IFA League Attendances

[Feckitt]

Someone put their foot in it yesterday in the Daily Mirror and let it slip that only 135 people attended a recent game between Dungannon Swifts and Bangor.

The IFA and the media obviously have a pact to keep attendances a secret, due to embarrassment.  In fairness it was being printed that this was the lowest crowd this season, but surely this means that crowds of 200/300 are commonplace.

[Norf Tyrone]

I would've attended a few IL games in the past, as a neutral.

No joke, but crowds of 100-200 were common place.

[Lecale2]

I saw a bit of that match on Sky last night. There seemed to be a right few at it.

[SidelineKick]

How could anyone be bothered watching it?  The quality is disgraceful.  I only watch the "highlights" on a saturday and they use the word highlights very loosely.

[billy the kid]

How could anyone be bothered watching it?  The quality is disgraceful.  I only watch the "highlights" on a saturday and they use the word highlights very loosely.

Why anyone would want to go see this rubbish i dont know.  I like soccer but the standard in the Irish league is diabolical. I think its a complete joke that there are tv cameras at every match and if you added up all the crowds in the top flight together you wouldnt get as much as a county football or hurling final which reguarly attract crowds of 7000+

[imtommygunn]

While attendances are poor anyone who says the quality is "disgraceful" should really play against some of them players and see how disgraceful they think it is then.

To me it highlights how high a quality the soccer matches that are worth watching actually are. It also highlights the fact that I find GAA much easier to watch than soccer.

I've never watched an Irish league game live but I have played against a few boys in various work leagues who have played lower division Irish league. They're far from a disgrace.

[SidelineKick]

They're probably better than me yes but I would hardly call any of them brilliant footballers.  Just watch the highlights this weekend, some of the things they show just baffle me.  In my opinion they'd be better stick up the results and forgetting about the highlights.  Save themselves a bit of money running round the country putting cameras at every ground.

I stick to my guns, the quality is a disgrace.  And some of these fellas walk round thinking they are somebody!

[Maguire01]

Maybe it's just that soccer is crap.

But regardless, FAI League (or whatever it is called) doesn't fare much better, does it? This isn't unique to IFA surely?

[Minder]

A "disgrace" compared to what ? The Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga? 90% of the players would be part time and have jobs outside of football. You have to compare like for like, the IFA (i am only guessing) would maybe be of similar quality to the conference in England.

[SidelineKick]

Fair point! Like for like and all.  But the coverage it gets on the tv only serves to make these average players think they are stars when I couldn't pick the biggest name out of a line up!

[Mario]

I enjoy watching any soccer match at any level. The point has already been made but we are comparing local soccer players to superstars in the premier league. Why do people on here watch their junior clubs play gaa, when the standard is appaulling compared to a county match.

Also if the gaa was as big worldwide as soccer, we'd probably be saying the standard of county matches in Ireland is terrible.

[Main Street]

I enjoy watching any soccer match at any level. The point has already been made but we are comparing local soccer players to superstars in the premier league. Why do people on here watch their junior clubs play gaa, when the standard is appaulling compared to a county match.

Also if the gaa was as big worldwide as soccer, we'd probably be saying the standard of county matches in Ireland is terrible.

You insinuate that other nationalities could possibly play Gaelic better than home brewed Gaels
The next step in this debate is  sparse BBC NI coverage of richly attended GAA matches compared to richl BBC NI coverage of sparsely attended IL matches.

[deiseach]

When I look at how good some of the fellas I grew up with are at soccer and ponder how none of them came within an asses roar of playing at any kind of professional level, it makes me realise that the best players must be nothing short of superhuman

[MW]

Someone put their foot in it yesterday in the Daily Mirror and let it slip that only 135 people attended a recent game between Dungannon Swifts and Bangor.

The IFA and the media obviously have a pact to keep attendances a secret, due to embarrassment.  In fairness it was being printed that this was the lowest crowd this season, but surely this means that crowds of 200/300 are commonplace.

The IFA aren't going about this secrecy in a particularly clever way, given that they're publishing the attendances online

[MW]

I enjoy watching any soccer match at any level. The point has already been made but we are comparing local soccer players to superstars in the premier league. Why do people on here watch their junior clubs play gaa, when the standard is appaulling compared to a county match.

Also if the gaa was as big worldwide as soccer, we'd probably be saying the standard of county matches in Ireland is terrible.

You insinuate that other nationalities could possibly play Gaelic better than home brewed Gaels
The next step in this debate is  sparse BBC NI coverage of richly attended GAA matches compared to richl BBC NI coverage of sparsely attended IL matches.

That's actually the funniest thing I've heard all week.