League of Ireland Attendances - Gameweek 2

Why publish articles on attendance figures? Why are you reading an article about attendance figures? Will the final count of individuals seated in Tolka Park on a Friday night change your life or even at some quantum level alter reality somehow. The answer to the first question is very unlikely. The answer to the second is probably but I’m yet to observe it.   

Former assistant manager of Sligo Rovers Gary Stevens asked on Twitter this week in response to our first attendance article of the season, “it can be interesting to look at stats ……. the question is ……. what does it really tell us?” For completeness to the quote it was followed by an inquisitive emicon.

@bit_red@ExtratimeNews It can be interesting to look at stats ...... the question is ..... what does it really tell us ? ????

— Gary Stevens (@GaryStevensUK) March 7, 2016

To answer Gary, the League of Ireland fan has always been obsessed with how many of us exist and go to games. The league has lived in the shadows of, well, pretty much everything so to the average LOI punter, there is a strong interest in our collective numbers or the exclusivity of the experience of watching, say, Cabinteely’s League Cup run.

Looking at the bigger picture, attendance figures drive advertiser’s interest in the league. The more bodies on seats, the more eyes on League of Ireland websites, the more TVs tuned into Soccer Republic or a live game, the more interested potential businesses are in getting involved or putting money into sponsorship.

So onto this week’s numbers. I’ve recently started back at reporting on League of Ireland games having spent the best part of eight years hidden away in an office co-ordinating the crazy madness that is a match night in Extratime Towers. My first game was last week at Drogheda (Attendance: 736). On twitter afterwards, the excitement of it all got the better of me, and I proclaimed I’d visit every league ground this season.

I went to Athlone this week (Attendance: Null). For those who don’t know (which is everyone), I once declared I’d report on a WNL game and the next four games I decided to cover were cancelled. So my first game after my twitter declaration was destined to be called off. However my four hour round trip with no football observed was worth it. Athlone have a fine main stand and probably one of the most spacious press boxes I’ve encountered in the league. They just need the floodlights to work now.  

Nine fixtures make up our figures this week. Eight official figures and, at the time of writing, one estimate. We have requested the official figure from Derry so I hope these lines will be cut from an updated version of this article soon.

For the second week running Premier Division newcomers top the table, however this time away from home against the Champions Dundalk. 3,216 was the largest attendance on Week 2. The only Premier Division game to fail to break 1,000 was Longford’s home game against Pats.

The First Division averaged 481 with home games of Waterford United, Cobh Ramblers and UCD recording 720, 497 and 226 respectively.

The full breakdown is as follows:

Estimated attendances in red