You should do a little research before you post garbage again,in ireland we have only a population of 4.5m roughly and we love our sport ,football is only the 3rd or 4th most popular sport here on a par with rugby union and way behind our national sports of gaelic football and hurling,the fai premier league which is our top fooball division is made up of only 12 teams whom are part timers,semi pro and the stanard would be like the english division 1 or 2 so its not very popular outside of the cities and very small in rural ireland,so if people in ireland choose to follow English or scotish sides they are every bit as entitled to be called fans or supports of these clubs as you are and i think you will find we fork out a pretty penny to cross the pond and support our clubs especially in london,rant over.
I never thought I would be debating the League of Ireland on a satellite forum but here goes. First of all, GunnerTrev you are the one spouting garbage, I actually follow a League of Ireland side and I have for over 30 years. In participation level Association Football has more numbers than the combined sports of gaelic football, hurling and rugby union put together
Participation Rates and Funding in Irish Sport - The Economics of Sport so may be you would think this would be reflected in attendance levels in the League of Ireland? No because of the general obsession of Irish people towards the Sky League in England, actually I have no problem with people following if they also had an interest in the local game here instead of dissing it or showing no interest. On your average visit, crossing the pond would probably get you a season ticket at your local side here for two seasons. My father follows Arsenal, he used to live in Highbury when the price of admission was a few shillings on the Clock End,now its two grand for a season ticket which is a disgrace. While ticket prices in the Sky League are not all down to the football tourist from Ireland, it does help to inflate the price and alienate the local population from following them as its their local team.
The League of Ireland actually has a bigger attendance base outside of Dublin which is another point you are wrong on, St Pats a Dublin, side the reigning champions and a decent footballing side struggle to get crowds of over 1,000 some weeks. There are full time teams in the League, my local side been one of them and they reason there isn't more is because of the lack of investment, there is no Sky tv pushing in big money, there is tv coverage but clubs receive no money for it, the attendances are paltry which is a big factor with me, sponsorship and advertising are also very low, the prize money for wining the league is 100,000 euro, the Ceo of the Fai is on a salary of 350,000 a year, may be it should be the other way round. Even when a gem comes along like Seamus Coleman, who Everton paid Sligo Rovers £60,000 which is pittance, the transfer fees paid here, when there is actually payment the fee is often dictated because clubs can only give short term contracts and English clubs prey on this. Norway has a similar population compared to Ireland, it also has a Sky league obsession and is far more rural, yet their average attendance is around the 7,000 mark compared to 1,500 here. The great Irish sporting public is a myth, there was 25,000 over in Poland for the euros on a steam up, the friendly in Lansdowne road against Oman attracted seven or eight thousand last week.
And fair ****s to Coventry City, its good to see them back at home and being identified as part of the local community again because that's what being a football supporter is all about.
