Attendance discussion

[CollegeTillIDie]

Well your crowds are definitely down! This years crowd at Dalymount between Rovers and College has got to be the smallest "home" crowd at a Rovers V UCD game in living memory, and some members of your 400 club told me as much on the night.

[NY Hoop]

Well your crowds are definitely down! This years crowd at Dalymount between Rovers and College has got to be the smallest "home" crowd at a Rovers V UCD game in living memory, and some members of your 400 club told me as much on the night.

I meant the overall crowds You cant say "Oh Rovers crowds are down lets revert back to playing in the winter"!

Official attendance was 1046 that night. Check that against boez, shels and pats home games against you and get back to me. Factor in the fact that we dont have a home ground, a team in the lower half of the table and that the club had changed ownership I would consider it a not bad crowd for the opposition concerned.

I'll give you a smaller crowd for a Rovers "home" game against UCD: Season 1987/88.

KOH

[CollegeTillIDie]

Shels pulled in more than 2000 against us on the opening Day of the season. As regards the other games I don't have that info.
If my club had won 24 Cups and 15 League titles and were teetering on the brink of extinction at one point in the season, I would expect more fans to rally to the cause than 1,046. And I am equally disappointed by the relative apathy of WUFC supporters this season at a time when they badly needed strong attendances they pulled in under 500 to a home game against us.

[CollegeTillIDie]

If games which are six-pointers cannot draw the crowds then nothing can.
Successful teams and teams in danger of the drop should have huge crowds as their games are "interesting" and their results have some bearing on matters in the table. Mid-table teams possibly might struggle on the basis that their results do not effect anything i.e. safe from the drop and no hope of making Europe.

[pineapple stu]

Well your crowds are definitely down!

In fact, the attendance thread here (which I always say isn't definitive, but is the best guide you'll get) shows Rovers' crowds up 11% this season. Overall crowds for the entire league are down 0.67%.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Well pineapple stu I have maintained that crowds are down and you have proved me correct... Overall crowds are down... I am not imagining things. I hadn't seen a Rovers match since 2003 so that was what I was comparing their crowds with.

[pineapple stu]

Well pineapple stu I have maintained that crowds are down and you have proved me correct... Overall crowds are down...

Given that attendances are guesstimates and not official, 0.67% - 8 people - cannot be taken as conclusive proof that attendances are down. In particular you have to consider more official attendances (e.g. Cork) which are replace over-high guesstimates, and also the fact that we've gotten a much higher percentage of First Division figures, which would drive the figures down. I'd say in reality, attendances are actually up this season, but our stats aren't accurate enough to show that.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Seems to be a lot more empty seats on TV highlights these days

[pineapple stu]

Oh come on!!

Shels' average crowd is about 2,000. They play in a 9,000-capacity ground. Their ground is therefore typically 75% empty anyway. That's the same for a lot of clubs - us, Bohs, Longford, etc., etc. You're not going to notice the difference between a 70% empty ground and a 75% empty ground on telly.

[CollegeTillIDie]

It depends on where they choose to sit now doesn't it?

[pineapple stu]

Well then you've just defeated your own argument that grounds looking emptier on telly means crowds are down - sure they could be sitting in the stand with the camera!

[CollegeTillIDie]

Well then you've just defeated your own argument that grounds looking emptier on telly means crowds are down - sure they could be sitting in the stand with the camera!

In places like Dalymount and RSC that is the case. It is not however in Richmond Park, Tolka Park, Flancare Par, Brandywell and even in Belfield where the cameras are opposite the main popular stands in each ground.

As regards soccer v other sports in terms of attendances, I was at a Leinster Provincial Hurling game yesterday and there were less than 200 punters at it.
Oh and UCD won by 3-25 to 1-3

[CollegeTillIDie]

[/QUOTE]I think 689 was the paying attendance at UCD-Bohs. We reckoned about 800, the difference being the freebies. Worst crowd I've seen at a UCD-Bohs league game.[/QUOTE]

pineapple stu

You posted this in another thread, making my very point elsewhere.
You cannot have it both ways!

[NY Hoop]

Oh sweet Jesus you are like a dog with a frisbee, you wont let go.

Attendances overall are the same and the results in Europe are better. They are facts whether you like them or not. This agenda you are pursuing is unhealthy. There are no sane reasons to go back to the old days.

KOH

[CollegeTillIDie]

Oh sweet Jesus you are like a dog with a frisbee, you wont let go.

Attendances overall are the same and the results in Europe are better. They are facts whether you like them or not. This agenda you are pursuing is unhealthy. There are no sane reasons to go back to the old days.

KOH

I am not saying going back to the old days is a solution I am saying summer soccer has not had a beneficial effect on attendances. Our crowd against one of the leading sides for the title last night , in spite of being boosted by visiting supporters of Cork City as well as our opponents was less than 500.
Pathetic... and it was freezing last night!

[pineapple stu]

I am saying summer soccer has not had a beneficial effect on attendances.

No, you said summer soccer has failed UCD. However, you fail to state what you expected from summer soccer which has failed to happen.

As for the Derry game - it was a Monday, which straight off is bad for crowds. It was Hallowe'en, so our younger support in particular would have had plenty to be doing. The weather, as you mentioned, was not conducive to watching football - lashing all day and freezing that night. It wasn't a Bank Holiday in the North, which made it harder for the Derry fans to travel. There were about 10 Cork fans at the game. Two or three years ago, we were getting 200-250 for UCD-Derry. Now 443 is down?

[exile]

have to say being at the ucd game on monday 10/10 for effort from the ucd fans, but ye were still crap , i have no idea how ye are going to attract more support

[pineapple stu]

but ye were still crap

Who, the fans or the team...?

Monday night was fairly crap - Hallowe'en and Monday meant a few were missing. We should have more in Longford in two weeks than we had against Derry - hopefully 15 or so - so that's a sign that we are starting to get some people together. Every bus we've done in the last couple of years has had someone new on it as well, which is positive. It's hard work to get new people to come along, but it's no different for us than for any other small club.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Who, the fans or the team...?

Monday night was fairly crap - Hallowe'en and Monday meant a few were missing. We should have more in Longford in two weeks than we had against Derry - hopefully 15 or so - so that's a sign that we are starting to get some people together. Every bus we've done in the last couple of years has had someone new on it as well, which is positive. It's hard work to get new people to come along, but it's no different for us than for any other small club.

443 for a top of the table team visiting Belfield is a muckly awful attendance.
We should be getting those kind of attendances when we are in the First Division not the Premier ...

Well if we fail to attract fans as an entire League, all the clubs will eventually go bust and there will be no League.......

[pineapple stu]

443 for a top of the table team visiting Belfield is a muckly awful attendance.

No it's not - not for us anyway. We were getting 250 a couple of years ago for Derry games. This was on a Hallowe'en Monday night. Games not played on your regular night always get poorer attendances - look at 700 or so at Shels v. Bray the same night.

We should be getting those kind of attendances when we are in the First Division not the Premier ...

Why "should" we? There's no basis for that at all looking back at our last 25 years. In fact, I think we only twice got over 450 last season in the league.

Well if we fail to attract fans as an entire League, all the clubs will eventually go bust and there will be no League.......

Eh?! We've shown that attendances are probably up this season. One semi-decent (for us) UCD attendance which falls below the league average and suddenly the whole league is going broke? Come on!