There's quite a few threads floating around now about Summer soccer, why more people don't support EL teams etc etc.
In my mind it's very clear - the Irish love soccer, but completely ignore the domestic version of the game. There is no single answer as to why - it's been like that for years now, and there's a whole myriad of reasons why. So the big question for me is, how do we overcome that.
If you look at how people get into a certain football team, there tend to be two main ways. The first is that they get taken a long to a game - by family or friends - and get hooked that way. That's the easiest and best way to do it, but as we're starting with a low active support base in the league, we wouldn't really add many fans by dragging along willing friedns or family. It's an important route, but won't of itself make much of a difference (though a national 'bring a friend to a game' day would be good ! :D )
The second way epopel get intoa team is the more traditional gradual route. You see a few results for your local side, and it tweaks your curiousity. They're doing well so you keep an eye out for their scores. You catch a few goals on telly, and you think it looks alright. The hard bit is trying to get those people off their seats and into a stadium. How do we do that ?
Coming at it from another angle - most kids you ask will be able to give you a long list of teams they 'support' : Mn U in England, Celtic in Scotland, Barcelona in Spain, Bayern in Germany. Half the time they'll have a favourite team from less fashioable leagues like Belgium, Holland, or even Eastern Europe. These people can come out with the 2 little words "I support" for almost any league you mention - part form our own ! How do we get those people to adopt an EL team ? Beacuse if they don't adopt one as a favourite, our chances of getting them to go along to a game are greatly reduced.
Is live TV the answer ? Are football loving kids/adults more likely to take a shine to a certain team if they see them on TV ? How do we add EL clubs to football supporters repertoire of teams, as a first step towards getting them more actively interested in our league ?
