Caulfield: "Why aren't teams in Dublin marketing their clubs?"

**Charlie Darwin** · 27/04/2015, 4:41 PM

"Without the provincial teams, this league is nowhere," argued Caulfield.

"We are the biggest club out there. Historically, Shamrock Rovers have won more trophies but we are the biggest club in the league. I get disappointed when I watch a lot of the games in Dublin because I look at the teams getting 1,200, 1,300 or 1,400 people and they're near the top of the table and I'm asking 'why aren't they marketing their club?', 'why aren't they bringing kids to the game?' Bar Rovers, there is no-one in Dublin who attracts crowds any more."

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-31173592.html

**Dalymountrower** · 27/04/2015, 4:56 PM

Here Hare Here..

**paykanti** · 27/04/2015, 6:23 PM

It's a matter of a lack of self-respect, I'm guessing. Rovers' website alone says a lot about how professional and well-run a club it's not. Shoutouts to Longford and greatest of all, Bray, for their online media presence too.

**Mr A** · 27/04/2015, 6:23 PM

Bohs are doing some great stuff with different cultural evenings, innovative postering, new murals in and around Dalymount and other community schemes. Not so familiar with the St Pats stuff but I know their patrons are active and doing good work also. Is Caulfield aware of any of this before he goes insulting the volunteers involved? Sure more could be done, but every club, including CCFC only has so many people and resources to cover every aspect of keeping a senior club going. He may have a valid point about crowds not being great in Dublin but the way he went about saying it made it sound like default anti-Dublin whining.

**Dalymountrower** · 27/04/2015, 7:31 PM

Just a distraction bone thrown at the meedja to avoid any debate on why his team weren't up for it last Friday.

I hope he s not too upset at the size of the crowd in Dalymount next Monday.

**strikeforce** · 27/04/2015, 8:03 PM

Originally Posted by Dalymountrower

Just a distraction bone thrown at the meedja to avoid any debate on why his team weren't up for it last Friday.

I hope he s not too upset at the size of the crowd in Dalymount next Monday.

Na sure we will bolster your attendance for ye, and we are due a win over bohs. Bohs had the better of city last year.

**mcgonigle** · 27/04/2015, 8:07 PM

Originally Posted by strikeforce

Na sure we will bolster your attendance for ye, and we are due a win over bohs. Bohs had the better of city last year.

Whatever about your home support, your away support is nothing to shout about.

**Dalymountrower** · 27/04/2015, 8:10 PM

Originally Posted by strikeforce

Na sure we will bolster your attendance for ye, and we are due a win over bohs. Bohs had the better of city last year.

All ethnic .minorities welcome

**dundalkfc10** · 27/04/2015, 9:38 PM

Originally Posted by mcgonigle

Whatever about your home support, your away support is nothing to shout about.

Hardly Surprising is it considering they are 2plus hours away from nearly all away grounds?

**Nesta99** · 27/04/2015, 10:10 PM

Caulfield said it himself, Cork City are the biggest club in the league. I agree with him too but like Bohs & Rovers it needs to be sustained during the baron spells. I think Dundalk did well to keep an average gate well above 1k during the 1st Division days and a current average above 3000 is great - I looked at the Sligo figures with envy a few seasons ago! If we can make progress on Oriel the way Sligo did with their Showgies it will be well worth the purple patch apart from adding to the roll of honour. I dont think Dundalk FC are making the most of this success though by relying on the fortune of being champions. A big day out for the cup final can leave a legacy for clubs with a new group or generation of fans - the 2002 cup win may be the most important trophy we've ever won in terms of having a batch of new younger support that kept the flags flying in the graveyard and kept us plugging along until promotion. Pats might be an anomoly but then Pats and the cup...

**Nesta99** · 27/04/2015, 11:33 PM

I had prattled on about specific average attendances but accidently caused the browser to refresh so all gone grrrr - probably no bad thing! I was being more specific but Cork City are getting about 4% support, Dundalk 8%, Glasgow C 1.6% Glasgow R. 1.1%, Leeds Utd 2002ish 3% now more the average of less than 2%. I posted up on Orielweb a while back on this and it seems the smaller the league/nation often the better support. The Faroes per head of population had the bast followed sides. The big cities and nations average around the 1%; so scale is the main factor even if Sky has EPL fans thinking that an entire city are at a game when in reality it is 'bouts the 1% mark and that falls if there is more than ne club in an urban area like Birmingham.

**Charlie Darwin** · 27/04/2015, 11:39 PM

There's probably a bit of an "only game in town" factor going on. In Ireland, we have decent attendances per capita because we're a small country and there's not a huge amount of competition for things to do. If you make going to the football into an event people don't want to miss, it has a much better chance of competing with going to the pub/sitting at home with a curry/whatever. Sligo were the standard-bearers for that a couple of years ago, now it's Cork and Dundalk. The answer really is finding a way to maintain the interest rather than it just being people getting excited by success.

**Nesta99** · 28/04/2015, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

In Ireland, we have decent attendances per capita because we're a small country and there's not a huge amount of competition for things to do........competing with going to the pub/sitting at home with a curry/whatever.

I disagree on there not being a huge amount to do. Sports wise we dilute players and support more than most countries as we have our indigenous sports on top of a plethora of 'foreign' games. Thank goodness for the old sporting transferable skills otherwise we would be really muck. Anyway we spread ourselves thin but still punch above weight. LoI is one of the few markets that has the potential to grow given the oppertunity. The Aussies prior to the Sydney Olympics took an interesting stance on sports development in that they looked at the attributes of all sports folk and matched them to the sports that suited their strengths, trained them up and it worked. The Brits simply threw buckets of money at Olympic sports in general prior to 2012 and it worked for them too. The IRFU have been shedding the 'upper class' aspect of their player pool for years and back to back championships and a top 3 world ranking currently would indicate benefit of their homegrown priorities. GAA will most likely be the bastion of rural community. So we are left as being followers of the main participation sport on this isle yet as a sport that is marginalised by the self deprecating nature of our governing association. Dundalk FC is, by chance, cool to support in Dundalk now, it was in the past but is now really getting ingrained for a new generation as a Friday night place to be. Horse and dog racing on on the same friday nights.

Not sure if any f this is even relevant lol

**Charlie Darwin** · 28/04/2015, 1:24 AM

Originally Posted by Nesta99

I disagree on there not being a huge amount to do. Sports wise we dilute players and support more than most countries as we have our indigenous sports on top of a plethora of 'foreign' games. Thank goodness for the old sporting transferable skills otherwise we would be really muck. Anyway we spread ourselves thin but still punch above weight. LoI is one of the few markets that has the potential to grow given the oppertunity. The Aussies prior to the Sydney Olympics took an interesting stance on sports development in that they looked at the attributes of all sports folk and matched them to the sports that suited their strengths, trained them up and it worked. The Brits simply threw buckets of money at Olympic sports in general prior to 2012 and it worked for them too. The IRFU have been shedding the 'upper class' aspect of their player pool for years and back to back championships and a top 3 world ranking currently would indicate benefit of their homegrown priorities. GAA will most likely be the bastion of rural community. So we are left as being followers of the main participation sport on this isle yet as a sport that is marginalised by the self deprecating nature of our governing association. Dundalk FC is, by chance, cool to support in Dundalk now, it was in the past but is now really getting ingrained for a new generation as a Friday night place to be. Horse and dog racing on on the same friday nights.

Not sure if any f this is even relevant lol

Sorry, I should have clarified but I wasn't referring specifically to sports. A Longford Town game on a Saturday night is an event in the sense there's usually nothing else happening in town apart from pubs and maybe a cover band. In Cork or Dublin there's always more things competing for your cash on a Friday night, or even at the Spirit Store in Dundalk. Competing sports is another factor, though, but it's still incumbent on clubs to make sure there's a specific attraction to getting out to your local club regardless of what else is going on. That's what I was trying to get at.

**Acornvilla** · 28/04/2015, 8:24 AM

JP's is unreal hai...

**outspoken** · 28/04/2015, 8:46 AM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Sorry, I should have clarified but I wasn't referring specifically to sports. A Longford Town game on a Saturday night is an event in the sense there's usually nothing else happening in town apart from pubs and maybe a cover band. In Cork or Dublin there's always more things competing for your cash on a Friday night, or even at the Spirit Store in Dundalk. Competing sports is another factor, though, but it's still incumbent on clubs to make sure there's a specific attraction to getting out to your local club regardless of what else is going on. That's what I was trying to get at.

Don't think too many in longford see it that way unfortunately. While we've averaged over 1000 at home games so far that's been down to big away supporters, I'd say 600 home fans would be a more accurate average per game.

**Pablo Escobar** · 28/04/2015, 8:51 AM

Originally Posted by Nesta99

I had prattled on about specific average attendances but accidently caused the browser to refresh so all gone grrrr - probably no bad thing! I was being more specific but Cork City are getting about 4% support, Dundalk 8%, Glasgow C 1.6% Glasgow R. 1.1%, Leeds Utd 2002ish 3% now more the average of less than 2%. I posted up on Orielweb a while back on this and it seems the smaller the league/nation often the better support. The Faroes per head of population had the bast followed sides. The big cities and nations average around the 1%; so scale is the main factor even if Sky has EPL fans thinking that an entire city are at a game when in reality it is 'bouts the 1% mark and that falls if there is more than ne club in an urban area like Birmingham.

We're not even getting close to 4% support. There's about 400,000 living within a short commute of Turners Cross. So, in reality, our crowds are really nothing spectcular. Although, as with most clubs, the closer you live to the ground, the more likely you are to go to games.

**mcgonigle** · 28/04/2015, 8:51 AM

Originally Posted by dundalkfc10

Hardly Surprising is it considering they are 2plus hours away from nearly all away grounds?

Yes it is surprising and for me makes Caufield wrong. Cork are without doubt the best supported team at home but when you go from an average of ~5k at home to ~100 away it shows what the real core support is and how if results go south so will home attendances. Most away games are in leinster and the roads couldn't really be better, others being limerick, Sligo and Galway, are they really that far? It's no excuse for such a fluctuation in my opinion.

**El-Pietro** · 28/04/2015, 8:57 AM

Originally Posted by mcgonigle

Yes it is surprising and for me makes Caufield wrong. Cork are without doubt the best supported team at home but when you go from an average of ~5k at home to ~100 away it shows what the real core support is and how if results go south so will home attendances. Most away games are in leinster and the roads couldn't really be better, others being limerick, Sligo and Galway, are they really that far? It's no excuse for such a fluctuation in my opinion.

No league of Ireland club has further to travel than we do, we have one club within 2 hours distance. Limerick away is the only Friday trip many of our supporters can make without taking a half day from work.
Our away support is alright, not spectacular, but alright considering many of our traveling fans have to pick and choose between away games. We all choose not to travel to Dundalk.

**mcgonigle** · 28/04/2015, 9:09 AM

I understand the distances I just think they should be better if your manager is going to claim you're the best supported club. Your team need the support the most at away games in my opinion. And the "choose not to travel to Dundalk" thing is a cop out, if you support a team it shouldn't matter what you think of the ground or pitch. I don't like a lot of grounds in the league but I go to see my team play and support them.