The Croke Park experience and atmosphere

[noby]

It may not have the same 'effect', but it is possible on a terrace/standing. They started to join in after about the third lap.

[jbyrne]

the wave should be banned along with the poxy band and playing pop tunes after a goal is scored.

have never come away from a match before so disillusioned with the whole match day experience (team performance and atmosphere) as i did on sat. by 2nd half i was just looking forward to my post match pint and promising myself id never attend a home match again

[Newryrep]

The anthem was sung with a lot more passion at big games in Lansdowne. Obviously a 3pm saturday kickoff didn't help and eveningg ames will be better but I think it was down to the performance and previous ones..

I actually thought the anthem was rushed, but at least they didnt have any body accompanying it.

The only reason why a 3pm Sat kick off should affect the atsmosphere is the type of people going to it. It actually suits me as i can get the train down and back and have a few beers and from the amount of people on the train plenty had the same idea.

[Peadar]

Spare a thought for the Welsh. They've only sold 15,000 of the 75,000 tickets for the San Marino game on Wednesday. Imagine what the atmosphere in Cardiff will be like!

[Collyontour]

Croker is crying out for a singing section. Too many people are happy to sit on their hands and stay quiet. Wednesday should be better but what will it be like for the Cyprus game if the performances don't improve?

[Peadar]

Croker is crying out for a singing section.

Lower Canal End is where it's at.

[piggy]

we were sitting in the lower cusack and the atmosphere was terrible. When we stood up for the "stand up for the boys in green" people were giving out and any attempt to sign or cheer was met with silence. The same people who didn't want to sing and shout were the first to sigh an moan when a move or a pass didn't come off. There is no point going to the game just for the occasion. How can people expect passion and heart from the players on the pitch if a load of the "supporters" are sterile and silent.

[WexDec]

Now certainly a lot of block bookings are in the "wrong hands" It must be frustrating for those fans not on the BB list. However that problem may well be resolved by a few more bad performances. I was shocked to see some of the corporate boxes were empty on Saturday. When the bill from the fAI for the next batch of games comes through in July or august some people won't be sending the money back.

Good it'll free up loads of tickets for people that want to support the team and purify the waiting list for LR and future Croker matches and even shred some waning block bookers

[DubJohn]

The only thing more cringeworthy than the mexican wave was the booing of the Welsh for not joining in.

Close, but incorrect..

More cringeworthy still was the "Who are ya" chants in foreign accents.

[WexDec]

The atmosphere in LR was much superior than what we had on sat, however I am hoping that the night game on wed will give us a better atmosphere. Very disappointed with the pitch as well, very very bobbly.

Yeah the night game under the lights should generally up the atmosphere and despite the performance we did get 3 points and the German result was favourable so in terms of a competitve edge this match does now represent something very important. Certainly much more so than if we had lost or drew. Just look at the reports from the Welsh camp going into a San Marino home match after losing to a poorly performing Irish team - incidentally having the double effect of giving us some confidence for the game away to them however undeserved and their heads dropping qualification prospect wise, but thats another day. It was a must win game and we won it. If we follow that up it might have a big effect on the players. Forget about Stan, I'm talking about the players themselves.

Noticed how bobbly the pitch was and had heard about that in advance what with the rugby being played there. It can show up more in the afternoon sun of course. The ball seemed to look like it weighed a ton too even when either back four were passing it around, very slow pitch. Heard something about the pitch being "rolled" in the interim between matches ?

[pineapple stu]

Croker is crying out for a singing section.

Definitely. You can blame the FAI on that one. It was suggested to them, they agreed to go with it, the press release was written for them, all they had to do was add one box to the letter to the block bookers and then arrange everyone who ticked that box in the one area, but then they didn't bother.

[KoemansCC]

Lower Canal End is where it's at.

I assume that's where all the EL fans were seated...

[SuperDave]

we were sitting in the lower cusack and the atmosphere was terrible. When we stood up for the "stand up for the boys in green" people were giving out and any attempt to sign or cheer was met with silence. The same people who didn't want to sing and shout were the first to sigh an moan when a move or a pass didn't come off. There is no point going to the game just for the occasion. How can people expect passion and heart from the players on the pitch if a load of the "supporters" are sterile and silent.

same as me. upper hogan 728 back row. when i sang, there were about 5 people around joined in and the rows and rows in front sat silently. I was later informed that some people actually looked round when i started singing as if to say who is that dude? *******s. I even said (in a fairly loud voice, each time a song died as a result of the lack of vocal support) "who are these people?" in an attempt to generate a response. But all i seemed to get was further contempt from people i hold in something lower than contempt. Shocking freeloaders. Too many first timers about.

and did anyone else notice the empty block of seats atop the cusack?

[WexDec]

Lets hope 20,000 or so of the day trippers stay away on wed and the 50,000 there can create and atmosphere.

Exactly (although being a bit pedantic I hate the term day trippers to describe non-regulars as all us culchies, corkonians, northies etc. are actually day tripping for the matches. Valid for English club teams but hardly for a national team)

On a side note, the corporate people obviously didnt fancy the fixture, there were rows of seats free in the centre block of the stand to our right in the upper tier.

You know what, f*ck 'em !

[DeNiro]

and did anyone else notice the empty block of seats atop the cusack?[/QUOTE]

That was for a cameraman I thought!

[strangeirish]

and did anyone else notice the empty block of seats atop the cusack?

That was for a cameraman I thought!

[/QUOTE]


Must have been a big lad!

[soccerc]

and did anyone else notice the empty block of seats atop the cusack?

All these empty seats in the Cusack

[SuperDave]

All these empty seats in the Cusack

haha

the premium level was pretty full. it was the block above i was on about.

[WexDec]

All the Welsh were already standing, as they did for the whole game, so they couldn't very well join in.

Some were, a fair percentage initially, crouching over and up with their arms. Could clearly see it as we were in 302 Cusack but I guess you wouldn't from the far end so why would they bother then when getting booed (....or at all anyway)

[WexDec]

Spare a thought for the Welsh. They've only sold 15,000 of the 75,000 tickets for the San Marino game on Wednesday. Imagine what the atmosphere in Cardiff will be like!

They should give them out free to schools then, try and get the next generation going. Its a good contrast though to the speculation about the atmosphere on Wednesday. We did get 3 points so it could be worse and should be getting behind the team to follow that up and build some momentum regardless of prevous performances and results.