over 30,000 to Paris 2 years ago!! think that was the biggest! Was itOriginally Posted by Dassa
Was just wondering what sort of away support the Republic would get at away matches? I remember hearing about 10,000 going to some places would this be accurate?
over 30,000 to Paris 2 years ago!! think that was the biggest! Was it
Thats unbelievable if true,must be one of the biggest away supports in relation to the size of the country in the world.
Imagine how healthy our domestic league would be if these people actually attended it
KOH
Stuttgart in Sept will also be big 10000-20000 i'd say
I'd also hazzard a guess that 30000+ will travel to Cardiff, obviously not all will get in to see the match. Expect Cardiff to be drank dry that week. (Fingers crossed we'll still be in a position to qualify)
"If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better." Johan Cruyff
The Faroes brought about 300 to Dublin, which is about the same!
It varies from game to game obviously. From the few that I've been at recently, there were about 11,000 in Cyprus, while the home fans section was taken up by Irish forces stationed in Cyprus, there were 30,000-35,000 in Paris, 15,000-20,000 in Basel Mark I (2003) and 300-500 in the Faroes, though another couple of hundred were fog-bound and never made it; I think they we have broken the Faroes' record for away crowd had everyone travelled. I think there were 20,000 in Portugal in 1995? That's mainly the big games and the decisive games though.
Incredible - and sad - to think more people travelled to Paris than would attend an entire fortnight of eircom League games
not trying to stir anything up but there is a big big difference in the quality of play between the Eircom League and the French national team.
No, but more people spending a grand on a one match 500 miles away - presumably getting tickets off EBay and random French people - versus spending fifteen quid on a game a couple of miles away? Hugely disproportionate effort, cost, etc. Just goes to show the potential for football in Ireland if we can get people away from the hype on the telly...
I have to agree with Vega. I'd prefer to pay full costs for one Ireland away game than get free admission to a full season of EL games. Just because the EL exists does not mean that Irish supporters should feel obliged to attend its games.
"Love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe." Dillo
The Stadium has a capacity of only 52,000 so there's no way there'll be that amount of Patricks over there. Germany has a population of 85,000,000 remember. Five or six thousand is more logical estimate for Stuttgart.
I think its a shame the Eircom League can't get more support. We all know its of a poor standard but a large increase at the gates could only improve this in the long run.
Last edited by Dillo; 06/04/2006 at 8:27 AM.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
People aren't being asked to choose though. They can easily do both.
Anyways, getting dragged off topic here.
85,000 in Germany fair play to them most of the country must be going to the game then !!
Holy sh!t thats nearly as big as Tallaght
They still can't produce a player like Robbie Keane.Holy sh!t thats nearly as big as Tallaght
"Love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe." Dillo
Mate why not do both, i go to Loughgall matches every week and every NI match as well as some away matches. Personally love the feeling of supporting your local team one week then getting the treat of the internationals every few months.
At the world cup, there were no saudi or cameroon fans. The Germans were the best supported team we played with about maybe 2 to 4,000 people at that game. I met a spanish journalist before the last 16 game and he told me there were only 500 fans in total from Spain at the world cup including press and teams and officials.
Anyway, we had somewhere between 10 and 15,000 at each game. Spain and Germany have huge populations compared to us and are supposed to be football obsessed countries and yet we outnumbered them greatly. England were the only other travelling team with a similar support.
In short, we have a fantastic away support. I reckon we will probably get a good 15,000 into the game in stuttgart too. Even more of us will get tickets if the germans do crap at the world cup.
TC
Thats really surprising,is this figure official. NI would have a greater number if we qualifield and we are a nation of 1.6 million compared to spain. this cant be the case at all, if so very scary, is it really official figures?
PS. dont know much about foot.ie but why was this moved?.
Last edited by Dassa; 06/04/2006 at 12:23 AM.
A lot of this is related to what people are saying in this thread about supporting your domestic league.
Football fans in Germany and Spain are fanatical about their local teams, whether its Barca or Cadiz, Bayern Munich or Kickers Offenbach. If your figures are correct then most clubs in German or Spanish top divisions take considerably more fans to away games than the National team. The same is true of fan in the UK (although the "Andy Gray army" fans of the last 10 years may differ) where most fans would support their local team ahead of the England side any day of the week.
Compare this to the Irish situation and you see the real picture, Irish football fans are event junkies. Turn up in their droves for the big games, be it rugby, GAA or soccer but not interested in the day to day grind of actually SUPPORTING a team. They want to say "I was there" and harp on about "de craic we had" down the pub for the next ten years. They'll pay a fortune to get to one BIG game be it old trafford or the Stade De France and that will do them for another 6 months. They'll pack Croker for the Dubs in the Leinster Championship but a rainy league game in Parnell Park will get a few thousand die hards. Leinster V Munster in the Heineken Cup could sell 100,000 tickets but how many were at the first round game?
And don't tell me its about quality of football, there are $hit games in the Premiership every week, boring 0-0 draws in Serie A, and there are 3-3 thrillers too, classic games with all at stake and passion abounding. Same is true of the Eircom league or any other league in the world.
Besides, when you SUPPORT a team you don't care what the quality of a match is as long as you win. Its about YOUR team beating somebody else. Don't believe me, how many Ireland fans would be sorry if we beat Brazil in the World Cup on penalties after a $hit game. When you support a team you take the $hit games with the sublime ones, and its all relative.
In general, as with many aspects of Irish society, when it comes to football the Irish nation is lazy, couldn't be bothered to put the work in when you can turn up 2 or 3 times a year and bask in the excitment of a BIG game.
I know the above ramblings are fairly broad generalisations and many people reading won't fit the category so don't get offended, but the thing with broad generalisation is that they are generally broadly true! There will be Irish fans in Stuttgart who will be running round wearing Scottish and English club shirts and will not be able to name one player on the team that plays down the road from them who were in Europe last year. There will also be those of us who are slightly peeved that we have to miss an away trip to Limerick to be there. I will always have more respect for people in the latter category, and feel sorry for the others who don't know what they are missing.
The best football match I have ever experienced was the 3-3 aggregate draw between Harps and Longford in the promotion relegation playoff in 2002 i think it was. 1-0 down from first leg and trailing 2-0 on aggregate at HT a McQ hat trick puts us back in front, only to go to penalties and lose on the last kick. The atmosphere, the excitement, the tears of joy, the tears of despair, the pride in your team even in defeat, the final realisation that we had to come back and do it all again next year, and looking forward to it before the night was out. Thats football.
TG
Its a free country people can go to Eircom league games if they want or they can choose to ignore them if they want. Less of people getting on their high horse. People are entitled to support who ever or whatever they like.
The analogy I always use is Music. Like football music is a form of culture. Should people be made to go see Mundy the Frames, Delcan O Rourke instead of Metallica or Bob Dylan in order to support their own. People can do whatever they want and its up to the organisers of each league around the world to get as many people to the games as possible.
Also you have to realise that there are some people who like going to Paris etc as its a bit of a trip with the lads and they are enjoying themselves. I have spoke to a few like that and they have gone to Eircom league games as they dont enjoy it. Its a fact of life that some people prefer the whole event side of things rather than the pure footballing aspect of an away trip.
What must happen though is that people who just go to the big trips etc do not get the tickets. Thats when you have a problem.
In Trap we trust
Dillo I think it's fair to say that the Irish contingent actually inside the ground on Sept 2nd will be alot more than the allocation of tickets that the DFB will supply to the FAI.
You have to remember that Germany will be coming into this game after a home world cup. Traditionally host nations have always done well in the world cup. 7 host nations have won the world cup not to mention the number of host nations that have made it to the final. Hopefully for irish fans this will lead to a football overload in germany meaning not alot of fans will travel to stuttgart.
For both Ireland and Germany this is the first game in the European Championship Qualifiers. This is a competition Germany have never failed to win the qualifying group compared to Ireland who have only ever qualified for once.
Alot of fans will also travel without tickets and not make it in to see the match.
"If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better." Johan Cruyff
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