Attendances on the rise for LOI

There has been a unique buzz around the LOI this season, with crowds seemingly beginning to ignore trends of previous years.

The LOI terraces page was created with the underlying motivation of spreading the word about the League of Ireland and trying to illustrate to people that, yes, we do have a league here in Ireland. The league does not have a TV deal, the prize for winning the league is minuscule, and for many years the league has been shunned by the general public. However, I feel this perspective is beginning to change, and the hunger to attend LOI games is better than ever.

I believe this unprecedented demand is due to 2 factors, people just wanting to try something new after suffering almost 2 years of lockdowns and a particular announcement made in April 2021 regarding a possible European super league. I think this finally made people wake up when it comes to premier league football, that the game has lost itself through obscene player wages, agent fees, tourist fans and that the clubs, in reality, do not care about the season ticket holder that has been supporting the club their whole life. The cost to attend premier league games has also increased dramatically; for me, being a Gooner, for the NLD, I purchased 2 tickets, costing £200. This was not purchased on a third party website; this was direct via the club's box office. £200 is a holiday in itself. However, the evidence suggests Irish football fans have given LOI a chance, and it seems they can't get enough.

“172,813 spectators have attended games so far this season in the League of Ireland (based on 72 official attendances and seven estimates which were derived based on multiple sources present at games). When you compare that to the same period in 2019, it is a 25% increase in attendance. Looking further back, it is a 40% increase on 2018 and an impressive 56% jump compared to 2017.”

Extratime. ie report on LOI attendances

A recent report published by extratime indicates comparing attendances of the first 79 games of the 2022 season and comparing the same time frame and number of games compared to past seasons. Attendances this season have increased by 56% compared to the attendances recorded in 2017.

Other findings in the report mentioned above included promising stats, such as the 2022 premier division average attendance (of the first 79 games) are 2,878, which is an increase on the 2018s average of 2,936. On a club level, there have been considerable increases in the standard for particular clubs such as:

• Shamrock Rover's average attendance in the 2016 season was 2,041, and it is currently 5,318 for the 2022 season.

• St. Pat's average attendance in the 2016 season was 957, and it is currently 3,815 for the 2022 season.

• Shels average attendance in the 2016 season was 583, and it is currently 3,302for the 2022 season.

• Drogs average attendance in the 2016 season was 583 also, and it is currently 1,653 for the 2022 season.

Using the same metric and time frame as used above (first 79 games), division 1 attendances has exploded. The total attendance for the 2018 first division season was 53,342, but already in the current season, the league total has reached 43,561. Here are some findings at the club level:

• Cork CIty's average attendance in the 2016 season was 2,533, and it is currently 3,748 for the 2022 season.

• Galway's average attendance in the 2019 season was 791 and is currently 1,915 for the 2022 season.

• Waterford FC's average attendance in the 2016 season was 277 and is currently 1,900for the 2022 season.

For the full report, you can access it HERE ...

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