Hermit - Donegal and Mayo are counties that also thrive on tourism . It's a pretty crude excuse as to why Kerry fans don't travel . Then again , you's have been so successful that the novelty probably wares off !

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 01/08/2014 13:21:51    1629395

Its a misnomer that Kerry don't support their team until the bossiness end of competitions. Surely enough of ye have been down here for league matches to see how high attendances are for our home games. Maybe there was a temptation by some during the glory days of 2004-2009 to wait for the big day out, but these days I think most supporters down here realise this young team needs their support. I also think my explanation above is valid as to why Kerry's numbers are not greater during the summer.

And even for those who want to travel and not try and attempt it in one day, its very expense. Its costing me €150 for a two night stay in Dublin this weekend, plus train ticket, plus match tickets not to mention a few drinks, food etc. Happy to pay it of course to cheer on D Kingdom! But what about those with a family.

Also, while the motorway from Limerick has really cut down on travel times, you still have to get to Limerick first. Coming from north Kerry that's a 90 minute drive in itself, what about some poor fella coming up from Waterville or across from Dunquinn?! Even a day trip takes a lot of time and effort.

Point being, I wouldn't be too harsh on those who decide its not worth the effort on Sunday whether coming from Kerry or places like Mayo, because it can be a hell of an effort.

It would be interesting to compare Sunday's attendance with Saturday's considering those 4 teams involved are within 2 hour commute of Dublin!

TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 01/08/2014 13:27:42    1629400

Just one point re comparisons with premier league attendances. Most of the attendants at premier league games are home fans from large cities. We have 4 away teams in Dublin this weekend. It's not a fair comparison.

nextyear (Mayo) - Posts: 60 - 01/08/2014 13:43:24    1629415

Hermit, €150 for 2 lie-downs in Dublin is a good deal!

Fair play to you for travelling. Win lose or draw I'll be in Gills or the Tree afterwards.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 01/08/2014 13:45:45    1629418

Hermit, €150 for 2 lie-downs in Dublin is a good deal!

Fair play to you for travelling. Win lose or draw I'll be in Gills or the Tree afterwards.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 01/08/2014 13:55:41    1629425

Jaysus I don't know Red and Green that's per person by the way for a double room!!

Is the big tree still open by the way? I was coming into the city from Dublin Airport last Thursday night at around 10pm and when I passed it is was all dark and closed up. I'll admit I never usually venture up that side for pre/post match drink.

I'm more the traditional Kerry drinking route;Mullingans, Palace, Sean O'Caseys. Actually can't wait to head into Mulligans for one Sunday morning before heading on up!!

TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 01/08/2014 14:09:07    1629436

As far as i know the Big Tree is still open.Apart from match days it struggles for business bigtime.Im a big fan of Sean O Caseys.Was only in there last Sunday for a few.Lads which ever way ye dress it up 30,000 is a poor crowd for 4 big and successful counties like that.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 01/08/2014 14:18:25    1629439

first off you cannot just simply say because last years double header got 64 thousand it should get somewhere similiar
this year, you have to compare the teams playing.
30-35 thousand is what you would expect for this as that to me is not big or not bad crowd.
kerry,cork and galway arent hugely known for travelling to football matches outside of all ireland semi finals and finals.
mayo will bring the bulk of that crowd id predict.
last year you had donegal v mayo as the main match which was a repeat of the all ireland final the year before
so that was obviously going to be a huge crowd puller, you also had cavan appear at this stage for the first time in years
and they certainly brought a big crowd with them to have the chance to see their team play kerry which was huge for them.
this year kerry v galway and mayo v cork are not as big crowd pullers.
you have the quarter finals crowd pullers mostly on the other side of the draw
with dublin and donegal both on the same day
with meath,kildare,monaghan and armagh also tend to bring bigger crowds for that stage of the competition than any of the three teams
outside of mayo this sunday.
there was 43 thousand in thurles last weekend for the hurling quarter finals and that was classed as a huge attendance
if you consider you had 3 countys who traditionaly are big hurling supporters at that stage of the competition and one of them
being a home county for supporters in comparison to 3 countys not being big crowd pullers this weekend and all of them having to travel far enough to croker if theres only 8 thousand less or so you can hardly class that as a small crowd.
also anybody saying because will only be half full attendance will suffer
thurles was packed last weekend and atmosphere was non existent.

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 01/08/2014 14:23:24    1629442

Mayo: 20,000. Cork and Kerry: 6,000. Galway: 10,000? Armagh: 1,000. Neutrals: 2,000. That's 40,000. Do ye think this is realistic lads?

mayoaresavage (Mayo) - Posts: 313 - 01/08/2014 14:40:10    1629453

I know a few lads that were thinking of heading on Saturday but were not willing to be sat in the corner (fair weather supporters). Opening up the central areas of the upper stands before trying to fill the lower Davin might bring in a few more thousand.

mhunicean_abu (Monaghan) - Posts: 1044 - 01/08/2014 14:40:30    1629454

Excellent post Hill16

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 01/08/2014 14:58:02    1629468

I'd agree with hill if for argument sake next Sunday you have Meath v Donegal Dublin v Kildare. It'd be close to a sell out.

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 01/08/2014 15:05:08    1629473

Quite similar to my original one Greengrass !!!

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 01/08/2014 15:20:49    1629486

The Big Tree only opens for big match days/concerts etc these times as far as I know. I remember the manager there once told me that on a single day's takings from a "rural" All Ireland final such as Donegal vs Mayo for example you could probably build a house! So they're not that badly off!

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9155 - 01/08/2014 15:22:01    1629489

shea
County: Kerry
Posts: 357

Liam O Neill said there was no issue in moving games from Croker "I'd say the only way you could play quarter- or semi-finals elsewhere would be by agreement or if it happened that you had two counties that were geographically well located to be in a different stadium "

From this i would think your assertion that the myth of all qfinals being fixed from croke park is false is a correct one

Was recently suggested on previous thread but would be good idea to give
1 - home advantage to provincial final winner or home province if home grounx not big enough so would probably put donegal in ballybofey - crowds would be bigger i think
2 - home advantage to provincial runner up in round 4a

only downside is that kerry cork would now have even easier route to semis/quarters

as poster above said - most teams and management would prefer qfinals in croke park - i know for limerick in 2011 it was all about getting to croke park more so than quarter finals

janesboro (Limerick) - Posts: 1502 - 01/08/2014 15:25:48    1629491

Mayoaresavage - that's very unrealistic , in last years Q final , Donegal had more support than Mayo and it wasn't 20,000. Are you joking with 10,000 from Galway??? Galway will have no more than 5 thousand . I'd say Mayo 10,000, Cork 2 (Max) , Kerry 3-4 max . Maybe 1000 Armagh and a thousand neutrals . In all , 21-24 thousand !

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 01/08/2014 15:36:01    1629495

Galway football board secretary Seamus O'Grady believes no more than 5,000 supporters will follow Alan Mulholland's charges to Croke Park on Sunday despite the county's senior footballers are returning to the quarter-final stage after a six-year absence.

"I couldn't see any more than 5,000 Galway supporters in Croker. That would be a decent number if we do get it. The Galway Races are this week and that tends to hit people's pockets," reasoned O'Grady.

shea (Kerry) - Posts: 409 - 01/08/2014 15:55:30    1629503

30,000 tickets sold at of 1:00pm today so between now and then and walk in's etc, I would say we might have close to 40,000 in Croke Park Sunday (hopefully)

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11236 - 01/08/2014 15:56:54    1629505

janesboro
County: Limerick
Posts: 33

1 - home advantage to provincial final winner or home province if home grounx not big enough so would probably put donegal in ballybofey - crowds would be bigger i think
2 - home advantage to provincial runner up in round 4a

only downside is that kerry cork would now have even easier route to semis/quarters

Ahh come off it,Sure Dublin and Mayo have it as easy

Put Tipp,Clare and Limerick into Leinster or Connacht and they would be contesting finals regularly

shea (Kerry) - Posts: 409 - 01/08/2014 16:03:00    1629507

It's amazing that "quarter-final Sundays" aren't sold as attractive packages to tourists and neutrals every year. With a bit of help from Bord Failte, it shouldn't be too difficult to "sell" this as a cultural event to tourists who are already in Dublin for the weekend. With a bit of PR, special ticketing packages etc, surely it should be possible to boost the attendance by 10,000?

football first (None) - Posts: 1259 - 01/08/2014 16:04:51    1629508