Attendances are they up or Down?

[Rovers fan]

Is that allowed? how does it fit in to the 65% wage cap rule?


Well it's just like getting funding and using it to pay wages,it would still be part of the 65%.

[Mr A]

As far as attendance figures go I think we can all agree that when they are up they are up, when they are down they are down and when they are only halfway up they are neither up nor down.

[bennocelt]

Going by the Sam Maguire thread, you seem to be a big fan of GAA. :confused:


Well football is number one
Everyother sport pales in significance, but i still watch them all
Jesus i even spent 4 hours watching the golf yesterday:(

[bennocelt]

i don't know how anyone can call GAA a muck game. Soccer is so slow compared to it. A Gaa game can change in seconds.

Really!:eek:
I find it the other way around, hand passing around and around the field, hopping it off the ground, hitting wides in front of the post, and all the running with no particular plan, and absolutely NO SKILL
No way would the GA EVER come before Football

Hurling I could get your idea, but def not Ga

[GuisaSaigon]

Well it's just like getting funding and using it to pay wages,it would still be part of the 65%.

Sorry for dragging this off topic but I'm confused.The club raise money from local businessmen and spend it on player wages. I don't see how Sligo are not paying his wages. Sure, the money originally comes from these donors but is the money not given to Sligo Rovers? these business men are hardly paying Boco's wages directly into his bank account are they?

[jinxy lilywhite]

Really!:eek:
I find it the other way around, hand passing around and around the field, hopping it off the ground, hitting wides in front of the post, and all the running with no particular plan, and absolutely NO SKILL


Thats sounds like a very bad day in Oriel

[mypost]

i don't know how anyone can call GAA a muck game. Soccer is so slow compared to it. A Gaa game can change in seconds.

As can basketball. Who likes that?? :confused:

Every summer we have the attendances whinge. Attendances are a year-round problem, be it a pre-season friendly in Monaghan in February, the cup final in December, or Rovers-Pats in July. For as long as I've been watching the LOI, attendances have been permanently poor. Winter or summer football is not to blame. It's the Irish sporting culture.

Attendances can be improved, by the elimination of Friday night games, later kos, and a reduction in prices. But still, low crowds is something we just have to accept in this country. Only the top leagues sell out.

[BohDiddley]

my point was how can anyone rationally choose a muck game like Ga over football?
They don't. It springs from decades of propaganda and conditioning, followed by more decades of sheer habit, all fertilised by tons of interminable hype served up by our media, which often won't even call football football.

Forget about the history and the rivalry. GAA football is ugly, pure and simple. It is the antithesis of how good foothball is played, and in objective terms is pointless, because scoring is facile.

No one in their right mind making an informed decision would choose to follow GAA. The problem for football is that choosing a sport is rarely a rational decision.

[Spoons]

Well said BOHDIDDLEY!! :D

[jinxy lilywhite]

They don't. It springs from decades of propaganda and conditioning, followed by more decades of sheer habit, all fertilised by tons of interminable hype served up by our media, which often won't even call football football.

Forget about the history and the rivalry. GAA football is ugly, pure and simple. It is the antithesis of how good foothball is played, and in objective terms is pointless, because scoring is facile.

No one in their right mind making an informed decision would choose to follow GAA. The problem for football is that choosing a sport is rarely a rational decision.

Thats complete rubbish. By your reckoning all GAA is crap and it is only popular because of decades of being brain washed by the auhtories. Cop on. The GAA is so popular because it is so well organised. There is a GAA club in every parish in the country. This is main difference between the two. Soccer in this country is supposed to be professional run but is run by a shower of amateurs who only ever seem to be involved because of their own interest not for the love of the game, while Gaelic is amateur but is probably the most professional sporting organisation in the world.
If the FAI could try to do half what the GAA has done football in this country would be 10 times better

[pineapple stu]

As far as attendance figures go I think we can all agree that when they are up they are up, when they are down they are down and when they are only halfway up they are neither up nor down.
That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous. No-one in the league ever had ten thousand male fans.

Though watch our for Bohs making an offer for Dwight Yorke soon...

[pineapple stu]

On an aside, the GAA bashing and defending has been done to death elsewhere; can we leave it out here and stay on topic? People like different sports; that should be enough.

[passerrby]

just got out of the car after driving for a while and listened to northern sound roundup for events for the weekend they spoke of everything from monaghan county senior , minors ,ladies sports, club games, snooker, bar b ques, special masses ,birthday parties,
fund rasing events everything except eircom league games , i wonder does this have anything to do with attendances

[dublinred]

just got out of the car after driving for a while and listened to northern sound roundup for events for the weekend they spoke of everything from monaghan county senior , minors ,ladies sports, club games, snooker, bar b ques, special masses ,birthday parties,
fund rasing events everything except eircom league games , i wonder does this have anything to do with attendances

Would have something , if it was december there would be less bbqs to talk about and the football might sneak a mention, GAA minded presenters attitude to football is similar to Sky Sports News coverage of events they don't hold the rights to , neither gets a mention.

[Rovers Maniac]

just got out of the car after driving for a while and listened to northern sound roundup for events for the weekend they spoke of everything from monaghan county senior , minors ,ladies sports, club games, snooker, bar b ques, special masses ,birthday parties,
fund rasing events everything except eircom league games , i wonder does this have anything to do with attendances

Other way around

[passerrby]

Though watch our for Bohs making an offer for Dwight Yorke soon...

as long as there is no more banking errors again

[SMorgan]

I dont know how many times I travelled across to Dundalk only to have games abandoned or called off before kick off in the old winter league.

Humour me, tell me of one time it happened. I recall a league match against St. Pats being called off the year they did/didn't win the league. It was then in the Press that it was the first first-team game in Oriel Park to be called off in 15 years.

[mypost]

Going back 10 or 15 years, I remember of a Dundalk-Limerick game abandoned after 70 minutes due to fog. The fog cleared within 10 minutes, but the players were in the shower by then. :o

[dcfcsteve]

Yeah why not make things up to prove your point:rolleyes:.How would you know what he's on anyway? He's not on 2k a week nor has that figure even been mentioned before.At the start of the season it was rumoured that he's on 1.5k a week but it is actually less than that and the club don't even pay his wages.

I didn't make it up.

It was alleged in a newspaper article : http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/eircom-league/sligo-face-up-to-extinction-1433750.html

Hence why I said 'apparently'

:rolleyes: yourself....

[Rovers fan]

I didn't make it up.

It was alleged in a newspaper article : http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/eircom-league/sligo-face-up-to-extinction-1433750.html

Hence why I said 'apparently'

:rolleyes: yourself....


Touche:o Its still bullsh*t though,he's not on that amount.

[John83]

Touche:o Its still bullsh*t though,he's not on that amount.
As much as I'm loath to trust a journalist, he is a hair higher on the credibility scale than some guy on the internet. Any particular reason for thinking that the article is incorrect?

[Rovers Maniac]

As much as I'm loath to trust a journalist, he is a hair higher on the credibility scale than some guy on the internet. Any particular reason for thinking that the article is incorrect?

I can say for certain that he is not on that money as well. I don't want to post on the net the exact amount but if you deducted the said amount by 400 everytime he plays you would not be far away and by 800 if he does not.;)

[bennocelt]

Thats sounds like a very bad day in Oriel


last year out of all the championship games in the GAA calender, i dont know about 30 games or more, there was only about ONE great game (Dublin - Kerry)

Did you see this years Euro Champs? Excellent stuff. Please dont tell me you could watch a GAA game after watching Spain, Russia, Holland and the like play?

[John83]

I can say for certain that he is not on that money as well. I don't want to post on the net the exact amount but if you deducted the said amount by 400 everytime he plays you would not be far away and by 800 if he does not.;)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Internet_dog.jpg

Two random guys from the internet is not really any more credible than one. It would help a little if you would suggest a source. If, for instance, the Sligo chairman told you himself, then it's simply a matter of believing that (a) the Sligo chairman would have told someone what a player was earning, and (b) you're telling the truth. On the other hand, if your sister's best mate is dating a player, all sorts of sources of error come into play.

[Rovers Maniac]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Internet_dog.jpg

Two random guys from the internet is not really any more credible than one. It would help a little if you would suggest a source. If, for instance, the Sligo chairman told you himself, then it's simply a matter of believing that (a) the Sligo chairman would have told someone what a player was earning, and (b) you're telling the truth. On the other hand, if your sister's best mate is dating a player, all sorts of sources of error come into play.

A source yes myself go figure ;)

[bennocelt]

On an aside, the GAA bashing and defending has been done to death elsewhere; can we leave it out here and stay on topic? People like different sports; that should be enough.

Sorry saw this well after, my mistake, sorry:)

[Shiba]

im sick of hearing keely blab on and on about how we should all go back to part time football. fck off keely if u want to stay in the dark ages. and as for whether crowds are up on winter football or not who cares. summer football is a must, who want to play on a **** pitch in the sleet in mid december. madness.

Who give as Sh**! Jesus look at the state ofr our club at the moment.Of which most fans are of the opinion Summer Soccer if partly to blame. I for one give a **** and Keeley and them have been around the game long enough to give their opinion!A good pitch wont sustain a team in the league.Crowds do! Crowds are definitly down in the Showgrounds! Summer Soccer not working in my opinion but I know Pats and Drogs fans would disagree.

[Rovers fan]

As much as I'm loath to trust a journalist, he is a hair higher on the credibility scale than some guy on the internet. Any particular reason for thinking that the article is incorrect?

Tbh i couldn't give a sh*te if "some guy on the internet" doesn't believe me.I know for a fact that he isn't on 2k a week,i don't feel obligated to prove myself to a UCD fan.

[John83]

Tbh i couldn't give a sh*te if "some guy on the internet" doesn't believe me.I know for a fact that he isn't on 2k a week,i don't feel obligated to prove myself to a UCD fan.
You don't care whether or not I believe you, but you care enough to post your 'fact' and that you don't care whether or not I believe you? Someone told you this down the pub, didn't they?

[brianw82]

Guys, quit the pointless arguing about Boco's wages. This stupid tit-for-tat arguing is one of the most annoying things about this forum. This thread is about ATTENDANCES!

I think this point made by a previous poster is spot-f'ing-on:


Our biggest problem is that Irish people are event junkies. How many Cork/Galway hurling supporters do you see turning out for their league games in March? Couple of thousand maybe, but thurles will be packed with them on sat night and whoever progresses will bring an even bigger crowd to Croker.
Where are all the munster fans, when munster play edinburgh on a november friday night in Musgrave park, yet for a heineken cup game in thomond against wasps, tickets cant be got such is the demand!!


Continuing with the rugby example, Leinster constantly harp on about how they're the best-supported team in the Magners League, 4th best overall in Europe, and so on. As of this moment, they've only sold 8,000 season tickets in an 18,000+ capacity ground. Everyone wants to go to the Heineken cup games because they're 'events' and have all the hype, but nobody really gives a **** about the league. They rely a helluva lot on bundling league game tickets with H Cup games to get people through the gates.

Bottom line is, if big sports like rugby can get their grounds only 75% full over the course of a season, with massive promotion and media coverage, it will take a gargantuan effort for EL clubs to do the same.

[John83]

Actually, the thread is about whether attendances are up or down on winter football, the answer to which seems to be "about the same", but it drifted off topic almost instantly to 'rehash all the stuff that was in the attendances thread this year, oh, and the same old arguments for and against summer football'.

[paudie]

Whether it was a success or not should be investigated. As ever, it was something done on a whim, not based on proper proposed benefits. The two main selling points were said to be attendances and europe. Europe's been a mixed bag and only effects 4 teams a season anyway. It's debatable whether there's any gain for the league in total for success. Attendances certainly haven't benefitted, and would in a lot of clubs opinion actually have fallen.

I personally think that people got the reason wrong as to who we're competiting with - it's not really televised football, it's other social activities. And there's simply more things to do in the summer, even with our crap weather.

Us being a different season to the Irish League limits things like expansion of the Setanta Cup in some respects. And we also appear to get more TV coverage at the parts of the season that clash with UK football, as Irish tv is obsessed with the GAA during the summer.

And what exactly will the propsed benefits of a return to winter soccer be?

Don't know how you can say Europe has been a mixed bag when our clubs are now seeded in the CL and are close to it in theUEFA Cup. The spectre of Camarthen looms large no doubt;)

[pete]

Figures suggest that attendances are about the same now as they were in 2000. If we had stayed in winter football there is no way to tell if crowds would increase or decrease.

I think summer footbal have leveled the playing pitch for Europe. If we went back to winter football we would be at a disadvantage in Europe due to being in the off season. Is this enough to stay playing in the summer?

I definitely think summer football has improved the type of football that has been played & therefore the number of players moving to top UK clubs. I know someone will say players alwasy moved to the UK but there was not the competition from other nations then & money paid was much lower.

Maybe we should move to 3pm kick offs on a Saturday & get beer tents? Is there any reason you should not be able to get a beer at an LOI game if managed correctly?

[Duffman]

Definitely there is a lot of spin being put on numbers. Last night the official attendance in Tolka was announced as 1400 yet eircomloi.ie have it as 2000. Lazy or an attempt to create an impression ?

[superfrank]

I know someone will say players alwasy moved to the UK but there was not the competition from other nations then & money paid was much lower.
I don't really get this one. Do you mean UK clubs face competiton from other European clubs to sign top el players?

I would argue that the likes of Wes Charles, Jamie McKenzie and Kupono Low are NOT among the top players in the like.

[irishultra]

How could the attendances improve? Advertisement is so bad. I know its not related to people going to matches, but has anyone actually seen any ads on RTE for MNS? I don't care if you don't like the format or whatever but I have never seen it.

Why is there no commercials on tv like 'the road to croker' for Gaelic? Why is the FAI not funding this? Advertisement needs to hold no punches, be completely OTT and obnoxious.

I think 3pm kick off on a Saturday during the summer would be better, but for me personally, don't know if it would improve attendances.

[pete]

Has any one ever considered that crowds are failing to increase because ticket prices have increased too much?

Not wanting to pick on Drogs but E20 to stand in United Park when you can't see all the grounds from some sections means only the diehards will attend.

[higgins]

Yes, I agree with you Pete, for once :)

20 euro in to games is a joke!
15 in the First Division is also a joke to be fair.

What the FAI need to do next is get tough on clubs regarding the state of their grounds. So we have 65% of turnover in place now, leaving 35% to go where ??

About time the bar was raised in terms of improving grounds. Some of the kips around the counrty are a disgrace!! 15 euro is too high a price for many of the grounds we have.

[pete]

20 euro in to games is a joke!

Clubs have to make their own decisions. I only mentioned to point out the fact might have been getting 1500 crowds at E10 5-7 years ago but no same crowds on E20. How much would the crowds be if prices stayed with inflation.

[KevB76]

Attendances can be improved, by the elimination of Friday night games, later kos, and a reduction in prices.

I wouldnt agree with that, speaking from my own prefernces the Friday evening games are perfect.

If games were on Satudays I would miss a good few home games due to other commitments at weekends which involve being away from limerick - the Friday evening match avoids this. I doubt this scenario is particular to myself.
Timing is perfect too as you can go straight from work to match, without having to rush, and still be home before ten.

Mostly prices are grand in the first div in my opinion. Maybe some of the premier clubs are overpriced alright - e.g. Galway, big increase since last year. They might have gotten away with it if they were doing better but I'd agree the cost is a factor in their lower attendances.

[sporting]

im sick of hearing keely blab on and on about how we should all go back to part time football. fck off keely if u want to stay in the dark ages. and as for whether crowds are up on winter football or not who cares. summer football is a must, who want to play on a **** pitch in the sleet in mid december. madness.
keely only wants a part time winter league cos he's a school teacher and like to go to spain for the summer while while he has 2 months off from school