FAI...New Manager Hunt continues

[AZOffaly]

Do they say they have 1,000 playing members, or 1,000 members? There's a significant difference, and I wouldn't be surprised if a big club in Dublin had 1,000 members.

It's an application looking for funding for development - when you are asked for 'members', you're supposed to include only players and coaches as members.  That was the context.

Fair enough. They must have a lot of coaches. Typical Dublin GAA. In all seriousness, that figure can be queried. All registrations are with Croke Park, so it should be a thing of nothing to find out the actual numbers of players registered with Croker.

[Main Street]

By the way, I saw this on Balls.ie

"The battle for the hearts and minds of the Irish sporting youth has long been a contentious and highly political one. Soccer sits atop the pile with 340,070 participants across the country in 2,500 clubs. The GAA finds itself in second place with 294, 577 registered players across 2,359 clubs. Rugby, though growing, is a distant third with 158,685 registered players and 236 clubs."

So it appears that for registered 'Youth' players, soccer has more clubs and more players.

That would sound right to me too - it's what I recall from the last Sports Council presentation.  There's a fallacy doing the rounds, and rarely challenged in this house, that the GAA is the biggest sporting organisation in the country.

I suppose it depends on the definition. If you include people who follow it, volunteers, players, etc etc, then it probably is. If you are just counting players, then I'd imagine it's close. (Those figures above are just for youth players).

What appears so ain't necessarily so.
That's soccer participants versus GAA registered players.
The Irish Sports council regards participation as being  defined by  a 30 minutes 5 a side, once a week.

There's another table to indicate if the sports participation is done outside a club environment.
58% of soccer participation is done outside of a club
whilst only 1.6% of GAA participation is done outside the club.

[AZOffaly]

By the way, I saw this on Balls.ie

"The battle for the hearts and minds of the Irish sporting youth has long been a contentious and highly political one. Soccer sits atop the pile with 340,070 participants across the country in 2,500 clubs. The GAA finds itself in second place with 294, 577 registered players across 2,359 clubs. Rugby, though growing, is a distant third with 158,685 registered players and 236 clubs."

So it appears that for registered 'Youth' players, soccer has more clubs and more players.

That would sound right to me too - it's what I recall from the last Sports Council presentation.  There's a fallacy doing the rounds, and rarely challenged in this house, that the GAA is the biggest sporting organisation in the country.

I suppose it depends on the definition. If you include people who follow it, volunteers, players, etc etc, then it probably is. If you are just counting players, then I'd imagine it's close. (Those figures above are just for youth players).

What appears so ain't necessarily so.
That's soccer participants versus GAA registered players.
The Irish Sports council regards participation as being  defined by  a 30 minutes 5 a side, once a week.

There's another table to indicate if the sports participation is done outside a club environment.
58% of soccer participation is done outside of a club
whilst only 1.6% of GAA participation is done outside the club.

Actually I never spotted the subtle difference there MS. "Soccer sits atop the pile with 340,070 participants across the country in 2,500 clubs" while the GAA has "294, 577 registered players across 2,359 clubs."

340,070 divided by 2500 clubs is an average of 136 youth players per club. That does not tally with my experiences of soccer clubs, although as I've said I have no experience of city clubs.

[Billys Boots]

340,070 divided by 2500 clubs is an average of 136 youth players per club.

That's 9 squads in a club; that sounds about average, from my experience.  The ginormous clubs in Dublin would have 60-odd squads; the tiny clubs would have 4-5 squads.  And yes, I'm talking about youth (under the age of 18) football. 

[AZOffaly]

Fair enough. You know more about it than I do, and you're definitely closer to the situation in Dublin soccer. Down the country, I think there's probably one soccer team per town at least, and one GAA club as well. Most of the players play both, at least into their adulthood. Then I think more people play GAA. But I accept that if the youth numbers are that high in Dublin, then it's likely that overall the figures would say that there are more registered soccer players than GAA players.

[Main Street]

I don't care how close Billy is to the ground,  can he turn water into wine?
Ball ie are mixing up matter.

Where is the exact research to show that the figure of  340,000 are actual members  of soccer clubs?
Afaiu the 340,000 refers to a figure who claim they participate in soccer once a week.
Only 40% of those  are members of a club and
60% of that participation activity is done outside a club environment.

Participation in soccer is not defined by membership, nor is it defined by activity in a club setting,  participation is defined by a kick about once a week  a
98% of GAA participation activists do so at the GAA club  and 83% of those who claimed  GAA participation are actual club members.

[Max Payne]

Sorry in interrupt the numbers debate but found this hilarious re the English fcuk the IRA chants last night in the Scotland game...the guy who does them is gas, worth a follow on twitter if ye are on it!

Love this. What's his Twitter name just out of interest?

[ludermor]

Sorry in interrupt the numbers debate but found this hilarious re the English fcuk the IRA chants last night in the Scotland game...the guy who does them is gas, worth a follow on twitter if ye are on it!

The Daily Mail is good value as well, some of the comments are hilarious ( esp the ones with the most thumbs up!)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2840643/FA-official-forced-asking-England-supporters-band-stop-playing.html

[ballinaman]

Sorry in interrupt the numbers debate but found this hilarious re the English fcuk the IRA chants last night in the Scotland game...the guy who does them is gas, worth a follow on twitter if ye are on it!

Love this. What's his Twitter name just out of interest?

@squires_david , written on side of the pic..gas man

[Max Payne]

Sorry in interrupt the numbers debate but found this hilarious re the English fcuk the IRA chants last night in the Scotland game...the guy who does them is gas, worth a follow on twitter if ye are on it!

Love this. What's his Twitter name just out of interest?

@squires_david , written on side of the pic..gas man

Sorry boss never spotted it. Worth a follow on that alone.

[Billys Boots]

I don't care how close Billy is to the ground,  can he turn water into wine?
Ball ie are mixing up matter.

Where is the exact research to show that the figure of  340,000 are actual members  of soccer clubs?
Afaiu the 340,000 refers to a figure who claim they participate in soccer once a week.
Only 40% of those  are members of a club and
60% of that participation activity is done outside a club environment.

Participation in soccer is not defined by membership, nor is it defined by activity in a club setting,  participation is defined by a kick about once a week  a
98% of GAA participation activists do so at the GAA club  and 83% of those who claimed  GAA participation are actual club members.

MS, the figures are in relation to YOUTH - the figures come from the clubs.  The ones the Sports Council 'interviewed' or 'polled' were ADULTS.  The YOUTH numbers are real - the ADULT numbers are in relation to perceived 'participation'.  How many teenagers/kids do you know that would say they play football if they don't play for a club?  There are no grey areas in the teenage mind, let me assure you.

[Applesisapples]

Jaysus. No way. In Ireland nearly anyone I know calls Gaelic Football 'Football' and Association Football 'Soccer'. I realise quite a few soccer lads would call it 'Football' and 'Gaelic' (or 'Bogball' if they are very insecure).

We would always refer to Soccer as...well soccer, football is gaelic football or sometimes gaelic.

[Main Street]

I don't care how close Billy is to the ground,  can he turn water into wine?
Ball ie are mixing up matter.

Where is the exact research to show that the figure of  340,000 are actual members  of soccer clubs?
Afaiu the 340,000 refers to a figure who claim they participate in soccer once a week.
Only 40% of those  are members of a club and
60% of that participation activity is done outside a club environment.

Participation in soccer is not defined by membership, nor is it defined by activity in a club setting,  participation is defined by a kick about once a week  a
98% of GAA participation activists do so at the GAA club  and 83% of those who claimed  GAA participation are actual club members.

MS, the figures are in relation to YOUTH - the figures come from the clubs.  The ones the Sports Council 'interviewed' or 'polled' were ADULTS.  The YOUTH numbers are real - the ADULT numbers are in relation to perceived 'participation'.  How many teenagers/kids do you know that would say they play football if they don't play for a club?  There are no grey areas in the teenage mind, let me assure you.

Fair enough,  but the discussion started out with the ISC survey 2013 and  your youth figures from balls ie  are not that clear because they use the same ISC terminology, namely that word 'participation', leading me to believe that the soccer figures are juiced up yet again. I would have to see the orig research.

Even if those soccer club membership figures for youth are accurate, it all goes to prove (according to the ISC  research)  that when kids grow up,  a large portion of them also grow away from their soccer club, possibly  gravitating towards the barstool or the couch, but choosing on the odd occasion to partake in a 5 a side in the garden, possibly just to show off to the kids.  On the other hand (according to the ISC survey), 98% of the professed  GAA activists over 16 years of age, are club orientated and do their participation in the club

[Billys Boots]

Yep, wouldn't disagree - the local GAA club is better at keeping their players past the age of 18, without a doubt.  Mainly because they use the membership fees of their juvenile members to subsidise their senior teams.  If you're a decent Gaelic footballer, you'll never have to pay your costs to the club.   

[Myles Na G.]

People who join football clubs tend to do so because they want to play in a football team. Most football teams I know of don't have club houses or licensed premises. Rugby and GAA clubs, on the other hand, tend to be bigger, better organised and with better facilities, so there are other reasons for people to join - for the bar / social club aspect, or to make sure they're in with a shout of getting tickets for big games. Comparing clu membership stats to ascertain which is the most popular sport, therefore, is to compare apples with pears.