largely speaking it is all relative. when I lived in donegal in the late nineties their support for championship was nothing to write home about. their support now which is impressive now has multiplied with success. there is a very dedicated hardcore of football support in galway and I can gurantee you going by ticket sales we will have the 2nd highest support on sunday. half our county is hurling and many of the hurling only will only come out if we get to a final or maybe semi final. the city is flaky enough and outside dublin we are probably the most migrated urban centre in the country with a nice proportion of no galwegian affiliation or gaa interest. the tourism argument is a weak one. sure we have comeout of 4 week successive weeks of the film fleadh, arts festival and now the races.

kiloughter (Galway) - Posts: 1947 - 01/08/2014 16:09:15    1629509

Galway v Kerry in an All Ireland quarter final. Both sets of fans wouldnt fill Cusack Park in Ennis. Cork are awful too. They were favourites in 2012 for the All Ireland and must have been outnumbered six to one in the semi final against Donegal.

All three sides have shocking support

Mayo the only side keeping attendance up but even they are taking Cork so lightly they are probably saving the pennies for Kerry in the semis. Their minors are playing beforehand so that might get them in early and make Croker not loos as empty

shaggykev (Donegal) - Posts: 203 - 01/08/2014 16:30:51    1629519

shea

come on man put tipp clare and limerick in leinster and they would be contesting finals regualrly are you for real
tipp have made brilliant strides this year and its great to see but to suggest they would have been making leinster finals regularly
is strange seen as they were still in division 4 this year. clare ran kerry and kildare close but that again is one year
they also have been in division 4 for a long time and made strides this year but no way would they have made leinster finals.
limerick are arguably in the worst position of the three currently
but up till last year would have been the strongest of them three and yet only for a few years in the mid 00tys
where they had some good matches with kerry they wouldnt be able to make leinster finals over the last 5 or 6 years anyway

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 01/08/2014 16:48:43    1629528

nextyear
County: Mayo
Posts: 4

1629415
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.


also a sizeable portion of them attending games in england are on holidays or over from abroad for weekends
man utd and so on would have at least 10 thousand supporters at most home matches that would only be there from another country
about once or twice a year to take in a match, gaa teams pull supporters solely from that one county you have to take that into account

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 01/08/2014 16:52:28    1629531

royaldunne
County: Meath
Posts: 6218

1629473
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 ou

looking that way as upper cusack been on sale and hill16 and lower decks are all but sold out already
and we only know two of the 4 teams and a lot of supporters would wait to see who they are playing.
also its next saturday evening haha dont want you wandering into croker next sunday to see the royals if ye win
and get a shock when the cats run out haha

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 01/08/2014 16:55:02    1629533

interesting comment from our football secretary whereever it came from. I was talking to a county board official and he seemed more positive than that. the thinking is locally that 7 to 8k will travel. i know this is nothing to write home about but success has a lot to do with some counties getting big support. mayo are probably the most consistent in football in commanding big support. thinking mayo will get 12 to 15k, kerry 5k and cork 4k. I would think 30k at most. I would be surprisd if sat eve gets 25k although all the counties are much closer. armagh I think will be the best supported of the 4.

kiloughter (Galway) - Posts: 1947 - 01/08/2014 16:58:56    1629537

football first - I couldn't agree more. Go to NY and you will countless advertising for Nicks, Rangers, Yankees, Jets games etc. A tourist in Dublin wouldn't even know a GAA game is on. We had a few yanks with us at Mayo v Dublin semi in 2012 (they were over for the College football game the day before) and were highly impressed with the game, supporters, atmosphere, Croke Park etc but they would never have known it was on only for we were up the night before and brought them along.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11236 - 01/08/2014 17:00:06    1629539

Football first, I set up a thread a while back'Why are more tourists not going to our games'. It was greeted with more apathy than positivity. Not only would the GAA profit, local shops, pubs, restaurants close to the grounds could make a few extra quid. I also vented this argument again on page 1 of this thread. Seems like The Yanks, in particular, and other countries, know a sales opportunity when they see it. Many of us here would rather finish early and close up than deal with a customer wanting to put his or hers hard-earned cash in our pocket.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 01/08/2014 17:50:10    1629554

I would predict that for Saturdays games Meath will possibly have the small support considering the apathy in the county after the leinster final. I'd expect Monaghan and Armagh to probably bring bigger crowds than both us and Kildare.

I think success is a big factor in support levels (except Kerry too much success). Irish fans in most sports tend to be band wagon jumpers, not saying I'm any better either. The reality is that there are only a small number of matches that get big crowds during the year which is perfectly fine considering populations in most counties.

It's hard to compare it to soccer where the the number of games is far greater. A example good is League of Ireland soccer fans. Small in numbers but extremely dedicated. They go to a huge number of games in the year which isn't cheap.

HighKings (Meath) - Posts: 271 - 01/08/2014 18:56:37    1629571

People have lives. The August bank holiday weekends is the height of the summer tourism season in many parts. There'll more people heading to Kerry for the bank holiday weekend than leaving the county. The GAA does compete with many festivals and what not that might be on at that time. The championship summer is great but some games do fall on weekends where people who would otherwise go are not in a position to make the games. There's no more or no less to the story. Even many All-Ireland semi-finals for one county are known to fall on the same weekend as a massive weekend in the county. If the GAA does not have the vision and foresight at this time to possibly look at the scheduling of games for certain counties away from weekends where their support are less likely to travel, a situation of low attendance is going to occur.

I have to add, I think this Sunday's quarter-finals are more appropriate for Sky. I thought they'd broadcast the games where people would be less likely to travel. There's going to be more people at the second weekend of quarter-finals and those games will be behind the Sky pay wall.

Also the A and B side of the draw is affecting the GAA coffers. If these quarter-finals were last year, I doubt the GAA would have held both of Sunday's quarter-finals on the same day.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7873 - 01/08/2014 19:36:51    1629584

I see some people think that Cork will have up to 6k at this game, not a hope in hell. Football in Cork from a county point of view is as low as it has ever been! The defeat to Kerry this has really hit home, obviously we have had a number of very tough defeats to them in the past 10 years and naturally this can take an effect in support. However I must say listening to some people slagging our support, I see one or two from Donegal especially is a bit rich. It's grand for counties who get big games in croke Park every now and again to see the team get a big following but have a look at the number of big games Cork have played in both codes over the past 10 years in Croke Park and people might start to understand why support can be very poor for the Cork footballers. We always have big numbers against Kerry, nearly always outnumber them in Killarney and even tho this years Munster final attendance was disappointing, all the support was from Cork.

Despite what people think there is a big cross over support between the two codes in Cork but hurling is generally no 1. Cork will again have close to 40k at the semi final in two weeks, people can't go every week. We are not expected to do well and if we do win, it's back up to Dublin for a semi with Kerry the week after the hurling (presuming they win). The simple fact is games against the likes of Sligo, Kildare, Down etc and no offence to any of these teams will not draw a crowd from Cork as they are not considered big games, much like most counties wont draw a crowd to league games.

Ben10 (Cork) - Posts: 25 - 01/08/2014 20:00:23    1629595

Kiloughter - in 03, we played you's in a Q final replay in Castlebar , we heavily outnumbered Galway (prob 2-1). For parts of Donegal , Castlebar was four if not more hours away . That was after Galway had won two Sams. Please stop with this tourism nonsense - every county on the West coast has massive tourism , it must be a mad coincidence that all of Kerry's football fans all have B&Bs . Any of you's guys sat on a car from West or North Donegal to Donegal : now that's a journey .

TheRightStuff (Donegal) - Posts: 1688 - 01/08/2014 20:08:54    1629600

Ben 10 I have to agree with you in relation to the Donegal semi final in 2012. You are right it was a rare big trip to croke park for us and 42,000 travelled from Donegal, 7000 from Cork and the rest were neutral from an attendance of 55000 but that was an absolute exception. Cork is a dual successful county so expense is huge but what you cannot argue with are the terrible attendances in Pairc Ui Rinn for Cork footabll matches. (usually around 2000 on a saturday night). We all slag Kerry for not attending Croker until September but the league attendances in Tralee and Killarney are usually 7-8000 plus (as strong as any other county outside Dublin).

Wexford, Tipp Limerick will always be hurling counties and maybe Cork is just primarily a hurling county but I can't understand why the Cork public turn out for the annual Kerry match and don't support the team after that. So Killarney may be a good town for pints but it's givign the team the 2 fingers by not going to the next game. The Sombrero wearer seemed pretty lonely last Saturday in Tullamore. We were beaten out the gate last year by Monaghan but still had 9000 in crowd of 11000 at the qualifier 6 days later in Carrick on Shannon

I remember a friend of mine telling me that a Tyrone supporter he knew was relived when they went out of the championship in 2006 from a financial pespective as himself and full family were in Croker 6 times in summer of 2005 (Ulster final draw & replay, Dubs draw and replay, Semi and All Ireland.

In my opion the Donegal team have serious kudos with our supporters and we could have a number of retirements this year. If this is McGuiness' last year all our supporters want to see the team off in style so support is probably at its strongest since around 2003/2004.

Just saying like.....

fintownsuburbs (Donegal) - Posts: 30 - 01/08/2014 21:09:17    1629621

yes the rightstuff you are right on that one but if you recall the drawn game that year in croker there was certainly more galway supporters at it from what i recall. I would think donegal folk thought they were onto something and in fairness came out in droves for the replay and the semi fjnal against armagh. also i was at a championship match in ballybofey in '99 against armagh and if anything the away team outnumbered the home team. my point is that a certain success brjng added support and on the flip side too much success tends to see support drop. it is like a bell shaped curve from my experience. I am with as you will see from my earlier post on the tourism thing. not really a factor.

kiloughter (Galway) - Posts: 1947 - 01/08/2014 21:19:22    1629632

TheMaster.....

I know quite well how the allocation works! I know also there were plenty of Mayo fans at their first game at the final last year.

The tickets should be allocated in a ratio system on average attendance

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 01/08/2014 21:50:45    1629645

fintownsuburbs
County: Donegal
So Killarney may be a good town for pints

It's a good spot alright. Corkonians love their biennial trip to Killarney, bar the result! Armagh as provincial winners should have hosted the quarter-final v Kerry in '06. Kerry as Munster champions should be hosting tomorrow's quarter-final v Galway. The semi-finals and finals are enough for Croke Park. Bring back the games to the provincial grounds.

Ben10 is right, like it or not, supporters who have been in Croker for a number of games through the years are likely to wait for the semi-finals shall their team get their. The GAA is at fault, too many games centralised to Croke Park. Traditionally it was always the semi-finals and final. Return to that.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7873 - 02/08/2014 10:27:31    1629688

there* duh!!!

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7873 - 02/08/2014 10:37:13    1629692

Legendzxix

Completely agree, if Kerry were hosting Galway tomorrow, Galway would still bring a decent support as it would be a huge novelty and Kerry would have a huge crowd behind them following their Munster final win, if Mayo were at home to Cork they would nearly fill the place on their own. That's what the GAA should be doing. Provincial champions should be at home for the QF. If Cork were to win MUnster, you can guarantee that there would be a big crowd down the Pairc for a qf rather than the couple of thousand in Croke Park tomorrow and just because we might not have a big support doesn't mean the GAA should stop trying to promote the game within the county. I agree that some counties mightn't be able to host such a game but then they could nominate the main provincial stadium. The GAA has to learn they need to bring the games to the people rather than the other way round

Ben10 (Cork) - Posts: 25 - 02/08/2014 10:49:39    1629697

If the will is there to move games such as quarter finals to closer venues to the participating counties then i'd say thats fair enough. If suitable grounds are available then i see no reason why they couldn't be utilised. If quarter finals in Thurles are good enough for Hurling then they should be good enough for Football too. But i would advocate that such decisions should be rational and not utopian. If Mayo were to play Donegal and the interest happened to be in the region of 60,000 then i see no reason why they would move that to a ground that held 30-40k when a perfectly good one that holds 80k+ is lying idle. If the interest is going the other way then of course it makes sense to consider alternatives.

This is merely hypothetical but I do think some sort of a shift is occurring in some counties and the days of fans travelling in the hope of success are decreasing. Crowds that feed off success and want to be a part of it will never go away but i do think the former is taking a hit. Leaving aside the weather this weekend but 30,000 is a paltry attendance for August Bank Holiday weekend football.

Of course its expensive but we are not talking about a huge amount of games here. For most counties its one championship trip to Croke Park a year per code if they are lucky. Come semi final time everyone comes out of the woodwork but maybe more people are waiting these days. I'd also be surprised if the relative expense of going to games now is much higher than 5-10-15-20 years ago.

I do get the feeling that some people that advocate such moves want all QF's moved out of Croke Park and i get the impression the same people would cry foul if some were moved and others were not. Ultimately the players and coaches may have the biggest say and come the knockout stages of the championship i think its fairly safe to assume that the majority would choose Croke Park. But like i said if two counties chose an alternative venue for a quarter final then they should be able to work with that, just don't expect the rest of us to follow suit.

seany16 (Dublin) - Posts: 1658 - 02/08/2014 11:52:23    1629734

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/gaa-fear-meagre-crowds-will-continue-277513.html

Just looking at the above article from the examiner. Although crowds are not as bad as the article implies the GAA hierarchy really need to move with the times and start advertising the games more.The GAA apparently are disappointed by attendance figure yet they do barely anything to try and increase attendances.

Why are there no billboards in Dublin advertising matches on a weekly basis a simple thing like that could add a few thousand neutrals to every Croke park match.There is a banner advertising Setanta sports coverage of the premier league in the city centre would it be beyond the GAA to do something similar.

The GAA have got to get more media savvy and have a president who actively tries to promote the games more rather than the last couple who have been very uninspiring to say the least.

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 02/08/2014 12:42:12    1629758