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View Full Version : Who attends games in Kildare?



pete
08/08/2002, 12:10 PM
Just curious what types of people ye getting at your home games..... Are there many from Newbridge Town & would you say the rest of the crowd new to eL football or people who have recently moved to Kildare from other eL areas?

KCFC
08/08/2002, 1:25 PM
From my observations the vast majority of the support so far is coming from Newbridge locals.

Even at away games its mostly guys from the town. I suppose this is obvious considering the club is located there.

I'd say the rest are from close by such as Naas or Kildare town.
I can't see many travelling to Newbridge from the north of the county to watch EL soccer.

Roddy Collins was at the first game as were a few other 'heads' but this was probably just for the PR and novelty factor.

I'd say any EL fans relocated to kildare may go allright but its hard to know.

They've played around the county to try and generate support in pre-season but only time will tell how the crowds will pan out.

There's a lot of begrudgery and knocking down here but I suppose thats an irish thing.

pete
08/08/2002, 1:47 PM
But ye must have a fair few people who are new to watching live football? i.e. didn't go to Newbridge Town games before

The Chief
08/08/2002, 1:57 PM
At the first home match I was standing beside a Dublin man with his young fella and he knew an awful lot about Irish league soccer, he knew a hell of a lot more about the Kildare County players than I did, then again most of the team are Dubs anyway, but the good thing was he was cheering on Kildare County, I'd say he moved down here from the city and is taking up supporting his local EL team.

Generally most of the support is Newbridge based, which is a pity because they are a team for the county not Newbridge and there are a hell of a lot of people interested in soccer in the county. We have to in the future clearly define in peoples minds that this team are not an extension of Newbridge Town but are only sharing Newbridge Towns facilities. The potential of the club is huge but the right moves have to be made, and if we can get into the final of the 1st Division cup we can try and drag in support from other areas of the county.
I don't think we are going to get the support from the North of the county (pity), but there is enough potential between Newbridge, Naas, Kildare Town, Athy, Castledermot and Kilcullen to guarantee in the future 1,200 to 1,500 supporters per home match, we just have to tap into that potential - through success.

KCFC
08/08/2002, 1:57 PM
Definately. 99% of the crowds now probably wouldn't have went to junior match's. I know Newbridge Town would only have had a few dozen at their games so its definately gotten people out.

I hope they can sustain the crowds. I suppose thats a problem all EL Clubs face. No doubt though that there is a large fan base there in the county judging by the home attendences so far.

The Chief
08/08/2002, 2:09 PM
Well, most of the support there are big soccer fans already and they either play soccer or go to watch local teams on a regular basis, very very few of the people there would have went to watch Newbridge Town play in the past, I mean Newbridge Town would have been lucky to have an average gate of 100 people per match. There would be alot of begrudgers within Newbridge itself, alot of guys involved in soccer who were jealous of how Newbridge Town F.C. became successful and grew. I should know I used to play underage for Newbridge Town against other teams from within the town and locality and we were hated because of the success of the club, Irish people are strange! I suppose it is like other towns with internal politics and arguments going on all the time.

Newbridge has always had, and has at the moment has about 4 or 5 clubs and for a town its size that is alot of guys playing soccer and involved in soccer every week!

Anyway this level of football is completely new to the vast majority of fans in Newbridge, but in soccer matches you get some great games and you get some **** ones - it sometimes dosen't matter what level it is!

Exciting times ahead!!

The Chief
08/08/2002, 2:23 PM
PETE which club do you support and what kind of attendances are you getting?