Can 134,849 people be wrong ?

[samwin08]

Attendances increase in Ulster and decline in other provinces.This is a very clear endorsement of the quality of Ulster football. Pat Spillane and his ilk  are yesterdays pundits.

Oh how times have changed :
Armagh /Meath , Monaghan/Kildare  may thwart the game  every one wants to see ( Dublin v Donegal).
Remember this was the game  nobody wanted to watch in 2011. Amazing to see the press speculation this week.

[armaghniac]

Sure they have to go the game, it isn't on TV in any useful form.

[Zulu]

Don't think that's true. I'm sure John Prenty said Connacht would up on last year after the final was taken into account and I'm pretty sure Leinster was the same once last Sunday was included in the figures. Munster might be down alright but that's primarily a hurling province. The crowds in Ulster might be up but I doubt too many are happy with the quality of football they've seen there this year. The rest of the country hasn't been any better in terms of quality or entertainment but too many Ulster teams are going ultra defensive to make for good viewing.

[Hound]

Most of the time when a provincial council brags about increased attendances its down to draws and replays! And when lads in the meeja write about the terminal decline in the GAA due to a decrease in attendances they forget about prior year replays.

Average attendance would be a far more useful barometer than total attendances. And even then it all depends who plays the most games.

[armaghniac]

As usual the abysmally low standard of Irish journalism applies to media reports about this. Very relevant things like replays are ignored, but also the particular fixtures, Meath v Kildare is always going to get more than Longford v Carlow. In Ulster the semi final involved the relatively well supported Armagh v Monaghan, if it had been Derry v Antrim the numbers would have less whatever the year.

[muppet]

I think it's been a boom year because the number of comments on attendances has increased.

Where's my money?

[T Fearon]

One Direction can fill Croke Park,that doesn't mean they're not still crap

[muppet]

One Direction can fill Croke Park,that doesn't mean they're not still crap

Jebus, I agree with Tony!

Although you probably won tickets and can vouch for their crapness personally. 

[larryin89]

Mayo v Galway , mchale park , 26 thousand.

What is the official capacity of mchale park? I strongly believe there was more in attendance than ws said.

[omagh_gael]

Weren't there two or three games not covered by TV this year due to a (small) drop in rights purchased by the BBC?

[southderryman]

2 draws: Tyrone v Down, Armagh v Monaghan.....This is probably the real reason for the increase. There were no drawn games last year.

There were a lot of competitive games, that doesn't necessarily make them good games. Derry v Donegal (in particular) and Monaghan v Donegal were hard to watch. I'd think twice about shelling out for a ticket again if I knew donegal were involved.

[southderryman]

Weren't there two or three games not covered by TV this year due to a (small) drop in rights purchased by the BBC?

Fermanagh v Antrim, Cavan v Armagh weren't on BBC or RTE.

Sky had Monaghan v Armagh.

The 2 replays between Tyrone/Down and Monaghan/Armagh weren't televised either.

[BennyHarp]

Don't think that's true. I'm sure John Prenty said Connacht would up on last year after the final was taken into account and I'm pretty sure Leinster was the same once last Sunday was included in the figures. Munster might be down alright but that's primarily a hurling province. The crowds in Ulster might be up but I doubt too many are happy with the quality of football they've seen there this year. The rest of the country hasn't been any better in terms of quality or entertainment but too many Ulster teams are going ultra defensive to make for good viewing.

I thought the black card was going to sort all this out?

[Zulu]

Really? That was pretty naive of you Benny. The black card has neither been a great or bad thing, it's reduced the amount of cynical play and fouling off the ball which is a good thing.

[BennyHarp]

Really? That was pretty naive of you Benny. The black card has neither been a great or bad thing, it's reduced the amount of cynical play and fouling off the ball which is a good thing.

Ah my mistake then. Just going by a few posters on here, I'm surprised the championship hasn't produced game after game of free flowing football as promised due to the black card eliminating all the cynical stuff.