I disagree. The marketing of the league needs to come from the top and it is abysmal. Its the biggest thing, along with match scheduling, that needs to change in my opinion.
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Ireland game on, plus a bit of focus gone to Toulon tournament (it's a friendly summer cup, ridiculous we would disrupt the league for it but hey ho), GAA getting to more interesting phase and on top of that the fixtures are so repetitive when on and others are called off so all a bit disjointed, so interest wanes a bit naturally.
I saw comments online that even the Bohs Rovers game build up does not feel as exciting this time.#NeverStopNotGivingUpComment
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I see the opposite on my timeline on Twitter funnily enough.Obviously we follow different people but there you go.
Surprised by that reaction but youser(fh) attendances are on the deck a long time and the upward fightback punch seems to be gone from yous.The rest of us will hammer on.Comment
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The argument has regularly been put forward that the media coverage is disproportionately high compared to the number of people attending games. While I agree with you that coverage this weekend was especially poor compared with earlier matches, it is easy to simply tag the press as being lazy. Its a narrative that perhaps masks a more searching look - the prime responsibility for marketing and promoting the league rests within the league itself.
While the level of activity on foot.ie is a separate issue, it can hardly go unnoticed that there was actually no thread on league matches over the international weekendComment
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Rovers 3676
Derry 3200
Bohs 2992
Dundalk 2891
Cork 2825
Sligo 2113
Pats 2010
W'rford 1981
Harps 1242
Galway 931
Shels 921
Bray 809
UCD 784
Drogs 626
Longford 614
Limerick 510
Athlone 488
Cabo 457
Cobh 277
Wexford 254
Teams based on average attendance. Divisions disregarded.
Some good, some not so good.
5 teams averaging about 3k. Bohs, Rovers, Dundalk all have plans to develop their stadium further. Derry and Cork play in fine grounds. Is there plans to develop these further?
Pats won't get any bigger in Inchicore. It's run down. It's a dump. Hopefully they get the go ahead to build a new stadium at Michaels.
It's hard to know Lee Power's motivation any more. Waterford could really establish themselves if he kept going for a few years. RSC needs more seats though and the running track does the ground no favours.
Sligo have averaged 3k a season in the past too.
You'd like to think if the FAI had any ambition it would be a huge target for them to have 8 clubs averaging 3,000 a week.
Now from the bottom up. Wexford's stadium is miles from anywhere. Gonna be very hard to expand there. Cobh is a small town. Not sure about Cabo but if they established themselves in Dun Laoighre Rathdown then they could be a reasonably, if not very, big club. Not sure about Athlone. Limerick need to get rid of O'Sullivan. He's a cancer at the club. People are staying away while he's there. Barret doing a good job with the kids. Again, a club with reasonable potential too.
Longford doing well this year but their stadium is way out of the town. You really miss out on the "ah we'll go for a pint and walk to the stadium" factor. Similar to Wexford. A shame for Longford as their stadium is quite nice.
Drogheda desperately need a new stadium. It's a dump. There's enough population around Drogheda/Bettystown/Termonfeckin to sustain a good team. Possibly more people in Drogheda and its environs than Dundalk too.
Galway have potential but never really seem to be able to realise it. Shels gonna move in to Dalyer. Gonna be a brand new shiny stadium but moving in to Bohs' catchment area. Not far away geographically but if you're gonna start supporting a team who plays in Dalymount it's gonna be the team who are doing better and have traditionally played there. Don't think it's gonna be a great move for them.
Bray doing better under the new owner. Stadium is poor. No plans for development afaik. Small permanent main stand to protect you from the elements a bit better and better toilets needed for families to continue to go.
Harps doing well attendance wise. Probably bolstered by more away fans this year compared to last year. The two north west derbies will bring a lot more than a game vs Cobh like in the first division. A big football county though. With a new stadium in Stranorlar I think they can push on a big. Maybe not a "sleeping giant" but this new stadium will be huge for them, same for Drogheda and Bohs. Will allow them to step up another level.Comment
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Every year the same debate is had when people realise the crowds have dropped off from the start of the season.
It reminds me of Homer Simpson thinking his pumpkin stocks will peak around February.
It's the summer lads. There's other things to do in at least two thirds of the places that have a LoI team.
Lol at people blaming the meeja coverage aswell.
The public gets what the public wants lads. If pin the tail on Mary O'Rourke was a popular sport then The Star would have an 8 page pullout every day.
We are all wierd people with a niche passtime. Embrace it.
56000 combined at the two Hurley batting games in Munster last weekend.
That's more people than will attend all of Dundalks home games this year.
Also, I'm going to games about 250 years now. In my experience the vast majority of official attendances are a product of the imagination of the lad who has to give out the official attendance.Comment
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I agree with a lot of that from david bohie
The league is well set over the next couple of years with stadium development plans for Bohs/Shels/Drogs/Harps/Rovers to grow and the "new" "continuity" FAI can hardly do a worse job than the "old" FAI
The new Champions route in the CL and the proposed expansion of the EL means our clubs might feature more regularly in terms of getting a few rounds in Europe which will stimulate interest.
Cant see Cabo developing at all tbh it is 100% a Schoolboy club that entered the league to allow it play in the underage National leagues, i'd say Kevins and Cherry orchard are kicking themselves they did'nt do the same thing. Good for Cabo in a way but useless for the leagueComment
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Is this a recent announcement?
Shels should try move back to Irishtown/Ringsend. With all the apartments being built there and the companies based there there's serious potential for a very good fan base for them there and they'd cash in on the history bit of it all too.Comment
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Sure haven't the Portaloos been upgraded for away fans - thats a stadium development. Dont forget the footpath installed, tarmacing beside the stand and the puddle being sorted!! Embroidered seats!!!
Seriously though since mid 2000's about €2mil has been spent on Oriel most recently a supposed 500k spent fitting out the YDC. The problem with old crumbling grounds is that you can spend a fortune and it hardly be noticed. Nothing was done to Oriel from the 70s through to 2000s well a few things were done; Would you believe that the away terrace was one of the more recent additions to the ground prior to improvements in the 2000s. There used to be 2 rows of RSJs obscuring the view from the stand rather than the 3 that are there now and the fencing around the pitch were removed.
New roof on the stand and side glass replaced, stand brought up to health and safety standards as seating used to be planks with lines painted on them indicating a 'seat', shed terracing replaced and seats installed and new roof, YDC, concourse resurfaced including the lane that away fans use, it used to be a muck track. 2 or 3 versions of the pitch, a proper exterior wall behind the Carrick Road end was built, toilets built behind home terrace, floodlight pylons and lights refurbished, graveled areas on the town side of the stand has been properly surfaced. Due to the nature of how things ended up with Gerry Matthews as owner people have kinda forgotten how much he did when at the club - more than the last owners and the current owners tbh.
A lick of paint would go amiss and about as much improvement as we're likely to get in the foreseable future. We're told that an assessment of options was undertaken by a company eg whether to develop a greenfield site or stay in Oriel and staying in Oriel was the decision. Plans were also said to have been drawn up and meeting held with LCC including Delaney attending though his involvement could have been to do with Drogheda's project also. If we were to reach the group stages in Europe again then maybe there would be pressure on the owners to announce concrete plans if you pardon the pun.
It would be interesting to survey what clubs lose with falling attendances due to the intensity of the fixture list early season against what may be saved by not lengthening the season by a month or so!Last edited by Nesta99; 12/06/2019, 6:08 PM.Comment
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Mark Devlin (Dundalk CEO) hinted at maybe a stand behind the town end goals at some stage in Oriel. You can hear his interview on Between the Stripes LOI podcast from last night. Again, no major plans afoot for Oriel it seemsBetweenTheStripes.net - Home of Between the Stripes LOI podcast.Comment
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Apart from the objections of local residents (I think both shams and shells explored this before) there is the little matter of funding any new base. Government money committed for next few years (at least) FAI close to.... well, not in a healthy financial position ! So unless they find a Father Christmas (in June
) its not even a pipe dream.Cost of property down there has increased dramatically due to new tech companies (on a Friday evening English not often the most spoken language in some local pubs !) so while I get your point it ain't going to happen.
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Phase 2 of the Brandywell is meant to be coming at some point. Martin McGuinness promised that the money would be there. Not exactly sure how that's going to go now.
TBH, the capacity of the ground is adequate for the vast majority of games. Personally, I don't think there's a need for much rush on it.Comment
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