2015 attendances

[oriel]

The attendances by Pats and Bohs were both very disappointing turn outs. These completely bucked the trend set by Cork, Rovers, Dundalk and Sligo on their opening matches.

To be fair Galway and Derry both exceed 2k also.

[sulywaterfordfc]

Poor turnout in Wexford. Given there preseason hype and with it been there first home game of the season and us only having to travel an hour or so to get there I would of thought the attendance would of been closer to a thousand. I don't think there was 700 there either I would of thought about 400/450 - stand wasn't even full and there weren't even a hundred standing around the ground I'd say.

[ger121]

The attendances by Pats and Bohs were both very disappointing turn outs.

Pat's low crowds are well documented even though they are always up at the Business end of the table. Our crowd was low considering it was a nice evening and 1st home game of the season. I don't know what more can be done to boost attendances in Dublin.

[wonder88]

The Bohs crowd was small on such a lovely day/evening weather-wise. Game was not great either, but still you would expect more to turn up for what are still one of Ireland's big clubs. It seems there is a limited market for LoI soccer in Dublin, from the traditional areas anyway. Maybe target tourists/immigrants. Hope Galway can maintain the interest in the club as well after 2 poor results.

[culloty82]

Funny I thought the same. Some very disappointing given that it was such a good day and the first home game for all the clubs.

At least Harps seem up considerably, a consistent run and your average should shoot up.

[ATFC-1887]

Any attendance from Longford? Very surprised by it. Stand wasnt even half full and there wasnt too many in section O. Honestly expected 1500+. Rovers nearly had as much as them.

[Longfordian]

Just over 2,000 there according to the Longford Leader. Wouldn't be far off I'd say. Rovers had about 700 or maybe more there. Home support was disappointing but we never get a big crowd for Shamrock Rovers. A lot of kids aren't brought out due to the expectation of trouble over the years. Rovers crowd were fine tonight though aside from the pyros I suppose and the Gardai were fairly low profile too which I wasn't expecting.

[ATFC-1887]

What does the main stand hold out of curiosity?

[Longfordian]

Holds 1500. I would have said it was around two thirds full. It wasn't at the start of the game but it filled up a bit as the latecomers arrived.

[Town Legend]

There was 500 from Rovers. They were expecting 8-10 buses down but only 5 found their way!

Just seen the tweet by Leader. I'd of put the crowd at around 1600-1700 mark with 500 Rovers fans. Some gome of a Rovers fan is saying there were more Rovers than Town fans at it....and according to his Twitter he's a student accountant!! That doesn't bode well for anyone who might hire him ;)

[oriel]

I don't know what more can be done to boost attendances in Dublin.

Rovers aside, it would appear LOI is just not improving in the capital looking at the last 5 years attendance figures.

Also it's worth noting Rovers too have seen a drop off in crowds, granted they should improve this season, but overall the appetitive for fans within the city appears to be slipping for most clubs. This is a real shame as there is a huge market to draw from.

[LOI_Fanatic]

Counted 7 Buses in the away car park after the game...

I'd of out the attendance at about 1300.

Stand looked half full with about 80 in the "famous section o".

[Acornvilla]

Counted 7 Buses in the away car park after the game...

I'd of out the attendance at about 1300.

Stand looked half full with about 80 in the "famous section o".
It's just 'Section O', Ted. Glad the lads are famous now all the same :D

[Town Legend]

Those other two buses were for the CIA and UN forces!

[White Horse]

Counted 7 Buses in the away car park after the game...

I'd of out the attendance at about 1300.

Stand looked half full with about 80 in the "famous section o".

It's not a great sign if fans won't come out for the first home game after many years in the wilderness.

A couple of lads from Dundalk went over to the game to see what Rovers were like. While they didn't mention numbers to me, they just said the home crowd was very poor.

[Town Legend]

As previously stated a lot of people would of stayed away because of previous trouble from Rovers fans. And because the Town are mainly a family friendly club parents would of been unwilling to bring their kids to this particular game. But in fairness to the Rovers fans, on their last two visits they have been well behaved.

On another note I don't know what other league clubs think the size of Longford is but we have the second smallest population in Ireland county wise. Our county population is 39,000 compared to Louth's 122,000. So the defending league champions opening up with a crowd of 3,300 compared to our 1,700 we ain't doing too bad in that regard.

[Acornvilla]

Last season's average attendance was 550 odd, only bumped up by the last match, in reality it was a fair bit lower, so for our home game to be a good 300-400% or more higher than last season's average, I think it's not too bad lads, we got crowds of just about 1,000 when we went down, and closer to 1.5k when things were going really well a few years ago. Longford was a much more densely populated town at the time or at least certainly less of a hole. We've brought it up before, but there's a fairly big number of people who would have gone to town games a decade ago, who don't live near the place any more.

I doubt anyone from within Longford expects our average attendance for the season to exceed 1,000, I'd imagine closer to the 800 mark if we do badly, more if we do relatively well obviously. We don't have the population as Town Legend mentioned for sustained support week in week out, everyone has the potential to draw a crowd for the one big game a year or whatever in a cup.

edit: if anyone's interested, 2011 census has the Longford Town population at 9,601. A metropolis if you will.

[Kiki Balboa]

As previously stated a lot of people would of stayed away because of previous trouble from Rovers fans. And because the Town are mainly a family friendly club parents would of been unwilling to bring their kids to this particular game. But in fairness to the Rovers fans, on their last two visits they have been well behaved.

On another note I don't know what other league clubs think the size of Longford is but we have the second smallest population in Ireland county wise. Our county population is 39,000 compared to Louth's 122,000. So the defending league champions opening up with a crowd of 3,300 compared to our 1,700 we ain't doing too bad in that regard.


Louth has two teams.

[Town Legend]

Louth has one team and share another with Meath! And even with two, their population still is a lot more than Longford's. 122,000 split between 2, would give you 61,000 compared to 39,000.

[White Horse]

Using census figures to justify ****e crowds.

One of the things that made this the #greatestleagueintheworld.

[nigel-harps1954]

Any official figure from Longford yet?

[Town Legend]

It just takes a bit of cop on to realise you won't pull in big crowds if you don't have a big population. But I wouldn't expect you to understand that!

[toffeejay]

And yet Sligo has a smaller urban area population than Bray, Tralee, Carlow, Athlone, Wexford and Letterkenny amongst others yet averages 2nd or 3rd in attendances over the last couple of years.

Waterford and Finn Harps both averaging in the 400's the last couple of years despite Waterford having 45,000 on Ballybofey-Stranorlar.

But you have to take in other perspectives. Donegal probably has a bigger population than Co Waterford and Harps have larger than normal rural support across the county.
While I'd say Sligo's support is probably helped by it being a successful soccer club in a county which is poor at both GAA codes?

[nigel-harps1954]

And yet Sligo has a smaller urban area population than Bray, Tralee, Carlow, Athlone, Wexford and Letterkenny amongst others yet averages 2nd or 3rd in attendances over the last couple of years.

Waterford and Finn Harps both averaging in the 400's the last couple of years despite Waterford having 45,000 on Ballybofey-Stranorlar.

But you have to take in other perspectives. Donegal probably has a bigger population than Co Waterford and Harps have larger than normal rural support across the county.
While I'd say Sligo's support is probably helped by it being a successful soccer club in a county which is poor at both GAA codes?


Donegal is a poor example really. A lot of north Donegal are Derry fans and a lot of South Donegal are Sligo fans due to the sheer size of the county and proximity to the other clubs.

[Sheridan]

Donegal is a poor example really. A lot of north Donegal are Derry fans and a lot of South Donegal are Sligo fans due to the sheer size of the county and proximity to the other clubs.
Define "a lot"?

[nigel-harps1954]

Define "a lot"?

Very many, a large number; also, very much. For example, "A lot of people think the economy is declining", or "Sad movies always made her cry a lot". It is sometimes put as a whole lot for greater emphasis, as in "I learned a whole lot in his class". It may also emphasize a comparative indication of amount, as in "We need a whole lot more pizza to feed everyone", or "Mary had a lot less nerve than I expected".

[Martinho II]

for us the killer is the ground is three miles out of town. out of all the loi clubs we are probably the furthest out of town. its not an excuse but you have to face the reality.
we were down on heads in section o as a few of them have gone to a match in Germany probably booked from ages ago.. All of our massive attendances of over 5k were in the early noughties when Stephen Kenny was in charge and it was winter football and there was nothing clashing. Summer soccer has killed the loi for Longford Town thats for sure!

[El-Pietro]

for us the killer is the ground is three miles out of town. out of all the loi clubs we are probably the furthest out of town. its not an excuse but you have to face the reality.
we were down on heads in section o as a few of them have gone to a match in Germany probably booked from ages ago.. All of our massive attendances of over 5k were in the early noughties when Stephen Kenny was in charge and it was winter football and there was nothing clashing. Summer soccer has killed the loi for Longford Town thats for sure!
I'd say Wexford is more remote. But grounds so far from the town will always cause problems getting crowds out for games.

[nigel-harps1954]

Ferrycarraig Park is definitely further out of Wexford and more difficult to get to than CCS is out of Longford. Terryland Park isn't exactly city centre either.

[Longfordian]

I'm not sure if that was a typo Marty but we've never, ever gotten 5k out there for a Town game! In the Kenny days we got 1,500 or so for a few league games, since then we've had maybe 3k for various cup games and just over 4,000 for the league cup final in 2004.

Nigel Terryland is a ten minute walk from the centre of Galway.

[SeanDMRooney]

My neighbours go to Derry. We go to Harps. Its about the same distance and theres many like that

[DannyInvincible]

Derry's sphere of influence would extend very much so into Donegal with supporters from border towns and villages like Killea, Newtowncunningham, Muff and Fahan. Inishowen generally would probably orientate towards Derry with dwellers there who might follow the LOI having little real or daily-life link to Ballybofey.

[wonder88]

Terryland is lucky to be located where it is ; walking distance from town centre, parking at blackbox being advantages. Also you do not have the dislike(hatred even) of the local residents as is the case in Salthill towards gaa fans.
I think price of tickets may be a factor, get people and then try and get more money off then in the club shop. All clubs should really have a clubhouse type facility like a lot of non-league clubs in England.Great away support by Shamrock R and compared to other live sports in Ireland the atmosphere created by the fans, apart from the big championship gaa games, is way better.

[Sam_Heggy]

Anyone direct me to the 2015 attendances thread? Im sure the census figures and all were discussed in the 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, etc. There was a break circa 2001 as it was the "foot and mouth" outbreak that was at fault that year.

[Nesta99]

"foot and mouth" outbreak that was at fault that year.

Crazy forgettable times, not sure if it was this outbreak but when Dundalk played Monaghan supporters werent allowed in to the ground for fear of foot and mouth 'n all so Dundalk supporters hopped the fence and watched the game from the field beside with the damn cows watching on. Best view ever and free to view too!

Population is of course relevant and restrictive in general with a few exceptions. Think its on average about 1% of population that attends live games Europe wide so our crowds are within average based on population alone. But we are a sports mad country and the issue persists that as many travel abroad regularly for games, with the frustrations for us that the belef is with that additional support given locally a more professional setup could occur. Im not entirely convinced that greater support would do much more than inflate wages, reduce volunteerism, payed excessive administrators, FAI justifying pay increases and so on rather than give greater room for ground and youth development etc imo.

[Town Legend]

Any official figure from Longford yet?

Club official told me last night there was 1872 paying spectators Saturday night of which 500-600 were Shams fans. Closer to the 600 mark I'd say.

[GuisaSaigon]

Counted 7 Buses in the away car park after the game...

I'd of out the attendance at about 1300.

Stand looked half full with about 80 in the "famous section o".
Longford team bus might have been one of them, probably left from Tallaght too!

[Longfordian]

Ridiculous comment.


Our players drive down as far as I know.

[Martinho II]

I'm not sure if that was a typo Marty but we've never, ever gotten 5k out there for a Town game! In the Kenny days we got 1,500 or so for a few league games, since then we've had maybe 3k for various cup games and just over 4,000 for the league cup final in 2004.

Nigel Terryland is a ten minute walk from the centre of Galway.

Remember the local press in 2000/01 quoted those figures when we played Pats in the FAI Cup at home and Waterford in the cup semi replay. I always thought the crowds were the largest in my time going there as it was pre the seats being put in the ground. I am only going by what the media said at the time.

[outspoken]

Longford team bus might have been one of them, probably left from Tallaght too!

Galway fans seem to be very high and mighty about the fact we have a lot of Dublin players. While we would all love more local lads all you can ask for is the players give 110% to the jersey and the fans no matter where they come from and that's what this squad of players do, there's a great connection with the fans and the players. Suppose it's one of many things such a model club like Galway can look down on given their great 13 month history.

[Town Legend]

I do have to laugh at (normally on LOI) fans who come out with these comments but would rather sit and watch Man Utd and Man City play with all the local Manchester talent on their team..... It's not the GAA where you play for your local parish!

[Longfordian]

Remember the local press in 2000/01 quoted those figures when we played Pats in the FAI Cup at home and Waterford in the cup semi replay. I always thought the crowds were the largest in my time going there as it was pre the seats being put in the ground. I am only going by what the media said at the time.

Yeah it was harder to estimate the crowds pre seating but I was told some years ago that although those games had big crowds they weren't up on 5,000 anyway. Well if the money actually taken in was any indication anyway.

[Olander]

Galway fans seem to be very high and mighty about the fact we have a lot of Dublin players. While we would all love more local lads all you can ask for is the players give 110% to the jersey and the fans no matter where they come from and that's what this squad of players do, there's a great connection with the fans and the players. Suppose it's one of many things such a model club like Galway can look down on given their great 13 month history.
No need to get your knickers in a twist, Longford have always been a Dublin club. Train in Dublin, do your business in Dublin. All of your players are based in Dublin. It's nothing new and it's been like that since before Alan Matthews and Stephen Kenny.

Personally I wouldn't be able to support a club like that with such little self identity, each to their own. It worked for a few years with Longford winning the cup twice.

[Mr A]

I like Harps to have players from the area because it helps to bring people in. But I would never ever agree with having a player just for that reason- the club, and any club, should field the best players the budget allows. I'm sure Longford do not have a policy of not signing locals- probably like Monaghan the standard of local player simply isn't there and the idea that they should hobble themselves by using substandard locals is crazy- they'd be dead in no time.

[Olander]

There are good players in every county but they have to be developed and given a chance. Case and point - Sean Prunty. Longford aren't just signing players from Dublin, they do all their business there and train there which is completely counter-productive in my opinion. Where's the clubs identity? Why don't they just play games in Dublin too?

A few clubs have done similar in recent years: Monaghan United, Longford Town and most recently Athlone Town but to Athlone's credit they mostly trained and signed players in the midlands. Obviously you don't just sign a player because he's local.

[Longfordian]

Seeing as you've said this a couple of times, what business do we do in Dublin aside from training? Which is in Kildare technically. We may use a Dublin bus company for away games I suppose but there's a good few Dublin games this year so bus journeys will be rare. I believe there's been a fair bit of investment into the youth side of things lately with a new pitch opening soon at the ground and a proper tie up with the Schoolboys league.

[Town Legend]

We've played local teams down the years and finished bottom of the first division playing in front of 50 people and I have have witnessed that. Longford had local players in Adrian and Gary Murphy, Stephen Brennan and John Rodgers but those boys also played GAA with their local clubs. Longford has a very competitive Championship where rarely any club retains a title. Because of this it has huge interest around the county and that not only pulls from the Towns attendance but also players choose to play GAA instead.

And your statement about us playing in Dublin is ridiculous. Sure while you're at it write to Arsenal and tell them to play in France and they can be placed by Man City at the Emirates considering the amount of players they signed from Arsenal over the years. It sounds like Galway supporters are jealous of how Longford run their club and haven't had to be reincarnated 4 or 5 times! If you like we could put a little DVD together to show you how to run a club and not let it go bust, because I hear ye like DVD's down in Galway!! :laugh:

[Charlie Darwin]

Holds 1500. I would have said it was around two thirds full. It wasn't at the start of the game but it filled up a bit as the latecomers arrived.
It wasn't 2/3 full. A little over 1/2 full I'd say.


No need to get your knickers in a twist, Longford have always been a Dublin club. Train in Dublin, do your business in Dublin. All of your players are based in Dublin. It's nothing new and it's been like that since before Alan Matthews and Stephen Kenny.

Personally I wouldn't be able to support a club like that with such little self identity, each to their own. It worked for a few years with Longford winning the cup twice.
This is the weirdest attempt to manufacture a rivalry since the Sligo fans on here started banging on about Finn Harps, much to the latter's bemusement.

[Town Legend]

Will we agree on 5/8 full?

i think what Olander is trying to get across is that anybody who plays with Galway whos not from there he will not support that player. Instead he will ridicule and abuse him. Seems harsh but that's the way he operates!

[Olander]

This is the weirdest attempt to manufacture a rivalry since the Sligo fans on here started banging on about Finn Harps, much to the latter's bemusement.
Strange angle to take, no rivalry or manufacturing going on here.