We are the half percent

Under one percent of the Irish population attend football matches regularly, according to an extensive new study on sportingintelligence.com.

The study, which expresses as a percentage the average attendance of a country's league as a proportion of the national population, places Ireland 26th in a list of 34 countries.

0.51% of the Irish population attend matches every week in the Premier Division, which doesn't compare favourably to 3.68% of the Scottish population and 2.79% of the English population.

The study also finds that the attendances of Ireland's two best-attended clubs, Shamrock Rovers and Cork City, make up 34% of all attendances in the Premier Division on an average week. 

For the full report (and a fuller explanation of how it was conducted), please see here.