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Your point holds true with Engerland fans but not with Irish, I personally don't know one Irish person who would rather see the EPL (or otherwise foreign club) club they support win over the Irish national team.... if there are any like that they are the smallest fraction of prats you get with anything in life.Quote:
Originally Posted by philliyk
Unfortunately i do know a few who give more of a fcuk when liverpool are playing than Ireland.........REALLY REALLY pi**es me off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oink
I know loads of people more interested in English football than anything to do with the Irish team.
Ya I've a good few friends who are absolutely gutted when Celtic or Man U lose a game but sometimes don't even know Ireland are playing.
For example, yesterday a friend asked me was there any Champs League matches this week and when I replied there were internationals this week and Ireland were playing he was bemused. Then after a few seconds he says "who gives a s*** about Ireland?"......
He never even bothered to ask me who they were playing......
True enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
Mostly nonsense.Quote:
While most of the football internationals drew half the capacity of Lansdowne or less, until Jack Charlton arrived. Remember how many were at the Denmark game in '85?
That Denmark game was a dead rubber for us, only the fortified braved the poison flying around.
Before that, Lansdowne was generally full for most of the qualifiers, that was 50k then to fill it.
And remember no lights, those were Wed afternoon kickoffs or leave work for the early evening kick off.
Ground was just over half full for the 1979 home qualifier against Holland. Same for the home 84 qualifier against Russia. And many of the friendly games at both Dalymount and Lansdowne played to half-full stadiums during this period. I have always believed there is a hardcore of about 50,000 Ireland fans around the world. Followed by a softer core of a couple of 100,000. Then a million or so who get interested when we qualify for Tournament. I would suggest slightly smaller numbers for Rugby. The first time I ever had a problem getting a ticket for a game (having gone to games since the early 70's when cash was also accepted at some games) was the home against France in 1981. And that was the first time I encountered what are now known as eventers at an Ireland game.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
The Euro 88 qualifiers was the first campaign of home matches I attended.
I can distinctly remember crowds of no more than 20,000 attending the Luxembourg and Bulgaria qualifiers and the Brazil friendly.
Things were quite different for the 90 qualifiers. Gay Byrne was in regular attendance. :rolleyes:
Don't forget Gerry Ryan is now well and truly on the band wagon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfie
I think the Brazil friendly was a sell out but you are correct about the other two games.
There are about 25k who will go to a game, even if it's a friendly against the Outter Hebrides. Another 20k who will go to most competitive games while most of the rest are event junkies, although one has to remember that many supporters do no live in Dublin and can't make the games.
To answer the original poster, yes interest will wane if we continue not to qualify for tournaments but that wouldn't bother me (the lack of interest - not the failure to qualify) one iota.
The Brazil game in '87 was my first Ireland game, and the ground was about half full.
The first couple of games of the Euro '88 qualifiers had full houses - Scotland and Belgium. For Bulgaria and Luxembourg, the ground was about half full, probably because it looked like we weren't going to qualify as usual, and I suppose people were pessimistic then.
Yeah, the 5 or 6 Nations games have always been sell-outs, but again this has to be seen in the context of the culture of the sport. They were Saturday afternoon days out, socialising events for club members and people of a certain class that were looked forward to at the same time every year. It didn't matter that Ireland mostly lost.
An Ireland football match is not a get-together of pals, it's not like Christmas, it doesn't have that social win-lose-or-draw tradition. It's a different animal entirely, without the safety-net of just being a good aul session and not as attractive when the team is poor.
The Russia game was packed. Against France twice - absolutely jam packed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar
Qualifiers against the big teams mostly would be from 40k to 50k
smaller teams average 25k.
But consider Wed afternoon kick off time as well.
No the team are not losing support,
23000 at the match against Bulgaria which thanks to the Scots, was the game that qualified us for Euro 88. After that it was impossible to get a ticket for a qualifier.
I go to all the socer and some of the rugby and there is no atmosphere in Croke Park with few exceptions. Soccer is the worst because of the pitch size.
The novelty of Croke Park has worn off and the numbers going is back to what it was like in Lansdown Road when a friendly never sold-out (possible exceptions) but is very good by European stnadards. If we are still in the hunt when Italy visit it will be jammed.
Cop-out.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Since 89, the Wednesday afternoon ko's were full to bursting for all qualifiers. Even when we were playing NI 3 times, pre-2.00.
The game against Bulgaria in 87 had a shockingly bad attendance considering where we were in the table at the time. Even when we're pis poor, a home international game is a great event.
Don't expect tonight's game though to be a thrill-a-minute contest.
That's one of my all time favourite games I attended - given the context of the result, the gritty and determined manner in which we played (Lawrenson and Brady were immense) and the tense but partisan atmosphere of the reduced attendence.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
I can remember the match programme listing the permutations of how we'd qualify. I was 12 years of age, it was the first full campaign I'd attended but even my boundless optimism couldn't quite see us qualifying.
Theres a few great pictures from that game that appear in the Budweiser Road to Europe . It was a photo record of the qualifiers by Ray McManus (think that's his name - hazy memory).
Mcgrath after scoring the goal, Brady after getting sent off..........
Yep, that's my memory of the game as well. Ireland went for it from the off and really got stuck in to the Bulgars (who were the greatest shower of divers even then) and played them off the park.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfie
The only factor that may be affecting the support of the Irish team (bar the performances under Stan's reign, which have now been improved significantly) would be the price of tickets.
1979 v NI was full.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
The games V Scotland and Belgium were both full.Quote:
The game against Bulgaria in 87 had a shockingly bad attendance considering where we were in the table at the time.
The Bulgaria attendance wasn't shockingly bad, it was par for the course then, for a remote 1/10 chance of qualifying even if we won.
Of course there are more who would go to a game now and would also go to games of little competitive significance. And demand follows qualification campaign chances.
I don't know anybody apart from my uncle who gave us any chanc eof qualifying even after the Bulgaria game. Scotland were given no chance of winning in Bulgaria.
Fans definitely picked and chose their games. It was a halfday off work/school in Dublin or a ful day off for those down the country.
It doesn't mean rugby was more popular than football then either. There were public sale sof 5 nations tickets. In the 80's and early 90's you could buy 5 nations tickets over the counter in certain shops.
Aye, I remember buying them in Elvery's in Cathal Brugha Street.Quote:
Originally Posted by gspain
I don't think you could, surely it was Stauntons?! :PQuote:
Originally Posted by Gather round
Yes, funny that many on here wouldn't realise that tickets were bought in Elverys and elsewhere around the country. I used to get mine in Elverys. No block booking then.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
I thought we had a chance otherwise I wouldn't have taken a half day off work to watch it. RTE must have thought so as well as they showed the game live. Not much of a chance of course and Scotland were blessed but we all know anything can happen in football.Quote:
Originally Posted by gspain
My Da used to get Ireland tickets at Shoemacs in Finglas Village from time to time!!!
That shops long gone now. :(
Eh?Quote:
Originally Posted by gspain
When I first started going to Ireland rugby games in the late 70's, there was no way you could buy match tickets on open sale anywhere in NI.
I'm not saying tickets were impossible to come by, but you definitely needed to "know" somebody - usually someone who was a member of a Rugby Club.
I remember one game (England?) where a mate who was in Banbridge RFC managed to get a few tickets for a group of us (students) who were driving down from Belfast in a minibus.
They were "Schoolboy" tickets, with a face value of £0.70 each! Seeing as some of us had beards amd moustaches etc, we weren't confident we'd actually be admitted, but no-one bothered to check when the time came.
Meanwhile, two of the lads who were less keen than the rest of us on rugby "gave in" to requests from ticketless fans in a Dublin pub and sold them theirs. I can't remember how much they got, but it can't have been that much, since they had drunk it all by the time we met up with them after the game!
Still, I don't think Northern rugby fans would have been too pleased had they known how easily their Southern counterparts could come by match tickets in those days. And those who were forced to buy match tickets from touts before games will have been extra angry if they knew that those same touts may have sourced them easily enough from their local sports shop! :eek:
I sneaked out of work to watch the 2nd half along with 3 colleagues. I'd had just started work and was scared I'd be caught.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Re rugby tickets, I was in college in Cork in the mid 80's and I think it was lawsons near the Metropole that sold them. In Galway it was a pharmacy just off Eyre Square. It was all word of mouth and never advertised but they'd have tickets for a day or 2.
So they were sold on the sly? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by gspain
From my own personal experience, six-nations tickets went through the local rugby club. I never knew you could buy them in shops.
You might have been looking for any excuse to scive off work and hit the pub for a match, "for patriotic duty" of course :DQuote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Rte showed the Belgium V Holland game live a few years earlier when we had even a lesser chance of getting a result that suited us to put us through.
I think it was more to mark the achievement of still being alive on the last day that RTE showed the game than the remote distant hope that something might go right for us.
NO my point was that wasn't elverys stauntons, or did elverys buy out stauntons then?! I know you could buy tickets at shops.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
You don't know me but count 1. If it comes down to winning the LOI or a World cup then there is no contest. I have been going to Ireland games for 20 years and enjoyed the whole day out and the craic involved but in answer to the OPs question, I have found my interest wane over the last few years. I am totally disenfranchised from the team nowadays. the time was that the Ireland team would be training locally to me, you would see them about and they were reasonably accessible, nowadays its players not wanting to play for the country and issuing press releases about their feelings. Maybe its just a matter of getting older.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oink
Prices have changed understandly. It cost me 20 pence into the 3-0 Ireland v Russia match at Dalymount in the early 70's. Prices jumped up to about 4 quid for the later Giles years qualifiers at Lansdowne. I also bought all my tickets at Elvery's.
so elverys bought stauntons? i always thought stauntons bought elverys and hence the name on Mayo jerseys as stauntons were mayo based.
Off topic but Stauntons bought Elverys. But kept the Elverys brand name as it was more recognisable on the East coast.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Whats the official attendence at tonights game?? Have they given it out yet??
I would have went but tickets were €40. Not a chance I'd pay that for a meaningless friendly. I'm sure there were others like me who felt the same.. That might explain the empty seats!
wasn't given (at least I didn't hear it) but I'd guess somewhere in the 50,000 - 60,000 region, a good third of that were PolishQuote:
Originally Posted by weldoninhio
There was definitely some sense among Ireland fans that something might happen in that Scotland - Bulgaria game. I was glued to the TV that day wishing for the right result. Instead of having their usual panel RTE had Maurice Setters, Chris Morris (the day after making his debut against Israel) and a few other heads sitting in what looked like a hotel bar to watch the game and the champagne was flowing at the end. Personally I was at the Bulgaria game a few weeks before and the reaction at the end was a clear sign that our hopes were still alive. The real surprising element of that day was that Scotland didn't play particularly well so when Gary Mackay popped up to win the game it was a bit of a shock - but a very enjoyable one:)Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
If that game hadn't been played 4 weeks after our last game it obviously wouldn't have taken on the legendary status it has since. The table tells the story - we got more points than the other teams....
Team Pts
Republic of Ireland 11
Bulgaria 10
Belgium 9
Scotland 9
Luxembourg 1
It's obvious now that Lansdowne Road was a bit like the GPO in 1916, there were so many people there.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Allowing for the fact that the FAI routinely made up these numbers the reported attendance at the Russia game in 1984 was 28,000 so nowhere near packed but still a great day (we'll never forget Mickey Walsh). That campaign was pretty poor for home attendances all the way through [Norway 15,000; Switzerland 17,300; Denmark 15,000] and was probably the low point of my time following Ireland (until the Stan era).
Even when Jack took over, the first two games against Wales and Uruguay drew about 18,000 each. Then after we had qualified for Euro 88 none of our 3 home warm-up games managed a crowd above 20,000.
The momentum created post-Stuttgart really took hold during the 1990 qualifying games and tickets became scarcer after that.
The viewing figures for Munster v New Zealand topped 1 million on Tuesday night. This easily eclipsed any other sporting event this year including the previous front runner Ireland v Cyprus. This means a rugby match will be top of the RTE sporting charts for the 2nd year in a row.
Was I the only one that was glad that New Zealand won that match the other night.
hopefully yesQuote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
That's really is a shock to me. I'm football born and bred and my life revolves around it so naturally most of the lads I know are footie fans too. The passion people I know have for wanting Ireland to qualify for a tournament far exceeds that of any club competition/game... except maybe the CL final or a last day of the premiership to secure the title.Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy
Ireland is part of me and vice-versa, when they win I win and get drunk, when they loose I cry and get drunk and when they draw i'm probably already drunk to make the game more enjoyable. How can anyone feel that for a foreign club team, sure I support and EPL team and follow them religously but they dont truely represent me.
That's just simply a lack of patriotism from my experience. If you're patriotic football fan you'll be a big supporter of your country.Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy