What's happening in Athlone btw - crowds have tripled this year. Is the fan protest/boycott over? Didn't think there'd been a change of ownership
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What's happening in Athlone btw - crowds have tripled this year. Is the fan protest/boycott over? Didn't think there'd been a change of ownership
Attendances across the board were well up in the First Division this year. Seventeen 1,000+ attendances, compared to only three in 2018. Two of those were 2,000+, Galways first game of the season had 2,174 at it, while Droghedas final game of the league season had 2,596 at it.
7 of Shelbournes 13 home games had over 1,000 at them, with their final two home games the highest at 1,655 and 1,647 each.
I don't think UCDs promotion had anything to do with it to be honest. It just seemed to be a much more competitive and entertaining division this year.
There seemed to be a bit of a lift about Athlone coming into the season, and they had a reasonable start to the season on the pitch, which led to decent crowds at their opening few games, two of their first three games had 600+ at them, a season high of 723 at their third home game.
They tailed off massively mid-season though, down to less than 200 for a couple of games in a row, picking up again for their last three games. Comfortable main stand and good location in a big enough town means they should have no trouble picking up a bit of a bandwagon support.
642 on a miserable wet evening in Waterford.
Mooney speaking on Friday night on RTE 2, urging for a record crowd at next weeks FAI Cup Final. I think they have to get over the 36,000!
He was all talk about the changes being implemented in the FAI, but then again he will be moving on next month so how can you believe him!
He is getting out of Dodge before finances are made available at the proper AGM imo. If the various investigations in to finances are stark then who would blame him for a duck and run. He can say he came in and stabalised the association, initiated change and then leave others to deal with legacy issues. I'd believe him on that basis - saying nothing while talking a lot.
Always enjoy these posts, and thanks for doing them. If it's not too much effort, could you post the 2019 median figures for the PD? Think the Dublin Derby games skews both clubs core numbers, and it'd be interesting to see how both clubs would fare if the effect of those outliers are minimised.
I know they're estimates but Derry's figures compare very favourably with when they were doing decent at the old Brandywell. Getting more fans than Cork and possibly Bohs is impressive considering there aren't many teams local to them who'll bring big numbers.
Devine has got the town behind the club, and there is a decent buzz and vibe around these days. It was great to see social media quotes from a few relatively high profile newbies throughout the season saying it was their first time at the Brandywell. I'm sure there have been lots of ordinary folk making their first visit too. Long may it last.
Yea, Shels if they start well and are above mid table throughout will be a welcome addition, I would love to get them away for our first game, could be a full house in TP.
Agree that a median figure will have less of an effect for Bohs, but only the Rovers games have had sell-outs in the Des Kelly. My gut is that Derry had the best core support in the league, but it's hard to know with those outliers skewing the averages. Agree completely about Sligo support.
Given the population of the town (and even the county) Sligo's support is always among the best in the country
What was the crowd for Drogheda Harps last night ?
Great to see most Premier clubs numbers are up. With Shels likely to get bigger support than UCD (and have a stronger rivalry with Bohs/Pats/Shams) this should improve next season.
Imagine what we could do if the fixture scheduling worked ?
****ed my hole laughing when I heard official attendance figure of 2,113 tonight in Finn Park. At minimum 3,500 there tonight, if not over 4,000.
Yeah definitely more than that. Fullest since Derry first match of 2016. I know kids were free but still say at very least 2500 or 3000
Great crowd alright. Really think Harps are a 'sleeping giant' so to speak. Football is definitely the second sport, or maybe joint first (with Gaelic Football) up there. It's huge. They produce a lot of internationals per capita. Like a lot of LOI clubs their stadium holds them back though. You feel a lovely 2 or 3 stands up there in a 5 or 6 thousand stadium and crowds like that could become the norm imo. Would be a great spread for the league if the 3 north east clubs played in nice stadia.
Sligo are very nearly there. A lovely stadium but possibly need a roof on the end behind the goal and maybe a little development of the stand away fans are in.
Derry are there, imo. Not sure if there's any imminent plans to add to the Ryan McBride Brandywell.
Harps have had the right plans for over a decade but just need the finance.
You'd hate an east coast/ greater dublin league so it's important football grows in the North West.
Did Drogheda have much of a travelling support down last night? Any more progress on Stranolar?Very impressive crowd last night.
You can take 25% off of Derry's population, as hardly any protestants in the city attend matches.
And Ballybofey is about a 10th the size of Sligo. Which by your reckoning therefore makes Sligo's figures look shiite.
In short - pointless comparing populations and trying to extrapolate from that.
Not pointless, just a whole load more variables to be considered. Population of an areas is a marker of an absolute max potential and then knock off numbers for whatever reason.
I'd disagree that population of an area signifies absolute max potential. Especially on an island like Ireland, where everyone gravitates towards 2 cities - and also overseas. Most LOI clubs from outside Dublin would have a decent number of supporters in the Big Smoke. There are a lot of Derry people in Belfast, & especially when the team is doing well would make the effort tp get to games. I even know Derry fans in England with season tickets who get to a good few games.
33,111 official attendance for the cup final.
It really is facile trying to base potential fan figures on population as there are numerous other factors that influence it. Given many of those factors vary from club to club and location to location (stadium, facilities, transport etc) cross comparisons are entirely pointless.
There’s about 400,000 people with a very short commute to Turners Cross. That’s close to 20 times what’s available to Sligo. We massively under index given that we’re a one club city.......I’m ignoring Cobh but it’s not like they steal many fans from us at this stage.
It's a bit further to Derry but the Strabanonians are up for grabs for both clubs, it's a bit more Gah cuntra but you also have another 3K or so in the Donegal/Lahey Metro area which is a similar handy run over the Stacks, black ice allowing. Anyway the point being there is significant urban populations in the area of which BY/SR is the centre for FH to draw from. I know there were some pushing for a move to LK rather than SR for the new ground but the counter argument was that it would have a negative on crowds from other towns all of who might not be that fond of LK.
Delighted for Finn Harps who are "punching above their weight" as we are constantly being told!
Their biggest problem is competing against the "full-time" setups on offer at Sligo Rovers & Derry City in their area, being more attractive for players and youngsters showing potential!
You have got to Love Ollie Horgan, great character and a soccer legend!
He's always reminded me of Worzel Gummidge.