Sunday, November 2, 2014

St Pats finally, Finally win the FAI Cup after a 53 year wait.



Saturday, November 1, 2014




    Well the League of Ireland seems to be stuck in neutral. Over the last 10 years the average attendance has hovered around 1,600 per season. There have been 3 groups of clubs in the league.  The few that carry the league, a group that meets the average and a group that is a drag on attendance.

 The first group have excellent supporters and deserve to be recognized. Lets start with the Shamrock Rovers. They are owner by their supporters and have the newest stadium in Tallagh Stadium. They have led the league in the 5 previous seasons with an average attendance of close to 4,000 from 09 to 11. Then close to 3,000 from 2012,13. They are currently in a downward trend however that was expected. The stadium was new in 2009 and they has teams qualifying for the European competitions.
Tallagh Stadium led the league in attendance for last 5 years
    Cork City this year had avg attendance of 3,841. This can be attributed to the great club they was close to 1st place all year. Cork also led the league in attendance 5 out of 6 years before the Shamrock Rovers reestablished themselves. City is back near the top and will qualify for the lucrative European competitions. They play at turners cross which is one of the best for atmosphere.
Turner's Cross is considered the best in the league to watch a game

  Sligo Rovers get a great deal of fan support from the entire community. they have slowly added and expanded their stadium to keep up with demand. They are now an establish club that will challenge for the title most years this the support and interest from Sligo. They last won the title in 2012  and won the FAI Cup in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Sligo has the best community support lots of small businesses invest


 The last anchor team i believe is Bohemians F.C. The Boh's have not appeared near the top of the table since 2011 when they qulaified for europe. Yet the boh's fans still get close to the league average. I am hoping the Bohs compete for the title one years just to see if their attendance will go. 

Bohemians have a solid fan base


Next year we may see a slight increase in attendance if no one club runs away with the title. we also need 4 to 6 clubs fighting for the european slots. Now the Students who average close to 500 have been a drag on the league for years. Students just don't go to see them play. They play the game with the ball at their feet and are usually fun to watch them get better as the year progresses. 

Galway United F.C will be great to have to incorporate the last big city missing in the Premier league. Galway had an average on 1,000 in the first division which was better than Limerick, Bray Wanders, Athlone Town and the students.