Almost 5,000 fans turned up to Richmond Park last Tuesday night to cheer on Premier League giants Newcastle United against League of Ireland club St Patrick’s Athletic.
Newcastle themselves sold over 2,000 tickets for the game in the UK, with those fans flying over to Dublin to cheer on Rafa Benitez’ men in their first pre-season game.
So that means 3,000 St Pat’s fans, Newcastle fans in Ireland and other supporters bought tickets for the match.
Around a third of that figure (1,290) attended Pat’s last home game in the league against league leaders Dundalk while a similar crowd (estimated 1,600) cheered the Saints on in a dramatic 2-1 win over Limerick last Friday, three days after the Newcastle game.
So those Dundalk and Limerick attendances combined, make up just over half of the crowd that watched Newcastle’s 2-0 win at Richmond Park.
I’m not sure if that’s a cause for concern or optimism, or maybe both!
Stats
This season, our highest home attendance in an SSE Airtricity League game was for Cork City’s 1-0 win over title rivals Dundalk in April, with just under 7,000 fans at the game.
City beat the Lilywhites in an FAI Cup final thriller in front of 24,000 supporters at The Aviva last November.
Dundalk and Waterford have also seen healthy attendances this season, with FAI Competitions Director Fran Gavin quick to point out that attendances are up this campaign.
Moving further back, a League of Ireland XI lost 7-1 to Manchester United in front of 49,000 fans at a sold out Aviva Stadium back in 2010.
Celtic, Manchester City, Inter Milan and a League of Ireland XI competed in the Dublin Super Cup at The Aviva in front of similar crowds the following year.
So they are some recent stats in terms of the types of crowds that have watched club football games in Ireland in recent years.
But how can we attract more of the armchair / barstool football fans and families into League of Ireland games?
Bums On Seats
This has been a much talked about debate in Irish football in recent years and many people have brought many ideas to the table.
For me, it starts with the community and it starts with the local kids.
Most LOI clubs are starting to make tracks into their local communities in terms of coaching, camps, school projects and other activities to help engage with young people in the area.
The key is to try to get these kids, who’ll need their parents with them, into a game on a Friday night and to try to make it an enjoyable experience for them.
The huge numbers of young people in local schools are other possible new fans but how many clubs have full-time staff responsible for this? The answer is not nearly enough.
Let’s be clear, a child or 5/6/7/8 year-old is not going to any football match to really watch the football, and I’d include English Premier League and Ireland international games there too.
They are going for a day out with their family and some friends with the football in the background.
Lots of clubs now have family stands, free face painting, penalty competitions, half-time games, music and more, which makes the day more than just about the 90 minutes of football, which is very important.
On Sunday, Waterford had live music pitch-side before and after their game against Shamrock Rovers.
Bohemians have had dance schools similar to those seen on Sky One’s ‘Got To Dance’ show.
All of these ideas keep the kids engaged on the day, brings their families along to watch, and might even make them want to come again.
Some clubs no need to improve their facilities in terms of better toilets for women, children (and men) and I noticed at a recent Shelbourne game at Tolka Park that their toilets have been cleaned, painted and freshened up with new doors, lights, hand-driers etc, these a small steps, but crucial in the overall match night picture.
But what else can be done?
Offers
What about family offers about more than just the ticket price?
What about an offer for 2 adults and 2 kids, to include entry to the game, face painting for the kids, some food and a soft drink for the kids, an ice-cream, an autograph book or signed poster and a beer or glass of wine for the mum and dad for an all in price?
Or a deal with a local restaurant for a discount on both the meal and the match entry price?
The Leinster rugby games are a good reference point here.
Lots of clubs are in the middle of running their own summer camps, are these kids being given free season tickets for the remaining 5/6 home games each club has?
If they want to go, they’ll need to bring a parent who’ll have to pay in.
Have the FAI given out LOI season tickets to the thousands of kids at their camps in recent weeks?
Could clubs with bars screen the 3pm Premier League game on a Saturday with a beer and food deal, and have their own first team game in the stadium at 5.30pm with either free once off entry or a reduced ticket price for so-called ‘new fans’ and then have a DJ or band in the bar after the game?
With the majority of clubs playing on a Friday night, all of them are limiting the amount of ‘neutral fans’ going to their games.
Last Friday for example, Bohemians played Bray, St Pat’s hosted Limerick, First Division leaders UCD were at home to Galway while Cabinteely played Cobh.
That’s four games in Dublin, within a 20/25 minute drive of each other, all on the same night at the same time.
Could two have played on a Friday and the other two on a Saturday, Sunday etc? I would have gone to two games if I could.
If you don’t try you’ll never know.
Optimistic
The point of all of the above is that there are a huge number of football fans in Ireland who do not attend League of Ireland games, but they MIGHT if they became more appealing.
There’s also a big number of fans who do attend games, and who would go to more if they could.
The operative word there being IF.
We call it #GrestestLeagueInTheWorld, and those who keep coming back every Friday clearly love it.
Those other fans who’ve paid money to watch the glamour friendly games mentioned above also love it to.
So we’ve got football fans who love the game, we’ve got 10-15 live games, at affordable prices, on their doorsteps
