Setanta Cup final

[De Town]

Lads, Dunno if anyone else has noticed this yet, but the Setanta Cup final is on the same day as the FA Cup final over in England :( This could have a huge effect on the attendance, remember the FAI Cup final last year clashed with Man U v Arsenal, and there was only 10,000 at the Cup Final.

Hopefully Im wrong and that the FA cup final wont take away fom what could be a massive crowd :(

[sligoman]

remember the FAI Cup final last year clashed with Man U v Arsenal, and there was only 10,000 at the Cup Final.

I think that was because Longford were in the final so people were'nt interested in it, so they decided they would go and watch a proper match like Man U game :D :D

[De Town]

I think that was because Longford were in the final so people were'nt interested in it, so they decided they would go and watch a proper match like Man U game :D :D
eh, we brought 6,500 of the 10,000. I think Waterford were the team that drove the fans away ;)

[sligoman]

eh, we brought 6,500 of the 10,000. I think Waterford were the team that drove the fans away ;)

Yeah sure ;)

:D :D

[De Town]

Yeah ;)

:D :D
:confused:

Anyway, dont know what your worrying about anyway, its not as if Sligo are going to have to worry about too many finals in the years to come ;)

[dcfcsteve]

eh, we brought 6,500 of the 10,000. I think Waterford were the team that drove the fans away ;)

Longford brought the majority, but it was still a poor showing from either set of fans - particularly as there would've been up to 1,000 neutrals in attendance as well.

I do think it's bad plannign to go up against the FA Cup Final - particularly for a competition sponsored by a TV channel. I wouldn't be surprised if Setanta looked to reschedule it - but if they're gonna do so they'd need to move quickly !

[oú est j.cotter]

also the cork hurlers are playing in thurles the following day. if city make it to the final it'll be interesting to see if they can attract the average sports fan in cork to landsdowne or whether people will make a choice of just going to see the one game that weekend and head to the hurling.

[tiktok]

Lads, Dunno if anyone else has noticed this yet, but the Setanta Cup final is on the same day as the FA Cup final over in England

Don't all Setanta Cup matches kick-off at 7.15 though?
It might affect how people travel, but not neccessarily whether they'll travel.

A rumour was posted earlier in the CCFC forum that setanta want the Final at the cross if CCFC get through, because the attendances have been so disappointing.

[sligoman]

Anyway, dont know what your worrying about anyway, its not as if Sligo are going to have to worry about too many finals in the years to come ;)

Hey, we'll go further than ye this season. And dont know why your worrying about the attendance anyway cos you wont be there, unless your going to cheer on Glentoran against Cork. :D :D

[Longfordian]

It was set out at the launch of the competition that the final was to be held in Lansdowne if any Southern team was involved, can't see them moving it to Cork and giving them home advantage, you never know though I suppose.

[Éanna]

The hell with the FA cup final. I'm sick of this attitude that we have to move games to suit british football. We should have the confidence to stand on our own two feet and be proud of our league, if people want to watch over-rated thuggery on the box, its their loss, not ours.

[tiktok]

The hell with the FA cup final. I'm sick of this attitude that we have to move games to suit british football. We should have the confidence to stand on our own two feet and be proud of our league, if people want to watch over-rated thuggery on the box, its their loss, not ours.

Very brave Eanna, but unfortunately, if the game clashes with the FA cup final, we'll lose out.

Poor attendance, poor viewing figures for Setanta, only die-hards watching so not attracting any new viewers, it won't even make sports bulletins on radio news during the day if it clashes. lack of interest from the public will mean a lack of interest from setanta down the line.

[De Town]

Very brave Eanna, but unfortunately, if the game clashes with the FA cup final, we'll lose out.

Poor attendance, poor viewing figures for Setanta, only die-hards watching so not attracting any new viewers, it won't even make sports bulletins on radio news during the day if it clashes. lack of interest from the public will mean a lack of interest from setanta down the line.
Totally agree. The chances of maybe attracting a few bar stoolers to the final are now probably dead because they will think, Man U v Arsenal or Longford v Cork ;) , 99 out of 100 barstoolers are gonna pick Man U v Arsenal

[De Town]

Hey, we'll go further than ye this season.
eh, you have to be in the competition first to go further than us ;) :rolleyes:

And dont know why your worrying about the attendance anyway cos you wont be there, unless your going to cheer on Glentoran against Cork. :D
Why would I be cheering Glentoran against Cork :confused:

I will be cheering Longford against Cork :)

[sligoman]

eh, you have to be in the competition first to go further than us

:rolleyes: I'm talking about the F.A.I. cup. Do I have to explain everything to you Longford boys :rolleyes:

:D :D

[De Town]

:rolleyes: I'm talking about the F.A.I. cup. Do I have to explain everything to you Longford boys :rolleyes:

:D :D
eh this thread is about the Setanta Cup and you said:

Hey, we'll go further than ye this season.
so how am I supposed to know your talking about the FAI cup :rolleyes:

[sligoman]

eh this thread is about the Setanta Cup and you said:

so how am I supposed to know your talking about the FAI cup :rolleyes:

Because that's what me and you were talking about at the start of the thread :rolleyes:

[De Town]

Because that's what me and you were talking about at the start of the thread :rolleyes:
yeah, but this thread is about the SETANTA cup, we were discussing the attendance in the FAI cup final last season. You didnt say in your post what cup you were talking about ;)

Suppose youse only have the 2 cups to go after though :)

we, as a trophy winning club are challenging on 5 fronts this season :cool: Its the price we pay for being successful :p

[sligoman]

we, as a trophy winning club are challenging on 5 fronts this season :cool: Its the price we pay for being successful :p

:D And how many of them will ye win? I can tell you now,NONE

[De Town]

:D And how many of them will ye win? I can tell you now,NONE
Yeah, and how many trophies are you ever gonna win..........NONE ;)

[sligoman]

Yeah, and how many trophies are you ever gonna win..........NONE ;)

Wrong, we'll win the first division :p . And ye have a better chance of winning trophies too as, like you said, ye have five chances and we have only three. So, 1/3 is much better than 0/5 :D :D

[De Town]

Wrong, we'll win the first division :p
yeah, keep dreaming. not with 6 points deducted you wont ;)

[sligoman]

yeah, keep dreaming. not with 6 points deducted you wont ;)

Have'nt lost it officially yet and we can still climb back. ;)

[monkey magic]

Have'nt lost it officially yet and we can still climb back. ;)


aaah the ever hopeful sligo fan, sure according to yiz lot ye've been cuming up for the last four or five seasons... if words were worth points sure ye'd be lining up against chelsea in a weeks time.....
in that said period weve secured promotion, consolidstion in the prem div, 3 FAI cup finals(winnng 2) and two league cup finals(winning one) :cool: why we entertain your dimentia-esque ravings ill never know

[Finny]

fair play to longford for the progress they've made but i think every1 will agree we still a bigger club over time&considerin how brillaint ye are yer attendances are awful


yeah we made progress while ye are still where? oh yeah the first division. and we a brilliant were the boys in red&black attendences might not be that great cause fans dont seem intrested unless ur winning every game down here and the way ye win things im suprised ye have and fans at all.

now my rant is over isnt this thread supposed to be about The Towns first trophy of the season "The Setanta Cup" :D :ball: :cool: :p

Sligo winning the 1st division :p

[dcfcsteve]

Keep it down kids..... :)

Anyways - disappointing crowd again at tonight's Setanta game. The Linfield Glentoran St Stephen's Day derby usually attracts 10-12,000. I'd guess 2,500 max at the game tonight.

I do worry that Setanta will be disappointed by the crowds, and that may cause them to reconsider their very generous sponsorship moving forwards. I wonder how they intend to measure the increase in subscriptions they've gained from the competition (you can be sure they'll be looking for some way to qualify the commercial impact of it - beyond just advertising) ?

[pete]

I do worry that Setanta will be disappointed by the crowds, and that may cause them to reconsider their very generous sponsorship moving forwards. I wonder how they intend to measure the increase in subscriptions they've gained from the competition (you can be sure they'll be looking for some way to qualify the commercial impact of it - beyond just advertising) ?

Attendances are going to be hard way to judge success. Longford have small pool of supporters to draw on & shels are waste of time. I get impression IL crowds are average 1500 for "big" teams? Glentoran are playing Linfield in the league on saturday which probably distracted the crowds. I think they were again unlucky with weather on city v shels game as definitely lost minimu of 2000 as we had smallest crowd this season at 3500.

Setanta are paying i think approx 40k for each game = 100 subscriptions. They probably paying half that for the league games they planning to show & don't get to "own" that competition. Be interesting to see how 40k compares with Celtic League rugby games cost.

[Longfordian]

Hmm, steve is right, the fans (particularly the northern teams at home since they have been known to attract huge numbers on the right occasion), haven't really taken this to their bosom, they attract good numbers going away (Glens expect 700 on Monday) but is it the novelty or what?. Our fans are fickle enough at the best of times too. Should be interesting to see if the crowd is boosted by our game not being on television, we can but hope. By the by we still have an excellent chance of yet another final if we play like we can, neither side impressed with their defending tonight.

[-lamb-]

i think its more a case of bad timing, with the glens and linfield basically playing each other for the league this saturday. i'd be surprised if that was anything less than close to a sellout.

[Longfordian]

I suppose but I mean you're playing your local rivals, if that was Rovers-Bohs for example I'd expect the same crowd no matter what the competition, if the competition means anything to their fans that is. It just seems to work differently up in Belfast,on Tuesday you play Glens in a new national competition and get say 3,000. On Saturday you get maybe 8,000 or possibly 10,000. OK maybe the league means more but 5,000 at least more people..doesn't say alot for future Setanta Cups if you can't get a buzz going in the first year. I'm not having a go because our crowd wasn't great either but just wondering about how this competition will work out long term.

[paudie]

Getting back to the timing of the final.

The crowd will probably be affected but I presume Setanta will have the final in the evening rather than clashing with the FA Cup.

Hopefully the attendances will improve for the rest of the group matches as all the teams still have a chance of qualifying.

[trevy]

I presume FAI/IFA and Setanta will have the brains to put the game on in the evening to avoid a direct clash with FA Cup final and will have learned from last years FAI Cup final which was on at same time as Man Utd v Arsenal :rolleyes: .You have to be realistic and try and maximise the crowd going to the game.

[dcfcsteve]

Don't you worry your little head about it. Setanta have the commercial aspect of this well figured out - they're probably getting amazing value for money. They might not be that interested in subscriptions per se, and might even be looking at selling the channel on!!

I don't doubt Setanta looked at it good and proper in advance, but they would've had to rely entirely on projections. Projections of likely increase in subscriptions, projections of likely viewing audiences (which, along with the subs, determines the ad revenue for slots around the games) and projections on crowds and value of media exposure the brand gains as a result of the tournament. There's been very little live Irish footie on telly of-late to act as a yardstick - and none mid-week involving cross-border teams. Therefore, their financial analysis in advance of the comeptition would have been all based on assumptions and projections.

As with all assumptions and projections it is highly likely, therefore, that the reality has turned out to be very different than they hoped/expected. Crowds are low at the games, they've got a decent amount of media coverage for their brand/tournament - but nothing amazing considering their large outlay, and I'm curious as to how they intend to isolate increases in subscriptions that have arisen from the tournament (my guess is that the vast majority of new subs in Feb/Mar/Apr will be construed as having been due to the Setanta Cup).

Setanta are a sharp and well-run business. Beyond the short-term, they won't pour large sums of money into a tournament that isn't delievering results for them. To suggest that they knew all the answers to something completely new in advance of it starting is a bit naive. Companies try things all the time that look good on paper, but fail in practise.

As for "selling the channel on" - are you proposing Setanta have started a cross-border football tournament purely to boost their market value ?? If so, that's absolute insanity. The Setanta Cup is arguably their least valuable rights package - despite it being exclusive ! Regardless - a lot of money has been pumped into Setanta recently, so I'd be surprised if they were just doing it to tart themselves up for a sale.

I just hope 2 well supported teams make it to the Final and we get a big crowd and a great game, so that the tournament's closes with a positive image in their mind.

[Macy]

I presume FAI/IFA and Setanta will have the brains to put the game on in the evening to avoid a direct clash with FA Cup final and will have learned from last years FAI Cup final which was on at same time as Man Utd v Arsenal :rolleyes: .You have to be realistic and try and maximise the crowd going to the game.
Can I just remind everyone, that the FAI Cup final kicked off late at RTE's insistance due to a clash with some makey uppy game at Croke Park. Hopefully Setanta won't be so fookin dumb.

[pete]

Setanta need live sport on tv - i think when they launched officially for 7 Day week they were claiming would be live sport every night. Currently the only live sport they have is Celtic League Rugby (weekends), F1 (weekends) & weekend football (EPL, SPL, Seria A, Bundesliga & French Cup sometimes) & weekeday football (UEFA Cup, Setanta Cup). Setanta have feck all weekday programmes & since no Leinster Schools Rugby left need something for this time of year.

I don't know if Setanta will stick with the cross border competition in the long run but they have access to few enough competitions & was probably easy enough to get the FAI/IFA on board. The Setanta Cup is new & can only improve in following years.

I'd be surprised if final gets more than 2-3k attendance.

[dcfcsteve]

I'd be surprised if final gets more than 2-3k attendance.

I think 2-3k for the Final is too low an expectation Pete. Realistically, I think it'll be 5,000+ - and if 2 well-supported teams get there it could be pushing towards 10,000. But I don't think it'll be anywhere near the type of crowd that warrants Lansdowne Road, and it would look dreadful if played there. I'd expect Setanta to be coming round to the idea of a switch to Tolka/Dalymount.

Hopefully once the Irish League and Cup wrap up in the next couple of weeks the crowds for the 3 Northern teams will get bigger, as fans will soon remember how crap the off-season is. :)

[Longfordian]

There's a good chance it's not going to be in Lansdowne after all seemingly. I always thought it had been decided already but I heard otherwise yesterday. A good chance of it being at a club ground, maybe even a finalist's ground depending on who gets there. A 7.15 kick off too seemingly

[rebel army no1]

I'd be surprised if final gets more than 2-3k attendance.


I dont think that will be the case. If its Cork V Linfield i would expect around 15,000 and that would be minimum

[pete]

I dont think that will be the case. If its Cork V Linfield i would expect around 15,000 and that would be minimum

I thought the final was on midweek but appears its s saturday.

I don't expect anything like FAI Cup Final type crowd though.

[Shelsman]

How about Croke Park? :D

[Slash/ED]

I dont think that will be the case. If its Cork V Linfield i would expect around 15,000 and that would be minimum

And Linfield will bring some fans down too.