Attendances 2023

[JC_GUFC]

Anyone willing to plot end of season averages and seasons high on a line graph showing the rate of improvement over a decade or so. Maybe could be generated from each club from excel?


I had this done - or at least started and for some reason I'm getting an error saying my file isn't a valid image file so I can't upload it.

If anyone here knows anything about computers maybe I'm doing something wrong... I saved as a .png first and then a .jpg when that didn't work. File is only 34kb so doubt it's the size.

[EatYerGreens]

How close to 1 million combined attendance do people think we'll get? I reckon it will be close but might fall just short. If we continue at the same rate we're set for ~918k.

Attendances tend to dip in the summer but at the same time there is going to be another stand put into Tallaght in August which you'd hope would help balance that out.

If there's a Dublin derby in the cup final I reckon it'll be as good as a sell out. Add in the other cup games and it'll be very close.

I hope to be proven wrong, but I don't think we'll get up to 1million attendance this year. That would require an almost exactly 50% increase on the 2022 attendance - and whilst crowds are definitely up across the board, I don't see anywhere where they're up by anythign like that much (or at least , not anywhere where they're of a size that'll make a difference). a lot of clubs are at or close to capacity in their attendances so far - particularly clubs that are doing well on the pitch, such as Bohs and Derry. You can't have 50% growth in crowds at stadia which won't accommodate it. Rovers' new stand will help the aggregate attendances, as will the introduction of Kerry, but not enough to make a big difference (especially if Rovers continue to struggle on the pitch). The big queston re the new stand at Talaght is - will Stephen Bradley still be around to see it officially opened ? :eek:

[nigel-harps1954]

The addition of Kerry brings an extra 36 games to the equation, compared to 2022 figures, with the First Division back to 36 games too. If Kerry can average near 1,000 for the season, that should bring us up to 700k total, with last seasons total figure.

Not beyond the realms of possibility we get to 850k this year, but more likely to balance out to 750k or thereabouts once the league settles in and crowds inevitably dip through the summer.

Even at that, it's double the total amount we were at as little at 5 years ago.

[ger121]

I hope to be proven wrong, but I don't think we'll get up to 1million attendance this year. That would require an almost exactly 50% increase on the 2022 attendance - and whilst crowds are definitely up across the board, I don't see anywhere where they're up by anythign like that much (or at least , not anywhere where they're of a size that'll make a difference). a lot of clubs are at or close to capacity in their attendances so far - particularly clubs that are doing well on the pitch, such as Bohs and Derry. You can't have 50% growth in crowds at stadia which won't accommodate it. Rovers' new stand will help the aggregate attendances, as will the introduction of Kerry, but not enough to make a big difference (especially if Rovers continue to struggle on the pitch). The big queston re the new stand at Talaght is - will Stephen Bradley still be around to see it officially opened ? :eek:

The close to a million forecast was a combination of League, Cups and European competitions for both men and women’s football.

[sbgawa]

I had this done - or at least started and for some reason I'm getting an error saying my file isn't a valid image file so I can't upload it.

If anyone here knows anything about computers maybe I'm doing something wrong... I saved as a .png first and then a .jpg when that didn't work. File is only 34kb so doubt it's the size.

Had the same problem "invalid file" having said that im not great on computers. i have a nice graph for myself though :)

[ToberonaTornado]

Related Question ???

Any rise in site traffic for foot.ie from all the increased interest in LoI?

#NerdQuestion

[ger121]

Related Question ???

Any rise in site traffic for foot.ie from all the increased interest in LoI?

#NerdQuestion

I remember a few posters talking about this last year on some thread. Think the view was that traffic had increased on the site. I’m 20 years on foot.ie and it is still going strong.

[Martinho II]

I remember a few posters talking about this last year on some thread. Think the view was that traffic had increased on the site. I’m 20 years on foot.ie and it is still going strong.

Judging by the amount of new threads in this forum I think there is more interest here than last season!

[EatYerGreens]

I'd guess that the thankful demise of Cork and Dundalk fans bickering constantly about absolutely everything on here led to an increase in traffic on the site :cool:

[nr637]

I'd guess that the thankful demise of Cork and Dundalk fans bickering constantly about absolutely everything on here led to an increase in traffic on the site :cool:

I think the same can be said of a few Dublin clubs!

[legendz]

https://twitter.com/KerryFC/status/1638574966227496960?t=5dgwbNiF65qsYABvOLGdXA&s=19
Kerry v Athlone is sold out!

[Nesta99]

Never words I ever expected to ever see on Foot.ie!

[Abbeyman]

https://twitter.com/KerryFC/status/1638574966227496960?t=5dgwbNiF65qsYABvOLGdXA&s=19
Kerry v Athlone is sold out!

Whats the capicity of Mounthawk?

[nigel-harps1954]

Whats the capicity of Mounthawk?

1,300

[nr637]

Away Fan Allocation In The Airtricity Premier & First Division League (https://www.sportseconomics.org/sports-economics/away-fan-ticket-allocation-in-the-premier-league)s
What are the current allocation by clubs for away support based on their current capacity?

The following list shows the current capacities for all clubs, with some current and recent allocation figures.

* Some of the figures are open to change


Premier Division (Appoximate capacities)

Tallaght Stadium 8,000 (increase to 10,000 in July)- over 1,200 for St. Pats
Turners Cross 7,500 - over 700 for Bohs
Richmond Park 5,000 - over 1,100 for Bohs
Showgrounds 5,000
Oriel Park 4,500
Dalymount Park 4,000 - set at 450 in away stand
Tolka Park 4,000 set at 850 in away terrace
Brandywell Stadium 4,000
Belfield Bowl 3,000
United Park 2,200 - over 600 for Dundalk

First Division (Approximate capacities)

RSC 5,000
EDP 5,000
Finn Park 5,000
Bishopsgate 5,000
Markets Field 4,500 - set at 450 in away stand
St. Colmans Park 4,000 - over 1,500 for Cork City
Carlisle Grounds 3,500
Athlone Town Stadium 2,500
Ferrycarrig Park 2,000 - over 800 for Waterford
Mounthawk Park 1,300 - over 120 for Treaty United

[dundalkfc10]

Away Fan Allocation In The Airtricity Premier & First Division League (https://www.sportseconomics.org/sports-economics/away-fan-ticket-allocation-in-the-premier-league)s
What are the current allocation by clubs for away support based on their current capacity?

The following list shows the current capacities for all clubs, with some current and recent allocation figures.

* Some of the figures are open to change


Premier Division (Appoximate capacities)

Tallaght Stadium 8,000 (increase to 10,000 in July)- over 1,200 for St. Pats
Turners Cross 7,500 - over 700 for Bohs
Richmond Park 5,000 - over 1,100 for Bohs
Showgrounds 5,000
Oriel Park 4,500
Dalymount Park 4,000 - set at 450 in away stand
Tolka Park 4,000 set at 850 in away terrace
Brandywell Stadium 4,000
Belfield Bowl 3,000
United Park 2,200 - over 600 for Dundalk

First Division (Approximate capacities)

RSC 5,000
EDP 5,000
Finn Park 5,000
Bishopsgate 5,000
Markets Field 4,500 - set at 450 in away stand
St. Colmans Park 4,000 - over 1,500 for Cork City
Carlisle Grounds 3,500
Athlone Town Stadium 2,500
Ferrycarrig Park 2,000 - over 800 for Waterford
Mounthawk Park 1,300 - over 120 for Treaty United

Pretty sure Oriel is 600, 500 in away end 100 in stand

That's what Pats had I'm pretty sure

[dundalkfc10]

Big crowd in Oriel for a Leinster Senior Cup Game, I'd say in and around 1000

[culloty82]

1,192 at Mounthawk Park.

[joey B]

1214 at Finn Park

[thebronze14]

1214 at Finn Park

Felt like more than the last two home matches

[JC_GUFC]

1,550 in Galway. A bit disappointing we didn’t hit 2k again given the start to the season but the weather was fairly wild so that would have kept numbers down a bit.

The core number in Galway now looks like it’s about 1,200 and then depending on the promotion and/or significance we’ll get anything up to 4,500.

[JC_GUFC]

Away Fan Allocation In The Airtricity Premier & First Division League (https://www.sportseconomics.org/sports-economics/away-fan-ticket-allocation-in-the-premier-league)s
What are the current allocation by clubs for away support based on their current capacity?

The following list shows the current capacities for all clubs, with some current and recent allocation figures.

* Some of the figures are open to change


Premier Division (Appoximate capacities)

Tallaght Stadium 8,000 (increase to 10,000 in July)- over 1,200 for St. Pats
Turners Cross 7,500 - over 700 for Bohs
Richmond Park 5,000 - over 1,100 for Bohs
Showgrounds 5,000
Oriel Park 4,500
Dalymount Park 4,000 - set at 450 in away stand
Tolka Park 4,000 set at 850 in away terrace
Brandywell Stadium 4,000
Belfield Bowl 3,000
United Park 2,200 - over 600 for Dundalk

First Division (Approximate capacities)

RSC 5,000
EDP 5,000
Finn Park 5,000
Bishopsgate 5,000
Markets Field 4,500 - set at 450 in away stand
St. Colmans Park 4,000 - over 1,500 for Cork City
Carlisle Grounds 3,500
Athlone Town Stadium 2,500
Ferrycarrig Park 2,000 - over 800 for Waterford
Mounthawk Park 1,300 - over 120 for Treaty United

I would say in Galway we could extend to about 700 away fans.
Not sure how many tickets we gave Cork last year, maybe 400 or so?

[Battery Rover]

I would say in Galway we could extend to about 700 away fans.
Not sure how many tickets we gave Cork last year, maybe 400 or so?

2046 seats in Athlone Town Stadium from what I recall from what i remember since boycott started about 8 seasons ago.

[nigel-harps1954]

All of the weekends proceedings:

Galway v Longford - 1,550
Harps v Cobh - 1,214
Kerry v Athlone - 1,192
Bray v Wexford - 833


Not a whole lot changed on the overall perspective, but we've now crossed 150,000 attendance mark overall in six weeks.

If we want a bit of an idea how growth of the league, however, ten years ago, the average attendance in the First Division 2013 season was 391.

Curiously, only four attendances that season were above 1,000, each of them involving title winners Athlone Town, their last three games at home, and one away to Longford Town prior to that. Even they only averaged 754 that season, which currently would put them second last on the 2023 First Division attendance list, ironically only ahead of Athlone Town (692).

Only two Premier Division clubs averaged above 2,000 in 2013 (Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers). Only two clubs this season are currently averaging below 2,000 (Drogheda United [1973] and UCD [520]).

At the same point in each season:

60 games played (2013) - 76,906
59 games played (2023) - 151,091

[EalingGreen]

If we want a bit of an idea how growth of the league, however, ten years ago, the average attendance in the First Division 2013 season was 391.

At the same point in each season:

60 games played (2013) - 76,906
59 games played (2023) - 151,091Very impressive figures, both absolute and by percentage increase: +98% (approx)

I don't have any equivalents from the IL Championship (safe to say will be lower!), but curiously, if you compare the figures for the (12 team) IL Premiership, in season 2012/13 the average attendance was 828, while the current average to date is 1,594: an increase of +93%

[EatYerGreens]

DEMOGRAPHY IS DESTINY

Here's a thought about future attendance growth in the LOI.

The league is getting approx 25,000 people through the gates on an average weekend across the 2 divisions. In a country of 5 million people (i.e. 4.9m + 100k for Derry) that amounts to 0.5% of total population.

Ireland's population is expected to have grown by at least 1 million by 2040, and is currently on track to exceed that level (2021 census figures vs 2016). The State is also working to ensure that additional million aren't all in Dublin, with the National Development Plan seeking instead to have 75% of that growth beyond Greater Dublin - particularly in the 4 regional cities (Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford - all expected to grow by 50/55%+) and the Regional Growth Centres (Sligo, Letterkenny, Athlone - expected to grow by 40%+). Substantial growth is also expected in places like Drogheda and Dundalk.

Therefore - there will be a lot more people in Ireland by 2040, and most of that increase wil be located in regional towns and cities which all have an LOI club (except Letterkenny, though Finn Harps aren't far away).

So if the current 0.5% level of LOI support amongst the general population is continued amongst the 1million additional citizens by 2040, that alone will deliver an additional 5,000 through the gates for LOI games every weekend = a 20% uplift on where we are now. And given that the 1million increase will be concentrated in places which have an LOI club rather than those that don't, you could expect the increase to be even greater.

So even if nothing else happens or is done, population growth alone will deiver an ongoing boost to crowds at LOI games. I suspect that the population growth we've seen over the last decade (i.e. since the post-crash era of net-outward migration ended) has already helped to some extent re the bigger crowds we're seeing in the league now (though is obviously only part of the story).

In reality I expect the league will continue to grow in popularity, and the current 0.5% attendance rate will increase anyway. But the point is that the longer-term prospects for bigger crowds in the LOI are pretty good, simply because the places in which the majority of clubs are based are due to grow quite quickly.

[nigel-harps1954]

Problem with all that is capacity. We'd have higher attendance figures across the league, and possibly up on 200,000 through the gates already were it not for capacity restrictions, given we've had probably the guts of 15-20 games across both divisions sold out this season.

If the league is to properly grow, the FAI along with all the clubs need to take a serious look at facilities and upgrades across the board.

[EatYerGreens]

Problem with all that is capacity. We'd have higher attendance figures across the league, and possibly up on 200,000 through the gates already were it not for capacity restrictions, given we've had probably the guts of 15-20 games across both divisions sold out this season.

If the league is to properly grow, the FAI along with all the clubs need to take a serious look at facilities and upgrades across the board.

Very true. If we're running at an attendance level every weekend of approx 0.5% of population with such restricted capacity, it makes you wonder how much higher it would be otherwise. No reason why we couldn't be around 30,000 or higher per week otherwise.

For perspective, 0.5% of the population of England would be 280,000 people. So the LOI gets proportionately a hell of a lot more punters through its gates than club Rugby (both union and league combined) does in England.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Away Fan Allocation In The Airtricity Premier & First Division League (https://www.sportseconomics.org/sports-economics/away-fan-ticket-allocation-in-the-premier-league)s


What are the current allocation by clubs for away support based on their current capacity?

The following list shows the current capacities for all clubs, with some current and recent allocation figures.

* Some of the figures are open to change


Premier Division (Appoximate capacities)

Tallaght Stadium 8,000 (increase to 10,000 in July)- over 1,200 for St. Pats
Turners Cross 7,500 - over 700 for Bohs
Richmond Park 5,000 - over 1,100 for Bohs
Showgrounds 5,000
Oriel Park 4,500
Dalymount Park 4,000 - set at 450 in away stand
Tolka Park 4,000 set at 850 in away terrace
Brandywell Stadium 4,000
Belfield Bowl 3,000
United Park 2,200 - over 600 for Dundalk

First Division (Approximate capacities)

RSC 5,000
EDP 5,000
Finn Park 5,000
Bishopsgate 5,000
Markets Field 4,500 - set at 450 in away stand
St. Colmans Park 4,000 - over 1,500 for Cork City
Carlisle Grounds 3,500
Athlone Town Stadium 2,500
Ferrycarrig Park 2,000 - over 800 for Waterford
Mounthawk Park 1,300 - over 120 for Treaty United

We give 500. Think our capacity is about 4300 these days.

[JC_GUFC]

Just a thought on the increasing attendances...

Does anyone know where they've come from and what age group etc they're from?

My guess is that there are more young people than before - I'd have always gone since my teens and early 20s but these days it seems like the vocal "ultras" groups have more members.

The other area, in Galway anyway, seems to be the creation of academies which has given far more people a connection with the club be it as a player, relative or friend of an academy member.

[trevy]

I'd agree that a lot more younger lads are going to games in groups and getting into the fan culture that you see more of in Europe with flares etc. People missed out on this during the Covid shutdown. There's probably some loss of interest with watching the Premier League on tv as well as people are fed up with the crazy money and ownership controversies with very few clubs actually English owned any more. There's been a boost in non league attendances in the Uk and the league in Northern Ireland as well.

[SaintMel]

Absolutely, the state of our stadiums is an embarrassment. Dalymount looks set to be sorted out soon enough but there's not much else on the cards for the time being

[EatYerGreens]

Absolutely, the state of our stadiums is an embarrassment. Dalymount looks set to be sorted out soon enough but there's not much else on the cards for the time being

- Sligo Showgrounds new stand.
- Finn Harps new Stadium.
- Brandywell stand completion.

[SaintMel]

Yeah its great to see them getting built (if they actually do). But theyre all pretty modest if you ask me, compared to some of the other stadiums the gaa are getting

[WeAreRovers]

- Sligo Showgrounds new stand.
- Finn Harps new Stadium.
- Brandywell stand completion.

4th stand in Tallaght will be completed by July.

[El-Pietro]

4069 at the Cross. Would estimate 70ish Drogs.

[SPXcyan]

2,537 at the RSC.

[wonder88]

1,138 official figure announced for Athlone v Galway. Good game, the Athlone goal was some move the length of the pitch, should win goal of the month. Good number there from Galway.

[SaintMel]

1,138 official figure announced for Athlone v Galway. Good game, the Athlone goal was some move the length of the pitch, should win goal of the month. Good number there from Galway.
Surprised it was only 1,100, it seemed like more

[joey B]

3,411 at Richmond Park

[ToberonaTornado]

3761 in op last night of which prob 700 was shams fans.

[pateen]

- Sligo Showgrounds new stand.
- Finn Harps new Stadium.
- Brandywell stand completion.

Has this been announced? Couldnt find anything online about it

[2 Year Contract]

3,411 at Richmond Park

Brilliant crowd in the circumstances, 2 goals from open play before yesterday, no win in 4, 9th in the table, UCD the opposition, only a handful of away fans and most relevant of all, bucketing down rain all night with the majority standing out uncovered

[SaintMel]

Has this been announced? Couldnt find anything online about it

There's been talk about more redevelopment at the brandywell but I don't think anything's confirmed. I read an article a few years back suggesting that Derry gaa should sell Celtic Park and move their stadium into the country somewhere because of low attendances. It'd be great to see Celtic Park opened up to football again, if that happened

[Martinho II]

There's been talk about more redevelopment at the brandywell but I don't think anything's confirmed. I read an article a few years back suggesting that Derry gaa should sell Celtic Park and move their stadium into the country somewhere because of low attendances. It'd be great to see Celtic Park opened up to football again, if that happened

Thats interesting about Celtic Park who has played there in the past?

[SaintMel]

It used to be a football ground many years ago. I don't think Derry City ever played there but Derry Celtic did, where I assume the name came from

[cobhlad]

955 the attendance for Cobh v Bray per FAI Connect. Our lowest of the three home games so far but there’s been plenty of years where that would have topped the season charts. The decline a small pity but City were at home at the same time and should be back over 1k for Waterford next week. Really is a great buzz around St Colman’s at the moment, hopefully it continues

[Shinkicker]

955 the attendance for Cobh v Bray per FAI Connect. Our lowest of the three home games so far but there’s been plenty of years where that would have topped the season charts. The decline a small pity but City were at home at the same time and should be back over 1k for Waterford next week. Really is a great buzz around St Colman’s at the moment, hopefully it continues
Not sure how many Bohs supporters turned up tonight, but they made lots of noise, Pat on the back to all of you

[outspoken]

Very small crowd in Longford tonight, don't have a figure but looked dreadfully bad

[Candystripe]

Has this been announced? Couldnt find anything online about it

The funding is there to complete it but it's getting held up because of the Casement park redevelopment money.

Philip O' Doherty has agreed with the council that he'll pay for a new terraced stand behind the Brandywell road end of the ground ( to be ready for the start of next season).