I wasn't aware that was happening in Ireland, it's a sport not a means of starting a battle between the two sports. It must say a lot when the GAA are having to plough one of the football pitches to stop them from playing, they need to realise that development in both sports can only be a good thing for the country itself. It's that is their plan of action then they may want to try a plan b as I think that is nothing short of horrible and disgusting.
I think the vast majority of GAA members are decent people, but unfortunately it's the nutters who are fanatical enough to climb to the top.
I'd like to see a lot more cooperation between organisations, sharing fitness sessions, joint fundraisers, and using the same facilities. Unfortunately I never see that happening.
Glad to see that they weren't in the bottom half for the whole season, if they have the potential to reach a mid-tabled sport then that's something to build on for next season. I wasn't aware that they had relegation play-offs, in a sense it's a little bit like the Scottish Footbal League with a promotion and relegation play-offs. What are the prices like or is the low attendance just a fact of people not being interested in the sport?
Yeah, there are 10 teams in the Premier League, 12 in Division 1, bottom from the premier league is relagated automatically, top of the first goes up. Then 8th and 9th in the Prem play off, and the loser of that game faces the winner of 2nd v 3rd in Division 1. I suppose it keeps the season interesting for teams in mid-table, because they know they're not safe, even if they aren't in an automatic spot.
It costs me €10 a game to watch Bray as a student, or unwaged person. Full price is €15. You get a season ticket to all 18 home league games for €99. Some clubs charge more, Bohemians charge you €20 to get into a big game. Bray's average attendance is usually under 1,000, with about 400-900 home supporters. Big games like Shamrock Rovers, you'd get close to a capacity 3,000, although two thirds of those would be away fans.
Attendances in Ireland are low for a few reasons, but mainly it's an attitude problem with the Irish public. They will tie themselves in knots to justify supporting Man United or Celtic, or even Chelsea. It's hard for the League of Ireland to compete with the media machine that builds the "Big 4" up to be the be all and end all of football. The teams themselves are far too concerned with chasing the next title by spending unsustainable wages in a self-destructive arms race than actually investing in decent facilities, and proper promotion of the league. It's perfectly possible to follow both an English/Scottish and an Irish club, and rather than trying to compete head-on with English clubs, I think LOI clubs should really push the community/local angle to get people through the gates. I've always said that you could get 10,000 Corkmen to pay €20 to watch a Dubliner fail at anything, it can't be that hard to translate that sort of thing into decent attendances at League of Ireland games.
Good luck job hunting.
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