- Gareth Penrose
- Sat, Mar 09 2019
With four Gameweeks completed, Shamrock Rovers have managed to feature either home or away in the best attended game each time. In the latest series of games, their scoreless home clash with Dundalk drew 4,705 to Tallaght Stadium. That was just under 2,000 more than the next best crowd of the Gameweek.
Cork City welcomed Derry City to Turner’s Cross and their stalemate was watched by 2,847, a crowd that would have ranked as their second lowest last season. It was a drop of 1,535 fans compared to their opening home game against Waterford.
Waterford’s 0-0 draw with Bohemians saw 2,415 turn up at the RSC. It was a strong crowd for the Blues which would have been just outside their top five best crowds last season. The southeast side have come a long way since their 277 average crowds of a few seasons ago.
The top three most attended games this week, drawing a combined 9,967 spectators, failed to produce a single goal between them.
Finn Harps opener against Dundalk drew 1,878 which was comparable to their 2017 Premier Division opener against Cork City (1,845). If the trend from that season was to match, Harps would have seen an 800 drop in their home crowd. Instead their attendance figure increased to 2,031 for the 2-1 loss to Sligo Rovers.
It is not too often that Tolka Park sees over 1,000 fans in attendance. Last week, Cabinteely defeated the Reds by the odd goal in five in front of 1,051 punters. Bray Wanderers also broke 1,000 with 1,051 turning up to watch their 2-0 win over Limerick.
It’s not often two First Division games draw more than a Premier Division clash but UCD’s encounter with St. Patrick’s Athletic managed 940. Interestingly that is the first time this season a Premier Division game had less than 1,000 in attendance.
Elsewhere, Longford Town and Cobh Ramblers became the first games this season to feature on a Saturday and they drew 676 and 417 respectively. The Cobh attendance figure is estimated. At the bottom of the pile, 242 people watched as Galway United beat Wexford 4-0 in Ferrycarrig Park.
Overall, the Premier Division has continued strongly into Gameweek 4. The average attendance each week as been 3,558 (G1), 3,159 (G2), 2,611 (G3) and 2,588 (G4). Whilst that is trending downwards, in previous years it has dropped much faster and by a lot more and the starting averages were much lower. The First Division has also seen better averages with two Gameweeks played. 950 (G1) and 697 (G2) are up when you compare to last year (662 and 470).
Last week, we mentioned overall spectator totals were up just over 10,000. That has grown to 12,292 but an extra game has been played this season in comparison.
PREMIER DIV GAMEWEEK 4 ATTENDANCE: 12,938 (Down 115 on G3)
PREMIER DIV AVERAGE GAMEWEEK 4 ATTENDANCE: 2,588
FIRST DIV GAMEWEEK 2 ATTENDANCE: 3,483 (Down 1,267 on G1)
FIRST DIV AVERAGE GAMEWEEK 2 ATTENDANCE: 697
LARGEST CROWD OF THE WEEK: Shamrock Rovers 0-0 Dundalk – 4,705
