The fact that people have to travel is a good consideration. If people have to work the next day they are unlikely to want to have to do a long late night drive home after a match.
If you have a long journey to get to Dublin it's likely you'll have to take a day or at least a half day off work. Many view this as a waste of precious holiday days to use up for a friendly game (and their missus probably isn't too keen on them using all their days off work to go to the football)
lads it boils down to this. In participation numbers, as in the people playing the game, rugby will never touch football. And when it comes to casual watching ie Magners League V Premiership football, the same is true. But when it comes to national interest, ie interest in the national team and attendance at national team competitive games, Rugby is kicking footballs arse these days. Far more people play football, far more people watch and care about Rugby tho.
I accept that Ireland in the six nations will draw big attendances and TV viewership as, in a tounament of only 5 serious contenders, there is always the possibility of Ireland winning something (triple crown, grand slam or just a bit of local rivallry like last week). However, when we're playing Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra there clearly isn't the same level of interest.
The true test of the respective interest in the sports only becomes clear when Irish football has a really big game (equivalent to the six nations level). Given we haven't qualified for anything since 2002 these game don't happen very often but I think I'm right in saying that the playoff games against France in 2009 had bigger TV audiences than Ireland winning the grand-slam matches in rugby the same year.
"There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet" - Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Your wrong actually manOriginally Posted by EastTerracer
The GS game in Cardiff was rte's biggest number puller for something like 8 years and beat the Ireland France away game which had a higher figure than the home game V France.
I don't think that's true an_ceannaire. The peak viewing figure for the Paris game was over 2 million, a staggering figure. The GS game was something like 1.1 million. Football TV figures compare very favourably versus the rugby.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2009/1...eland_rte.html
I think you're right in saying that rugby is flavour of the month right now. It has been for 5 years or more. But football friendly attendances have really only dropped in the last 12 months. That suggests to me that people are picking & choosing and watching their wallets.
Can I post a spreadsheet here anyway? Tets?
I got sent some stats by the TV market research people for an exercise I was doing last year.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 28/03/2011 at 3:16 PM.
You need to upload it to a server to paste the link. Vbulletin boards hosted on servers dont provide storage.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
It's also worth pointing out that Leinster, Ulster & Munster regularly get 10k + for their Magners home games, that climbs to as high as 35,000 for big Heinekin Cup matches in Munster, with about 20K for Leinster. So it's not just the international matches that rugby's clambering for the public's attention. Locally, the sport is in our faces week in, week out; all emphasising local community sports, competing on an international stage.
That's what marketeers I believe call brand reinforcement. Even if you're not avidly following rugby, it's in your consciousness far more than soccer may be.
Again, take away the English Premiership & what does soccer have in this country to get the spirits flowing on a regular basis? The odd competitive international fixture (featuring a team whose football is a bit stale) and that's it. Our top Irish league is moribund & when our international team starts featuring players from Championship also-rans and League 1 players (that's not a slight on Kilbane btw, the man's a legend & an inspiration to any sports person), that's when you start to wonder if chickens are coming home to roost.
Jesus, even I found myself "forgetting" about the Ireland team and it was only the Macedonia game on the horizon that jolted me back into paying attention.
Last edited by amaccann; 28/03/2011 at 3:27 PM.
Look Shamrock Rovers are going to dominate the Europa league soon so don't worry. You can have your brand reinforcement then.
Seriouslly though if shamrock rovers(or any other team) were to make the group stages of CL(very unlikely at this stage,I reckon a good chance of Europa league) and did it more than a once off, then soccer locally would be right up there again.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
For a fact that is incorrect. The French away game broke records for viewership and was a country mile ahead of the rugger. And thats only 2 years ago and at a time when rugby was flying! I think the Italy home game may have beaten the rugger in viewership figures as well but I cant confirm that.
In the last ten years, I believe Irish football has been the highest viewered sporting event for the year seven times. There is def a post on this not too long ago with valid link, ill try dig it out.
I'm not sure about that - look what happened Shelbourne, Drogheda, Bohemians, etc. They inflated their wage bill on potential European success that didn't come. Nor did any massive influx of crowds. The state of Irish soccer's a bigger subject for here, but I'm not sure that Euro success for 1-team will guarantee a trickle-down effect for the rest of the league.
OK, did some number crunching. The Rugby 6N in the Grand Slam year averaged 703k on RTE. Bear in mind from the moment we beat France at home the much vaunted Slam was on the cards.
The WC10 campaign average - not including the play offs - was 541k. This is behind the rugby but includes games against Georgia, Cyprus and Montenegro. Including the play-offs the average RTE football figure was 626k.
626k versus 703k is quite a good showing versus rugby considering there were quite a few uninspiring games, and there was a lot of expectation in the rugby in 2009.
I'm not sure I fully understood what exactly the figures represnt though. Peak, avearge or whatever.
Gspain was the man
This is a valid point, creating a brand, a feel good factor, a sense of community etc. A feeling that has people talking about the game,making it attractive to attend etc. Shamrock Rovers have developed something akin to this in recent years, Derry City and Sligo Rovers too. Thats what we need to do in this country. Leinster/Munster have been the masters at it in the last decade.........they get regular crowds in excess of 10k for games which if we're honest alot of time are not particularly exciting. Its the overall product that matters and the sense of been part of something. Call it bandwagon if you want but it works!
I also dont entirely agree with this logic - If success in Europe was to come for any team a few things would be needed before the "Great Irish Sporting Public" tm would buy in.
The main thing, it would need to be regular - if its a once off, youre doomed - ask Shels. Secondly, it would just mean more people become Rovers fans or Bohs fans in name only, not actually bothering to attend league games - glamorous, shiny, sparkly games only please! Also, it would mean that people in Galway for example would more likely be Rovers "fans" instead of Galway fans thus creating a hideous Rosenborg type monopoly. Furthermore, once the inevitable slump came the the public would lose interest again - it will happen for rugby, it would happen in Paul's scenario too. And finally, the world is ending on December 21, 2012 anyway so its too late for an Irish team to create a dynasty.
This is our mindset.
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
Some comments on the rising popularity of Rugby. Firstly, Rugby has always been popular at International level in Ireland. There were always large crowds even when the team was brutal (and that was most of the time). Since going professional I think that both Munster and now Leinster have tapped into the community and local clubs so much so that there is a closer link to their community (which is growing) than the Irish soccer team have. For example, my nephew (10) plays rugby for St Marys and he has had training sessions with a couple of Leinster players, some of the Senior St Marys players and at the end of the season Johnathan Sexton and the other St Marys players playing for Leinster attended their end of season party and gave out medals, autographs etc. This is possible the strength that Irish Rugby has at the moment i.e. the fact that a young lad can play rugby and be within touching distance of his heroes literally.
Also, if you look at Leinster for example they have 13000 season ticket holders this year. They currently have a waiting list for Season Tickets. They are limited by the size of the RDS,. They have played 2 games in the Aviva this year and have got over 40,000 at both games. They have sold it out again for the HEC quarter final.
Most people pay their tickets well before the game takes place, and so their costs on gamenight are considerably lower. A lot of people use private buses, and trains, either local or national. Irish Rail put extra trains on, and night trains back. For food, people can get it at reasonable prices away from Lansdowne. I don't pay for food or drink at Lansdowne, just a couple of Euro for transport, and a bit more for food elsewhere. That's about as far as it goes. No programmes, no merchandise. Don't need it.
Television is a major factor in rugger's appeal. So much so that RTE are prioritising U-20 egg-chasing over senior LOI football on a Friday night. TV can make even the most mundane sports games glamourous. Ireland games are always on RTE, the province games are always on tv. People take notice when you're on tv. If Rovers progress in European competition this summer, we'll be on tv much more often, and LOI will attract much more interest than normal. If Ireland qualify for the European finals, come next June 12 months, everyone will be watching our games, and nobody will give a flying banana about rugby.
Our attendance on Saturday night would have sold out the old Lansdowne, it only looks poor because of the stadium's much bigger capacity now.
Last edited by mypost; 28/03/2011 at 7:08 PM.
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If Shamrock Rovers make the group stages in Europe, Rovers will be right up there again. No guarantee any other team would benefit from that.
Crowds might be a bit better for Uruguay if it was possible to buy a ticket on the FAI website. I was considering heading down but there's no way I'm buying a 2 ticket package for it and the the Macedonia game. I know we made the DeLorean up here, but that flux capacitor thing wasn't standard on them.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
http://www.ticketmaster.ie/event/180...I&brand=ie_fai
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