GAA Apathy and Attendances

[magickingdom]

most years at this time someone runs a story about falling attendances but its bull. unlike the league the championship starts with a wimper and ends with a bang and i bet at the end of the season the crowds will have been great. one thing that makes my blood boil is the constant dig at kerry supporters. were boasting if we state the obivious and bandwaggon jumpers who only go to the big games ffs. what do you want? we'll beat waterford (maybe it'll be close for 25 or 55 minutes) but were still supposed to go and look. there are plenty of club games in kerry i'd rather go to....

[Estimator]

unlike the league the championship starts with a wimper and ends with a bang and i bet at the end of the season the crowds will have been great.

Of course the attendances (as we move through the summer) will increase as alot of the dead wood will be out of the Championship and we will be moving towards the games that count

[Gnevin]

most years at this time someone runs a story about falling attendances but its bull. unlike the league the championship starts with a wimper and ends with a bang and i bet at the end of the season the crowds will have been great. one thing that makes my blood boil is the constant dig at kerry supporters. were boasting if we state the obivious and bandwaggon jumpers who only go to the big games ffs. what do you want? we'll beat waterford (maybe it'll be close for 25 or 55 minutes) but were still supposed to go and look. there are plenty of club games in kerry i'd rather go to....

I think it's when 10,000 of you turn up for an AI semi final is when people know your bandwaggon jumpers

[Kerry Mike]

It the usual story every year about Kerry we will always have a poor following early in the year. There were 3000 in Killarney last year for the first round which was good considering the events in Cardiff and Limerick that weekend, and I was one of those in both locations.
Kerry Cork games seemed to have suffered most over the years and now average about 25k per game, its poor but with Kerry usually expected to win there will be apathy from both sets of supporters.
The Longford game was poor last year at just over 18k, people were fed up with the Kerry display in Munster and did not see the potential developing in the team and also with respect to Longford they were seen as an easy win for Kerry.

I think there is about a 20k core Kerry supporters base out of a population of about 180k, half the population is either old or young to travel while there are lots of people in Kerry who will never travel to follow the county team and success over the years makes it harder to attract these people to games they would prefer to stay at home to watch on TV which is fair. The cost and distance to Dublin in particular makes it difficult for the real supporters to travel. People will cherry pick games in the hope that Kerry will make it to a following round and depending on how the team is playing at a particular time the crowds will rise and drop accordingly. There are many other factors where people will not travel.

Full attendances for 2006 Kerry games below

Kerry v Waterford   3000
Kerry v Tipperary   7545
Kerry v Cork   26200
Kerry v Cork   23693
Kerry v Longford   18335
Kerry v Armagh   51169
Kerry v Cork   58000
Kerry v Mayo   82289

But Kerry are not alone , there were less than 7k at the Cork Limerick football game last weekend and the double header in Croke Park looked very small given the 4 counties involved are neighbouring counties of the pale and have relatively big populations. Clones also only had a 1/4 of its capacity for a high profile game between Tyrone and Fermanagh. But no need to panic yet, it will be a long interesting GAA summer with many twists and turns and every county will have their bandwagons, even the Dubs once the hype starts.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

KerryMike

Your forgetting Dublin are the one county whos allocation of supporters gets reduced the further into the summer as the other counties start demanding more and more tickets even though they didn't sell that many early on in the championship....

[tayto]

It all just takes a bit longer to heat up nowadays with the back door and so on, those attendances for Kerry are respectable enough for a county with it's population. You only had 6,000 at Cork v Limerick but both those counties are primarily hurling counties and as such that's not a bad crowd for a reasonibly predictable first round game.

[Kerry Mike]

Your forgetting Dublin are the one county whos allocation of supporters gets reduced the further into the summer as the other counties start demanding more and more tickets even though they didn't sell that many early on in the championship....

You have a valid point but other counties have a right to attend games to follows their counties too, and it is not based on previous games, where would the fairness be in playing in a full Croke park if 60000 or more were Dubs supporters. There are lots of factors in going to the games and these days cost and time are the biggest things people with families will think of. The Dubs are lucky that Croke Park is on their door step, not their home ground by the way so they have no more rights to any more tickets than anyone else, There is no huge expense for a Jackeen to go to a game in Croker besides the match tickets, which is not the case for counties with much smaller populations. A weekend trip to Dublin for a family of 4 from Kerry for a big game will not leave much change out of 500 Euro.

Just a question was Parnell Park sold out for all the Dubs League games and what about their away games how many Jackeens travelled? Its easy to say the Dubs will sell out Croke Park in the Summer which they will because of the huge population but also because the Dublin based media will hype it up as we saw last year, hype will always brings in the crowds as we saw in the first league game against Tyrone, but where are these supporters in the winter and spring when needed.

[thewobbler]

This was the inevitable fallout from putting a back door onto the Championship.

I would think that every GAA fan would like to see their county in action once during the summer time, no matter how poor they are. But there is no longer any point in cancelling everything to traipse halfway across your province on day one, as no matter what happens on that day, there will always be a day two. And it might suit better. Combine that with blanket TV coverage, and there really isn't much incentive for people who are humming and haaing about going along.

[thejuice]

also because the Dublin based media will hype it up

perhaps this needs to be done in all other counties. Dont know if I ever heard LMFM hyping up Meath or Louth games very much. FM104 and 98FM always do bits on the Dubs. same with the papers. I think its a shining example wheather or not such hype is warrented it creates a great buzz.

[magickingdom]

i see jack o connor in todays irish times saying that the gaa need to do a better job at marketing, how right he is. two years ago the national league final betweeb kerry and galway was played in the gaelic grounds in limerick at 5pm in the evening just after the munster heineken cup final! about 7000 turned up. now 1) do you think the gaa didnt know there were a lot of munster rugby supporteds in kerry or 2) they didnt care/bother about it. of course they knew but the attitude was to get the game over and done with and feck the supporters. hopefully that attitude is now in the bin...
ps 58000 at the kerry v cork semi last year was up from 42000 at the same stage when they met the previous year (or was it 2004) and i think 18k for the longford match was good considering the poor displays before that...

[Gnevin]

Your forgetting Dublin are the one county whos allocation of supporters gets reduced the further into the summer as the other counties start demanding more and more tickets even though they didn't sell that many early on in the championship....

You have a valid point but other counties have a right to attend games to follows their counties too, and it is not based on previous games, where would the fairness be in playing in a full Croke park if 60000 or more were Dubs supporters. There are lots of factors in going to the games and these days cost and time are the biggest things people with families will think of. The Dubs are lucky that Croke Park is on their door step, not their home ground by the way so they have no more rights to any more tickets than anyone else, There is no huge expense for a Jackeen to go to a game in Croker besides the match tickets, which is not the case for counties with much smaller populations. A weekend trip to Dublin for a family of 4 from Kerry for a big game will not leave much change out of 500 Euro.

Just a question was Parnell Park sold out for all the Dubs League games and what about their away games how many Jackeens travelled? Its easy to say the Dubs will sell out Croke Park in the Summer which they will because of the huge population but also because the Dublin based media will hype it up as we saw last year, hype will always brings in the crowds as we saw in the first league game against Tyrone, but where are these supporters in the winter and spring when needed.

I can tell  you there where even or more "Jackeens" in Cork and Kerry for Dublin's away games last year. I think the GAA should find a way to reward loyalty across the county, So loyal fans don't end up scrambling for ticket like last years Semi.  While i was sitting on my own i had a f88kin tool in a Celtic Jersey to me left and someone who came for a day out to my right and thats what they said them self  .While 2 of my friends who went to the league and championship where left in the pub with out tickets

[ParisGAA]

Would it be fair to say that the start of the championship being exam time takes out alot of people between the age of 15 and 22 who would surely make up a large proportion of the crowds who attend in late June, July and August, and of course September as well if your county happens to be so lucky? As regards ticket prices, I know that over here Stade Francais rarely fail to fill Le Parc des Prince which has a capacity of over 40,000 because they sell student and family tickets at 5 and 10 euro each!  They also fill Stade de France on a regular basis because of the number of families they attract. And that's not just Eoropean Cup, that's French League as well. There's a bit of a difference in payin 5 euro or 25 euro if you have a 16, 17, and 19 year-old plus yourself and a spouse.

[neutral]

An all ireland winning campaign will cost a committed supporter an absolute minimum of £1500.  Now in anyones eyes thats a 1 week holiday in Mexico with all the trimmings.  Irelands economy on the ground is not as virile as it once was.  There is less money about and people are nervous.  This is affecting spending and the odd first round match will be a victim like everything else.  What O Neill says for Tyrone and Armagh fans is also true - we have lost that all ireland virginity and then Tyrone made a tart out of ourselves by going back for more of the good thing.  Armagh bless them would only try anything the once.
More seriously the GAA is about participation not just about watching.  The county games are about watching the greats of the game become greater or less great, tis a great day out and great craic and it can be taken as seriously as you wish.  But there is too much county football at the moment, Mc Kenna cup, minors under 21s league, provincial - they all take money and time to support. At the moment there is too much emphasis on quantity not quality of games. far too many intercounty games and too many neutral venues, not enough respect of the home towns tradition to championship football.  Back to the paticipation, people ultimately participate more with their club ayt various activities and ultimately develop their community more , get more pride and staisfaction.  The county scene has been taking this time, effort and indeed money for many years at the expense of the clubs.  I believe the books are balancing now slightly.  Also in reference to last weekend-  ticket prices for a low maintenance concrete bowl with amateur players on show are currently way too high. the facilites dont compare to other events yet the prices do.     
 

   

       

[Gnevin]

  I believe the books are balancing now slightly.  Also in reference to last weekend-  ticket prices for a low maintenance concrete bowl with amateur players on show are currently way too high. the facilites dont compare to other events yet the prices do.     

Wise up lads.Tickets to see Leinster play in a 2nd rate competition namely the Mangers league are 18 Euro, 30 for the group stages of the H cup . And if you've been to d'broke you'll know all about facility's . The player get changed in a room which is partitioned off with chip board . You people need to catch a grip a realise that the GAA offers value for money. Last weekend in Croker you could of seen 2 games, ditto Galway , not sure about up north . GAA stadiums aren't like the soccer stadiums in the UK which are temples to cash more than their games . Also a  LOI ticket costs 15 euro last time i heard and their stadiums are poxy .

[Pangurban]

Neutral has raised an good point re.neutral venues, in most cases they are un-necessary and impact negatively on attendance. I am becoming increasingly concerned that un-necessarily high admission charges are corroding the family base of the association. Children under 16 must be admitted free or for a nominal charge