - average 1850. Next year, 10 teams with 1900 - average 1900.

But yeah, see where your confusion came from.