2010 attendances

[Straightstory]

Agree about the 'alpine' element. Like watching a game in Norway or something. Much preferred UCD's old ground, though...

[Schumi]

Agree about the 'alpine' element. Like watching a game in Norway or something. Much preferred UCD's old ground, though...

And I thought the Alps were around Italy and Switzerland.

[Spudulika]

And I thought the Alps were around Italy and Switzerland.

Going laughingly down the route of both JOhn 83 and Pineapple Stu, I had better clarify what I said to put both straightstory and I in the visionary clear.

http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/alpine

And by laughingly I mean - laughing with jollity or good humour, just in case any slight is taken :-)

I'd forgotten the nice view of the mountains from the Tallaght Stadium and was pleasantly reminded of them in their sunny glory today.

[Schumi]

I knew what you meant (same as Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate), I was just having a laugh. I must say I'd never have described Belfield as Alpine though, monsoon at times maybe!

[Spudulika]

I knew what you meant (same as Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate), I was just having a laugh. I must say I'd never have described Belfield as Alpine though, monsoon at times maybe!

:-) I was very impressed by the way it handles football, for rugby it has a kind of natural layout, however I'm looking forward to Friday's game. I'm trying to remember what ground it reminds me of, I'm almost certain it's Micheldorf in Austria, though I just can't put my finger on it. And one major bonus about the Bowl, it does the best chips in the LOI! I'd a friend's kid with me and I figured I'd keep him busy for a while, and bought a tray for myself, and man alive, they were good. None of your manky Burdocks stuff. (manky in comparison to the Bowl fries).

[Schumi]

And one major bonus about the Bowl, it does the best chips in the LOI! I'd a friend's kid with me and I figured I'd keep him busy for a while, and bought a tray for myself, and man alive, they were good. None of your manky Burdocks stuff. (manky in comparison to the Bowl fries).

LOL, someone else was moaning about the chips on here earlier.

[Spudulika]

No way! I thought they were class. It threw my mind back to the late 70's and quality chips. The match day experience needs to be ramped up a bit though, it was good to see young local kids playing, however there was not a great deal else for the punters to get built up with.

[legendz]

On crowds, when looking at the support clubs get, it should be noted what Gaelic Games club games can attract. There's a county this weekend where the Football County final between the two biggest urban areas of the county attracted a crowd over 10,000. Last week in that same county, the hurling final, the third sport behind Gaelic Football and Association Football, attracted a crowd of 5,000. The county doesn't even play in the top tier of hurling.
If Gaelic clubs are attracting these crowds, questions have to be asked of Association Football club structures in the country that it does not ignite the same interest. Gaelic clubs do benefit from a pyramid system in that all clubs can dream of playing in Croke Park on St. Patrick's day some year. I think Spudulika is right on his call for a pyramid system from top to bottom. Something drastic will be needed to raise the profile of the League and improve the attendances we've seen this season.

[culloty82]

True, but as well as two of the best players in the country against each other in that final, the rivalry between Tralee and Killarney also helped. The main lesson to be drawn from it is one of quality - GAA gets the crowds because people know the best players in the sport will be in action on the day, and likewise with rugby, all the Irish players are contracted to their provinces. The barstoolers would probably find an excuse to stay away anyway, but if young players can be kept in the country until aged 18-21, fans would see promising players at the start of their career, those good enough to succeed abroad would have a greater likelihood of a breakthrough, and the attendances would rise accordingly.

[legendz]

Most of what you say is true but Intermediate and Junior Championships attract big crowds as well. The GAA under Sean Kelly had a great initiative to create an Intermediate and Junior All-Ireland C'ship. These games attract big crowds as well and it's not all down to star names.

[Big Chief]

Well here is one to ponder, why can Gaelic attract these crowds when soccer can't?

[legendz]

One reason would be structure and a pyramid system.
I'd want clarity on this but I think there's about 32 District Leagues in the country and then 3 Senior League in Ulster, Leinster and Munster.
They could work on a system where 32 District Leagues feed into 16 Regional Divisions, which would then feed into 8 -> 4 -> 2 and then to the national league.

Rough Draft Pyramid Structure:
Level 1: Premier Division
Level 2: Division One
Level 3: Division Two North & South (2 Divisions)
Level 4: Intermediate League One (4 Divisions)
Level 5: Intermediate League Two (8 Divisions)
Level 6: Intermediate League Three (16 Divisions)
Level 7: 32 District Leagues

[Dodge]

Well here is one to ponder, why can Gaelic attract these crowds when soccer can't?

Because GAA fans here aren't obsessed with British gaelic games. Seriously, you didn't notice this?

Main sports story on the RTE news last night was Blackpool v Man City, then Everton v Liverpool. Then they showed 3 of the 4 goals from the FAI Cup semi final


Comparisons to GAA are completely useless.

[Big Chief]

I am well aware of the point you make Dodge and I too had the dubious pleasure of watching the sports bulletin on RTE. To take it to a slightly deeper level why can the GAA persuade people to follow it's sports and turn out to view them and quite often close their minds to other sports when soccer fans become fixated with teams in another country?

[pineapple stu]

Main sports story on the RTE news last night was Blackpool v Man City

And within that, they only showed Man City's goals, so even the bottom teams in the Premier are irrelevant here.