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.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.
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.
Mostly nonsense.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.
Last edited by Noelys Guitar; 18/11/2008 at 1:55 PM.
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.
Quoting years at random since 1975
Don't forget Gerry Ryan is now well and truly on the band wagon.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.
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.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
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.
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.
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.
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..........
Quoting years at random since 1975
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.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
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.
The games V Scotland and Belgium were both full.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.
I don't think you could, surely it was Stauntons?! :P
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
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.
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.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
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