Summer soccer-Who are we kidding?

[corkharps]

The move to Summer soccer isn't working! We are up against,two games a night in Euro 2004,the Ghaha,good weather(the beach or park). Trying to vie for any media coverage is a loosing battle and crowds are down all round. Summer is for the holidays, winter is for the football!

[gufct]

is that clubs are looking at the short term solutions all the time quick fixes eg:Night Time Football,10 Team Premier,Switching from sundays to Monday,Thursday,Friday and Saturday nights and Summer Football.


There has to be a proper Business Plan drawn up for the next Five Years minimum which will have to be stuck to together with Strict enforcement of the UEFA Licencing system which is the only way clubs can be made to run themselves in a prper sustainable manner.


Our crowds are actually up this year but thats due to the hard work of the people who ran the "Its a tribal Thing " Promotion .Im afraid some of the attendance figures posted here are not exact as there is no way Dundalk/Sligo or Bray are getting circa 1,000 on average we have played at all three grounds this season and id say there was no more than 750 at Bray while there was less than 500 at both Oriel and The Showgrounds.

[pete]

Teams are (well should be anyway) only playing 1 night a week! People have the other 6 nights of the week to watch Euro 2004 & not that many people will watch every match (check out tv ratings).

If clubs can't get people to the Carlisle Grounds in the summer is no chance whatsoever they'll go in the winter.

The eL is incapable of sticking with any plan. Picks stupid days for games - no game on dublin on the Bank Holiday but 2 on the tuesday - league cup matches played against Euro 2004 when better to have no mid week matches in June.

[max power]

so but i'd rather go to a game wearing a short sleeve jersey and sun glasses, when you think that the alternative is 14 layers of clothes, 6 different club scarfs, wolly hat, 2 pairs of gloves and 14 gallons of oxtail soup just to stop from catching something that will put me out of work for 6 weeks....

not enough use of bank holiday mondays, monday night in dublin, clubs don't advertise the games enough as well.....

[paudie]

crowds are down all round.

No way crowds are down at Turners Cross!!

Summer soccer won't save the league but all other things being equal its better than going to a game in the depths of winter weather.

Clubs will always have competition from other activities at any time of the year. If we're not competing with GAA in the summer its the Premiership in the winter. Clubs have to attract people to games and I think thats more likely in good weather.

I'm definitely in favour.

[Bald Student]

I agree. Watching a game on the telly is more appealing in the winter than in the summer. Watching a game live is more appealing in the summer than in the winter

[gufct]

and Saturday night when games are scheduled for the same time as UEFA Quarter Finals especially friday night where England are likely to playing as runners up in their group againt Spain.


Our game is due to be on friday at 7.30 but we wnted to change it to saturday at 5.00 but the league are saying they need 16 days notice.

[Schumi]

Our game is due to be on friday at 7.30 but we wnted to change it to saturday at 5.00 but the league are saying they need 16 days notice.

That's the game against us isn't it? 5 on Saturday would nice.

[spiderman]

I can't understand how the rest of europe plays winter football, and manages to attract reasonable crowds, yet we irish are such a different breed that we will only go to games held in the summer....... Me arse, it's time that we realised that the problem is with the product we produce and not the weather!

[Macy]

Our game is due to be on friday at 7.30 but we wnted to change it to saturday at 5.00 but the league are saying they need 16 days notice.

Come on t, there's many things to blame the league for, but the dates for Quarterfinals were known well in advance if Galway wanted to change.

[corkharps]

I can't understand how the rest of europe plays winter football, and manages to attract reasonable crowds, yet we irish are such a different breed that we will only go to games held in the summer....... Me arse, it's time that we realised that the problem is with the product we produce and not the weather!

Yeah,maybe we are living in our own Ivory tower? The real proof of this was in Cobh a couple of weeks back when thousands prefered to que outside St Colmans (in the blazing sun!) rather than go inside and watch Cobh v Harps!
Surely the product aint that bad? Is it all down to marketing?

[sullanefc]

Come on t, there's many things to blame the league for, but the dates for Quarterfinals were known well in advance if Galway wanted to change.

Yeah but no one knew England would be playing. Obvoulsy an England match is going to generate huge interest from Irish fans because of all the Premiership players involved etc. That 16 day rule sounds ridiculous to me.

On the subject of summer soccer. I'm definitely in favour. I'd rather watch football in Friday evening summer sunshine than a cold winter sunday morning.

[dortie]

No way crowds are down at Turners Cross!!

.

The crowds at Derry are NOT DOWN either, we were averaging around 2,200 before our performance went on a free fall. Still getting around 1,700 with a ****ty form.

Summer football is better for fans who travel and indeed the state of the pitches.

No odds to you CorkHarps you only attend maybe 2 games a year mate

[Macy]

Yeah but no one knew England would be playing.

It was either going to be the friday or the saturday since the draw was made!!!

[trevy]

I think summer soccer has been better,very few postponements due to weather and casual fans more likely to go on a nice summers night.There'll always be reasons and excuses for fans not to go and EUR0 2004 is going to affect attendances but in general I'd be in favour.The problem with the Eircom league is we don't get enough fans who'll turn up on the night ona whim which is due to lack of marketing and tv coverage and competetion from other sports.

[pineapple stu]

I think the major point on this is that summer soccer is not a panacea - it is good for the league BUT it needs to be implemented along with other marketing plans. Last year during summer soccer, TV3 only showed two live games - in March and November! Totally defeated the purpose, as a live game in the summer would at least jig people's minds that there was football at home still. There was no formal announcement or promotion of the switch, media coverage continues to be woeful, etc. It's a good start, but the FAI have, as usual, been woefully inept at bothering their ar$e$ in implementing other plans to back it up and keep the momentum going.

[pineapple stu]

The crowds at Derry are NOT DOWN either, we were averaging around 2,200 before our performance went on a free fall. Still getting around 1,700 with a ****ty form.

Hmmm...were getting 2200, but are now getting 1700, yet crowds are not down...

[brendy_éire]

Hmmm...were getting 2200, but are now getting 1700, yet crowds are not down...

He means that they're not down as a result of switching to summer football, rather as a result of the performances.

[spiderman]

As far as i'm concerned switching to summer football is only rearranging the deck chairs. In fact if anything I would have thought that there will be more distractions during the summer to pull people away from attending soccer matches.

I believe that until the poor facilities at grounds and lack of promotion of games is addressed, we're never going to attract crowds in any sort of numbers.

[drummerboy]

I think the standard of football is down this year. I bring my young lad to most Shels matches, on Friday nights only, and I have yet to see a really decent game. Its also costs €20 euro which is a bit steep. Summer football is good but they should have hada mid-term break, especially when there's a major tournament on like the Euro 2004. There's no way I'm going to pay €20 in to see Shels and Dublin City, when I can sit at home and watch Spain and Portugal