2023 FAI Cup

[brendy_éire]

Match is now sold out.

We've come a long way from Tolka.

[Nesta99]

What fines are you talking about...this is an FAI event. There's Palestine flags at every LOI match for years and tomorrow will be only more so. Its the least we can do.....we'll enjoy the day too though

Read the 1st line of my post again..

Express whatever but pay the fine! Not there would be one at a domestic final but costing a club a players yealy salary in fines from UEFA for a single political 'fleg' albeit on a different stage, by a very niche league club...well by all means protest but pony up and dont let another carry the can! I know ts ridiculous to try to seperate politics from sport when sport is based on tribalism and competition between nation states but sometimes a football match should just be a footbal match!

Apologies for not explaining context - fans/Ulltras that misbehave and incurr fines repeatably should be made responsible for the fines, pyro likely the main isssue in the stadium tomorrow. My reference to UEFA was to do with a €25k fine for one Palestinian flag at a European qualifyer in Oriel a number of years back and I do think it was regularly at all games so some times there is a time and a place for these things, the club warned fans of the risk and was ugnored, I was thinking generally rather than just secifically abou tomorrow. I dont paricularly like football being used as political tool. or that waering certain clubs colours are an expression of identity/ethnicity and not in a good way eg the odd old firm types in Ni and to a lesser extent in Ireland these days, we all know some. So again can a football match just be a football match rather than a hijacked platform for some to express their opinions on non sporing matters.

[DCWA]

Ive been following Derry since about 2000 and by extension League of Ireland obviously and I have never seen demand like it in Derry and obviously across the country, we really need to make sure to facilitate the extra numbers while we can, have a feeling this is a massive crossroads for Irish football either build on it now or lose it to globalisation/capitalisation if football (for us that means England).

[ontheotherhand]

A sell out cup final. Wow.

Kudos to both clubs and all the clubs who have been growing the game. I reckon a few other combos would have done it too and I don't say that to take away from it being done...I just think we are heading in a really exciting direction.

And shame on those working against it all and/or ignoring that the time is ripe for investment.

[D24Saint]

I didn’t think I’d see it tbh. I remember one Sunday in Richmond twenty years back v Monaghan United and five or six hundred showed up. It’s unbelievable to see 48k at a LOI match.

[Philosophizer]

I didn’t think I’d see it tbh. I remember one Sunday in Richmond twenty years back v Monaghan United and five or six hundred showed up. It’s unbelievable to see 48k at a LOI match.

It’s incredible all right.
You don’t even have to go that far back. i remember only about 10 yrs ago you could easily ramble up to Richmond or Dalyer on a Fri night and pay at the gate and there might be less than 1k in attendance, depending on the opponent.
I honestly thought the only chance we’d ever have of filling the Aviva would be for a Rovers V Bohs final. Pats have proved me wrong though. Fair play to them. They’ve increased their support massively in recent years. Fair play!
The success of the underage national leagues can’t be underestimated in all this. And we haven’t even maximised that fully.

[D24Saint]

It’s incredible all right.
You don’t even have to go that far back. i remember only about 10 yrs ago you could easily ramble up to Richmond or Dalyer on a Fri night and pay at the gate and there might be less than 1k in attendance, depending on the opponent.
I honestly thought the only chance we’d ever have of filling the Aviva would be for a Rovers V Bohs final. Pats have proved me wrong though. Fair play to them. They’ve increased their support massively in recent years. Fair play!
The success of the underage national leagues can’t be underestimated in all this. And we haven’t even maximised that fully.

Yeah it’s a huge element. As our Director of football Ger O’Brien said the other night at the cup preview night , we now have proper football clubs not just football teams. The increasing popularity of the women’s game will also help clubs grow we are aiming to have a senior women’s teams in the next few years.

[ger121]

Anyone objecting to Palestine flags btw is a rat. Victory to the resistance. Eradicate Israel. A state who’s entire existance is premised upon religious teaching (ie fantasy) the only other comparable “state” in my lifetime would be the Islamic caliphate formed by ISIS yet no one mentions their right to defend theirselves.

I know it is not the thread but it has been mentioned. May they meet only destruction.

Getting the auld phone out at 3:30 in the morning after a night on the gargle, is not always the wisest choice.

[Bunny Kelly]

I saw Bohs are allocated as the 'home' team but will they be in their home colours or are sides using the game to flog a few alternative jerseys?

[Buller]

Match is now sold out.

We've come a long way from Tolka.

Unbelievable. Never thought we'd ever see these crowds.

[SkStu]

Is Devine on his way back from a wedding?

[Philosophizer]

Is Devine on his way back from a wedding?

Crowds for the dart were insane. People were left stranded on platforms out as far as Killester, and that’s 6 stations out from Lansdowne. Never seen the dart so crowded even for an Ireland match.

[LTFC]

Looks magnificent in Aviva today, fantastic to see.

[red bellied]

Why are the front rows all cordoned off?

[pineapple stu]

Maybe to try prevent pitch invasions?

Amazing crowd. Can't be many in Europe that'd have a Cup final crowd higher than it. 12k for the Turkish Cup final last year (with Fenerbahce in it) for example. 34k in Denmark. 47k in Scotland, so it's higher even than that. Mental stuff.

[sbgawa]

Never a peno

[sbgawa]

Loi refs struke again

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

How does the pats keeper have the same colours as the officials

[SkStu]

Peno all day

[pineapple stu]

Maybe to try prevent pitch invasions?

Amazing crowd. Can't be many in Europe that'd have a Cup final crowd higher than it. 12k for the Turkish Cup final last year (with Fenerbahce in it) for example. 34k in Denmark. 47k in Scotland, so it's higher even than that. Mental stuff.

Went and checked this on wiki actually - if the crowd is 48,000 then it's the seventh-highest crowd for any domestic Cup final across Europe this year. (I don't see any of the ones with no reported attendance matching that)

That's incredible stuff.

1	England	         83,179 
2	France	         78,038 
3	Germany	         74,667 
4	Italy	         68,500 
5	Spain	         55,579 
6	Russia	         53,425 
7	Ireland	         48,000 
8	Scotland	 47,247 
9	Poland	         44,701 
10	Belgium	         42,000 
11	Netherlands	 40,650 
12	Denmark	         34,937 
13	Switzerland	 31,500 
14	Austria	         30,000 
15	Norway	         25,532 
16	Hungary	         24,152 
17	Belarus	         21,058 
18	Cyprus	         19,076 
19	Czech Republic	 17,037 
20	Slovakia	 15,427 
21	Serbia	         12,371 
22	Turkey	         12,182 
23	Romania	         11,813 
24	Kazakhstan	 11,200 
25	Northern Irl      9,688 
26	Slovenia	  9,217 
27	Luxembourg	  8,385 
28	Croatia	          7,041 
29	Latvia	          6,747 
30	Faroe Islands	  6,500 
31	Sweden	          5,832 
32	Bosnia-Herz	  5,000 
33	Finland	          4,431 
34	Malta	          4,128 
35	Iceland	          3,845 
36	Montenegro	  3,500 
37	Bulgaria	  1,400 
38	Estonia	          1,347 
39	Liechtenstein	  1,298 
40	Wales	          1,231 
41	Moldova	          1,185 
42	Greece	              0   
	Ukraine	            N/A 
	Albania	
	Andorra	
	Armenia	
	Azerbaijan	
	Georgia	
	Gibraltar	
	Israel	
	Kosovo	
	Lithuania	
	North Macedonia	
	Portugal	
	San Marino