2022 FAI Cup

[nigel-harps1954]

You can never rely on Ticketmaster. They should just open up all sections for purchase and be done with it. Little blocks of tickets here and there do nothing for the event.

[thebronze14]

Celebrating a defeat. Just happy to be there. Not for me I'm afraid

We did the same after getting tanked in 2014. Both clubs had little to celebrate after a tumultuous few years and still having a club was an achievement. It also for us and I'm sure treaty too, felt like a turning point in the clubs fortunes

[ger121]

15,000 tickets sold already according to the League fb page. That is a decent start just over 3 weeks out from the Final.

[EatYerGreens]

It's impossible to tell going by Ticketmaster how sales are exactly going for both clubs. Two Shels blocks 106 and 112 have sold out but most of our blocks have a larger capacity than the ones Derry have sold out so far, throw in fans buying in premium or neutral sections you can't reliably quantify numbers of fans for both teams

That's why I prefer teams with different club colours being at finals. It adds to the visual spectacle and makes it clear who's supporting who.

I did Premium last year and am holding out for them to release some more tickets/blocks there. They seem to be trickling stuff out, which isn't great. As was said above - put all the tickets up for sale together and give fans the choice of where they sit from the start.

[Martinho II]

Heard that both sides have sold out their allocations. I should be there for cup final again as my bohs friend has season ticket with FAI

[ger121]

Heard that both sides have sold out their allocations. I should be there for cup final again as my bohs friend has season ticket with FAI

I?ve heard on more than one occasion in the last week, that season tickets no longer include the FAI Cup Final.

[holidaysong]

I have a season ticket and they no longer cover it. Definitely a backwards move.

[D24Saint]

Are all the premium sections gone or just not for sale yet , only corners of the west stand available ?

[nigel-harps1954]

Are all the premium sections gone or just not for sale yet , only corners of the west stand available ?

The logical thing to do would be to fill up the parts facing the cameras first, but they seem to be dripping them out in corners and really stupid sections.

Haven't seen any midway point premium or neutral tickets of any sort yet.

[EatYerGreens]

Heard that both sides have sold out their allocations. I should be there for cup final again as my bohs friend has season ticket with FAI

Shels have got nowhere near selling out their allocation.

You can see the split here - Shels on the left of the stadium, Derry on the right : Tickets Extra.ie FAI Men's Cup Final - Derry City FC v Shelbourne FC, Dublin | Sun, 13 Nov 2022, 15:00 | Ticketmaster IE (https://www.ticketmaster.ie/extra-ie-fai-men-s-cup-final-derry-city-fc-v-shelbourne-fc-dublin-13-11-2022/event/18005CCEE6499EAA)

[EatYerGreens]

The logical thing to do would be to fill up the parts facing the cameras first, but they seem to be dripping them out in corners and really stupid sections.

Haven't seen any midway point premium or neutral tickets of any sort yet.

Yeah - I'm holding out for midway premium to come up, as had great experience there last year. But it feels like a bit of a risky strategy if they don't, and I then end up stuck in the gods in a corner.

[joey B]

What size crowd are we expecting? 30k maybe?

[EatYerGreens]

What size crowd are we expecting? 30k maybe?

I think someone on here said 15,000 had bene sold already.

I can't see the teams involved drawing 30,000. Probably 20-25,000 I reckon. So long as it's over 20,000 then I think we can be happy with it as a league. Anything less would be disappointing.

The weather on the day might make the difference for quite a few hundred neutrals and lax Shels (especially) and Derry supporters (though it's a long way to travel just on a last miniute whim for them).

[total hoofball]

Shels have got nowhere near selling out their allocation.

You can see the split here - Shels on the left of the stadium, Derry on the right : Tickets Extra.ie FAI Men's Cup Final - Derry City FC v Shelbourne FC, Dublin | Sun, 13 Nov 2022, 15:00 | Ticketmaster IE (https://www.ticketmaster.ie/extra-ie-fai-men-s-cup-final-derry-city-fc-v-shelbourne-fc-dublin-13-11-2022/event/18005CCEE6499EAA)
Yep a visually very even left/right split in capacity in the lower tiers at the toilet bowl Aviva

[Buller]

Derry got the bad end. View from that North aviva stand is worse than any LOI ground, you're nearly below the pitch. No perspective. Was in it for Rovers cup final 2010, forgettable for many reasons but that was one of them!

[EatYerGreens]

Yep a visually very even left/right split in capacity in the lower tiers at the toilet bowl Aviva

I don't think that explains the difference in what's going on in that stadium map.

Every Derry block in the bottom tier is sold out, and Ticketmaster have now released 3 Top tier blocks for Derry fans as well as 3 premium sections too.

11 bottom tier blocks specifically for Shels' fans have yet to sell out with only 4 blocks sold so far. Plus no upper tier or premium sections have been released for Shels fans yet.

Regardless of why, that does not paint a picture of even sales between 2 sets of supporters. The fact Shels fans are being so tetchy/defensive about it all suggests they know it too.

[Kiki Balboa]

It is intresting in the difference in approach both clubs have to squad management in the build up. Derry seem to be resting players against Sligo, while Shels seem to have been building up momentum. If I was Derry, I wouldn't want to be going into a final without winning in 4 games. And if Shels can beat St. Pats, Shels fans would definitley see the game 50/50 and it would be hard to say Derry are as big of favourites as the league table would suggest.

Looking forward to both teamsheets at the weekend to see if this is really the case.

[total hoofball]

I don't think that explains the difference in what's going on in that stadium map.

Every Derry block in the bottom tier is sold out, and Ticketmaster have now released 3 Top tier blocks for Derry fans as well as 3 premium sections too.

11 bottom tier blocks specifically for Shels' fans have yet to sell out with only 4 blocks sold so far. Plus no upper tier or premium sections have been released for Shels fans yet.

Regardless of why, that does not paint a picture of even sales between 2 sets of supporters. The fact Shels fans are being so tetchy/defensive about it all suggests they know it too.

Ah yeah throw out the tetchy/defensive line when you've been making a flawed assessment of ticket sales based on a limited blue/grey visual graphic of a bunch of blocks that have completely uneven capacity and where there are supporters are purchasing tickets in other premium blocks. Some of those Shels blue blocks may nearly be sold out, Shels have now sold out a further 4 of their 15 blocks since your post. Also incase you were wondering there isn't one Shels fan who has been expecting us to sell more tickets than Derry

[Kingswood Rover]

Shows how much i know i would have thought that Shels would have at least if not more supporters in the ground on the day seeing as they are a Dublin Club and their Supporters do travel in Numbers around the country.

[EatYerGreens]

FAI have announced that 20,000 tickets have bene sold so far.

Should be 25,000 or more at the game on the day :ball:

[EatYerGreens]

Ah yeah throw out the tetchy/defensive line when you've been making a flawed assessment of ticket sales based on a limited blue/grey visual graphic of a bunch of blocks that have completely uneven capacity and where there are supporters are purchasing tickets in other premium blocks. Some of those Shels blue blocks may nearly be sold out, Shels have now sold out a further 4 of their 15 blocks since your post. Also incase you were wondering there isn't one Shels fan who has been expecting us to sell more tickets than Derry

Where to start with this? :o

[outspoken]

FAI have announced that 20,000 tickets have bene sold so far.

Should be 25,000 or more at the game on the day :ball:

Nothing to be proud of. A half empty stadium. FAI's three year plan mentioned selling out the Aviva for cup final every year if I recall correctly. If that's the case they've got some work to do to make it happen.

In fairness to them, it was great tickets were available so early this year, I bought mine months ago. However, the overall marketing is still miles from where it needs to be. The big attendance last season was down to the club's doing Trojan marketing and PR work.

[Jd2793]

would have been a stretch to get 30k at this tbh.

[EatYerGreens]

Nothing to be proud of. A half empty stadium. FAI's three year plan mentioned selling out the Aviva for cup final every year if I recall correctly. If that's the case they've got some work to do to make it happen.

In fairness to them, it was great tickets were available so early this year, I bought mine months ago. However, the overall marketing is still miles from where it needs to be. The big attendance last season was down to the club's doing Trojan marketing and PR work.

Of the 2 clubs in the final - one is located the furthest from Dublin in the league, and the other probably has the smallest total/latent support of Dublin's 4 main clubs.

You can't hold the FAI responsible for who gets to the final.

They should have kept tickets at €10 (or at least only increased them to €15), but that wouldn't have resulted in a sell out either (and would probably have reduced total revenues from the event too).

[outspoken]

I think ye might be missing my point. FAI want sell outs over the next few years, every year, regardless who's in it. Bar selling tickets a bit earlier, what changes have they made to actively push things along?

[Jd2793]

im not sure what else they can do really. apart from a few billboards and some ads on tv/radio what else can be done? the family deal is very good. 40EURO for 2 adults + 2 kids is excellent value. ultimately a november game in a freezing cold aviva is going to be a hard sell to any neutrals IMO regardless of participants

[EatYerGreens]

I think ye might be missing my point. FAI want sell outs over the next few years, every year, regardless who's in it. Bar selling tickets a bit earlier, what changes have they made to actively push things along?

What changes are you suggesting would get 51,000 to an FAI Cup Final ? There probably hasn't been a crowd that big since the 1930s/40s (?). And it would be adding another 50% to last year's bumper crowd.

The FAI aren't magicians. Though that also underlines the vacuousness of them having 'targets' like this, which are just talk and pointless space-fillers in a 'strategy' document.

[Philosophizer]

the vacuousness of them having 'targets' like this, which are just talk and pointless space-fillers.
Exactly. Anyone taking an FAI statement literally, or even half seriously, is going to be left disappointed.
How would they fill the Aviva if the final was Cobh v Wexford? They’d be lucky to get 5K never mind 50K.
Realistically, the only way they’d fill the aviva for a cup final would be if it was Bohs v Rovers - 2 Dublin teams and the biggest derby on the island.
But even then it would probably need BOTH of them having v good seasons and challenging at the top of the table.

[brendy_éire]

I think ye might be missing my point. FAI want sell outs over the next few years, every year, regardless who's in it. Bar selling tickets a bit earlier, what changes have they made to actively push things along?

Not even that, they've actively made it more difficult to achieve their, already widely optimistic, target. Removing the final from FAI ST holders for a start, that'll knock a few thousand off. I don't understand the reasons behind that decision. Then doubling the price of a ticket. €20 is still a good price if you're a fan of a club in the final, but at €10, you'd get a lot more Dublin-based people who will just head along last minute for a day out, I would guess. €20 makes that a much harder sell.

What else could they do to improve attendance? Not too sure. Maybe work with CIÉ make transport handy? I know Translink have organised a train and some buses from Derry, but demand well outstripped supply. The GAA seem to get special trains put on fairly regularly, so it can certainly be done.
Other than that, maybe look at offering youth teams cheap/free tickets. Maybe they already do that, and it would likely only work for Dublin-based clubs.

At guess, you may have 15k Derry fans at it tops, and that's probably the limit of what we would ever take to a final. I think an overall total of 30k would represent a very good attendance, but can't see it reaching that at all.

[Kiki Balboa]

Of the 2 clubs in the final - one is located the furthest from Dublin in the league, and the other probably has the smallest total/latent support of Dublin's 4 main clubs. .

You can't be making these excuses like that. Both Derry and Shels are as well established in the League as anybody. No reason it should not be the same level as last year really.


I would say though that if you wanted a consistently high crowd for the final, you would have to rely heavily on neutral fans and make it a 'festival' type event. But even the basics aren't covered. There needs to be way more advertising of the game so that every soccer fan in the country has it drilled into their heads that this game is happening. FAI can not leave that to the clubs themselves. If both teams bring 15k (huge compared to average home gates), there would still be 25k seats that could be filled, and this is up to the FAI to fill them with neutrals.


Also, how come Shels seem to have a lower ceiling in growth compared to the other Dublin clubs? Would they be better off trying to move to back to their original home in South East Dublin, or moving with Dubliners to the suburbs in Finglas (ala Rovers and Tallaght)?

[ger121]

Also, how come Shels seem to have a lower ceiling in growth compared to the other Dublin clubs? Would they be better off trying to move to back to their original home in South East Dublin, or moving with Dubliners to the suburbs in Finglas (ala Rovers and Tallaght)?

We don’t call them “Little Old Shels” for nothing.

[TonyD]

We don’t call them “Little Old Shels” for nothing.

I have other names for them :p:p

[placid casual]

2 clubs who haven't been in the cup final in a number of years, and can possibly draw on a largeish dormant fanbase should be able to get 25-30k attendence I would have thought.

[ger121]

2 clubs who haven't been in the cup final in a number of years, and can possibly draw on a largeish dormant fanbase should be able to get 25-30k attendence I would have thought.

I think we’ll be looking at an attendance in that range based on ticket sales to-date and a week and a half left to the game.

[brendy_éire]

You can't be making these excuses like that. Both Derry and Shels are as well established in the League as anybody. No reason it should not be the same level as last year really.

Ah, you can't say that now. Two Dublin teams will almost always pull a bigger crowd than a final with a non-Dublin team. You can't just discount the six hour (minimum) travel required to attend the match from Derry, plus associated cost.

[ToberonaTornado]

I'm heading to the final and my wife is coming along to. We'll be sitting in the East stand Premium section(tix are a steal @ €35) with Derry colours on and shouting for the Candystripes!
Derry fans of old were always good friends to Dundalk back in the day when they were trying to establish themselves in the LOI and i've made some great friendships up in that part of the country over the years. Regardless of the attendance it will be a great day out.

[FTA-1895]

It's only a few years ago we were getting 600/700 in the first division and some fans boycotting. The club was in the first division for the guts of ten years and the one season we got up crowds weren't allowed at most of the games.

[nigel-harps1954]

FAI saying 25,000 tickets are sold now. 30k should be achievable now.

[Candystripe]

FAI saying 25,000 tickets are sold now. 30k should be achievable now.

That was a few days ago.

A big problem is trying to get transport to Dublin. The scramble on social media for people trying to get seats on buses is unreal.

30k would be amazing though.

[outspoken]

That was a few days ago.

A big problem is trying to get transport to Dublin. The scramble on social media for people trying to get seats on buses is unreal.

30k would be amazing though.
It would still be well down on the last couple of finals but when you think just 17k were at derrys last cup final it does show we are going in the right direction, I'd credit the club's with that as opposed to the FAI

[pateen]

Looking forward to this Sunday. Will they break the 30 k mark?

[Martinho II]

Looking forward to this Sunday. Will they break the 30 k mark?

Surely to god it will be achieved pateen. First final for Shels in 11 years. First final for Derry City in 8 years. There would have to be a huge interest in it.

[ger121]

Announced over 25,000 ticket sold a few days ago. Forecast for Sunday is Partially Cloudy and 16c. That will help with neutrals on the day. Should get over 30,000 really.

[pateen]

It's great going from the 10 to 15k we were only getting back in the late noughties

[EatYerGreens]

It's great going from the 10 to 15k we were only getting back in the late noughties

It turns out that Jonathan Gaby was right after all. The LOI IS cool.

[2 Year Contract]

It turns out that Jonathan Gaby was right after all. The LOI IS cool.

Forgot all about him! Your post made me think about what his reaction to the rise in crowds would be today. I’d imagine it’d go something like this :D https://youtu.be/VnTpl93q3Bc

[ger121]

Over 30,000 tickets sold now. Quite impressed.

[ontheotherhand]

That's great going. 50 50 split so far? I heard 15k for Derry so I assume it's close to that.

[brendy_éire]

More of a weighting to Derry than 50/50. Heard a figure of 20k Derry tickets on the radio, but that may be overtsating it.
In fairness, I've never seen this sort of excitment around final before. The city is buzzing, flags out everywhere, schools doing jersey days and all.

Certainly seems like there'll be a greater Derry support than the total attendance in our last final (17k in 2014).

[Martinho II]

More of a weighting to Derry than 50/50. Heard a figure of 20k Derry tickets on the radio, but that may be overtsating it.
In fairness, I've never seen this sort of excitment around final before. The city is buzzing, flags out everywhere, schools doing jersey days and all.

Certainly seems like there'll be a greater Derry support than the total attendance in our last final (17k in 2014).

Yeah was watchin BBC NI news earlier and they mentioned Derry City in their sports news. Seems huge buzz in the Maiden City!