https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Because stating that "only 1.7% of Sligo Town is attending Rovers matches" is rather unimportant.
Stating that, "an extra 10,000 people came through the gates in 2017 compared to 2016" would be a much better comparison.
It should matter little where they're coming from, or what percentage of which town is attending.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
There are none so blind as those who cannot see
It seems to me that one argument is from a statistical perspective, while the other is from a marketing viewpoint.
It is possible that both are valid viewpoints
It's a poor argument even from a statistical perspective though, as there are far too many confounding factors. For example, while we're obviously a Cork team, we draw fans from beyond Cork. Looking solely at a team and their areas population doesn't work for many teams. Then you've got things like areas which may have a large population, but similarly have other draws with large attendances taking away from the potential attendances at their games. For us, we've strong GAA teams in both codes, Munster rugby on the stadium's doorstep etc. Other areas would have similar challenges. In an area where football was the main/most successful sport, that would be a different story.
From an overall perspective, all LOI attendances are poor. What matters at this point is growth.
I’m going to go out on a limb here but I reckon attendances will be shocking for Game Week 4.
Population is definitely relevant. But also important is how interested that population is in local football, how good the facilities are, how the team are performing, the proportion of that population that live conveniently close to the stadium, how likely that population is likely to "jump on the bandwagon" (County Cork for Cork City > Dublin City for Pat's, Bohs etc) etc etc etc. So you can't be too simplistic. The easiest thing to do probably is to compare to previous seasons.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
I know for ourselves in our early days in the top flight in the early 2000s we got our highest ever crowds but that was cos of winter football plus combination of no GAA plus we were doing so well brought the bandwagon brigade out hugely. theres so many people I know in Longford that used to go but haven't gone in over 15 years.. Summer soccer was the killer for the country clubs I am afraid!
Gary Cronin is he the right man to manage Longford Town?
The GCSP, Great Cork Sporting Public, (ironically used) is a huge factor for us. When we're on a roll and there's a bit of buzz about, everyone wants to be able to say there were there when something important happened. If everyone that claims to have seen us win the league in 2005 was actually there, we could have filled The Aviva.
The distance between the non-Dublin clubs is a hindrance to bigger LoI crowds I think. There is a reason the GAA still wants to keep the provincial championships. Local rivalries result in better crowds. It would be interesting to compare Cork's visiting fans numbers last year with say Bray and St Pats; would the Dublin area based clubs be higher?
Clusters of clubs outside Dublin would help in this regard. Get Cork back to the Hibs and Celtic days along with Cobh and Waterford to create one.
I disagree in part. I think that Cork being a one club city is what means the city gets behind them. Anyone with a passing interest in soccer in the city (or county perhaps, I don't know the dynamics well) is a potential Cork fan because they have Cork in the name and represent the area. Same goes for other towns/cities/counties with a market to themselves. If you dilute that, you lose the bandwagon effect. Dublin GAA can potentially draw on the entire population of County Dublin if they get to the all-Ireland final. But Pat's, Bohs, Shels can't. I'd wager that the average barstooler in Cork is far more likely to get behind Cork City than his equivalent in Dublin as regards any of the Dublin clubs.
However, i would like to see new (or old) markets being explored outside of Dublin. Hopefully we'll see Monaghan, Kilkenny, some Kerry representative emerge from the underage league to senior football in the years to come.
"If you don't work harder I'll pull you off at halftime,"
“Crikey, at Manchester City all we get is an orange and a cup of tea,"
Huge amount of our support is from the County. Fermoy, West Cork etc all regularly have busses running. We also get a lot of support from surrounding counties without clubs like Kerry and Tipp
Completely disagree with that. Demographics are hugely important. Governments pay small fortunes on surveys for a very good reason.
If your only comparison on your crowds is with last season then you are limiting your club big time. Knowing ages, sexes, where they are coming, how far they will travel, etc. from the population is huge and helps to plan marketing, promotions and where clubs need to focus their efforts both locally and further a field.
Manager: Fergal, have you your boots with ya?
Fergal: Ya, I have them here.
Manager: Ah good stuff, well give them to this man so, he forgot his!
The point about rural support is also true for Galway from my observations, very substantial numbers come from outside the city. In Ireland sport participation including attendance is a bigger part of people's lives for those outside the big urban centers. However West Cork soccer fans could still support either Cork Hibs or Celtic and have 4 derby games per year to look forward too. Also my idea of clusters is that these fans could run buses to a few away games as well as to Turners X. I am sure the fans of Dublin clubs on this forum do go to quite a few of their away games in the Dublin region.
948 for Limerick Vs Bray, maybe 20 Bray fans.
attendance in Oriel Park for Dundalk vs Cork City is a strong 3,563
And all 20 getting a handshake from the chairman, or so it seemed
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