Best supporters??

grenache

phkk wrote: »

Has to be Waterford,always travel in huge numbers

Used to travel in huge numbers. They only took 6,000 to the Munster Semi Final with Limerick last month. Poor considering they were the reigning Munster champions.

Kildare's fan have impressed me greatly. They played Limerick in a qualifier 3 years ago and must have brought 8,000 to the Gaelic Grounds. And they were so vociferous in their support. Dublin's fans are very loyal too to be fair, i can remember league games in Cork and Killarney when i was younger where they brought down a couple of thousand. You wouldn't find that level of support in any other county. Cork's hurling fraternity is strong and they always travel in numbers but their football support is small in comparison and not all that impressive. Sure they'll come out for games with Kerry but apart from that they dont travel well. Meath are another team who attract a relatively big fan base, they put over 20k in Pairc Tailteann last weekend, that's fair going for a qualifier game.

Two counties who always amaze me at badly supported they are would be Kerry in football and Galway for hurling. With regards to Kerry maybe it's down to their success that their fans wont travel en masse for any games other than Munster or All Ireland finals. Limerick have out-numbered them in Killarney twice in recent years, which is amazing considering football plays second fiddle to hurling in Limerick. Maybe the reason Galway are so badly supported in hurling is because for years they had no proper provincial championship competition, they found themselves going directly into the AI semi. They didn't have the opportunity to build a proper core of fans, unlike teams in Munster or Leinster who had ready made exciting games against strong opposition. This is the only explanation i can think of. I've been to a few Galway games over the years and sometimes i've had trouble picking out maroon jerseys in the crowd. The u-21 finals of 2000 and 2002 spring to mind, both times against Limerick. We must have out-numbered them 15-1 in the first final. There was 30,000 at the 02 final and i'd estimate only 500 of those were Tribesmen. Very strange considering Galway's success at underage level. One would think their fans would come out and get behind them. Cork also seemed to have many more fans at the 05 senior final than Galway. Perhaps it will take an All Ireland win to get guys from Loughrea, Castlegar, Athenry and Gort to start coming to games in numbers.

J Cheever Loophole

shiibata wrote: »

2004 Ulster Final comes to mind to back up Donegal and Armagh support, Croke park nearly had a full house for this.

It was nearly full. Hill 16 was closed for some reason (might have been the Special Olympics), thus reducing Croke Park's capacity to around 69,000. The official attendance was over 67,000, thus making it the biggest attendance in history at a Provincial Final in which Dublin was not involved.

Donegal and Armagh also drew a crowd of over 76,000 for the 2003 All Ireland semi-final.

K-9 wrote: »

They had 20,000 or so at a McKenna Cup Final in January around that time as well which was pretty amazing,

Sorry to be pedantic K-9, but that was actually a McKenna Cup semi-final. I remember the joke doing the rounds was that the Ulster Council were going to have to ask for the use of Croke Park for McKenna Cup Finals!!

dcr22B

thefa wrote: »

I'd have said the Dublin football fans would be up there but the booing for opposition frees makes them average.

Are you trying to tell me that there was absolute silence in the Hyde every time young O'Connor went to take a free last Sunday?

Every county has its boo boys, the reason the Dubs are remembered is because there is a larger crowd of them making the noise.

Personally, I hate the booing. I have to say I don't think you can say who the best supporters in the country are TBH.

largepants

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Kerry fans only go to the final. Yada yada yada. You have to remember that Kerry tend to play 3 games in Croke Park every year. Its a 5 hour trip to Dublin for most Kerry people. Tickets range from €50 to €70. It's not cheap if you are bringing kids with you. It's quite ironic coming from Cork fans who only started following the footballers once the hurlers went to sh1t.


On a side note the best fans (most mental) I witnessed were the Limerick hurling fans the day Kerry played Monaghan in the 1/4 final a few years back. Can't remember who Limerick were playing. Could have been Waterford.

Five hours from Kerry to Dublin for most Kerry people? Are you going around by Donegal or what?But yes you are right the expense can be a bit much for some people.

Browney7

largepants wrote: »

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Kerry fans only go to the final. Yada yada yada. You have to remember that Kerry tend to play 3 games in Croke Park every year. Its a 5 hour trip to Dublin for most Kerry people. Tickets range from €50 to €70. It's not cheap if you are bringing kids with you. It's quite ironic coming from Cork fans who only started following the footballers once the hurlers went to sh1t.


On a side note the best fans (most mental) I witnessed were the Limerick hurling fans the day Kerry played Monaghan in the 1/4 final a few years back. Can't remember who Limerick were playing. Could have been Waterford.

Five hours from Kerry to Dublin for most Kerry people? Are you going around by Donegal or what?But yes you are right the expense can be a bit much for some people.

I'm sure the people of Waterville, valentia, and ballyferriter will set you straight. When you factor in stopping somewhere on the way down it would be near 5 hours.

yop

After Sunday I would not say that the Rossies are the "Best Supporters", maybe yes bring a great following but the disrespect they gave to the Galway minors and Mayo team during the game was embarrassing really.
As I also said in another thread, shouting and jumping up and down, one section it maybe, during the National Anthem is down right ignorant.

Without doubt they bring a following though.

Lemlin

Think my own county deserves a mention. Cavan brought 20,000 supporters to Croke Park for an U21 final. A county of only 60,000 people. More than the other three counties playing that day put together (Dublin hurlers, Kilkenny hurlers and Galway U21).

If the senior team showed a bit of passion, they'd get similar crowds.

In terms of crowds, I'd say Meath bring a small enough crowd but they have passionate supporters.

I'd say Armagh and Tyrone are best though. Both counties bring huge support.

DoctaDee

K-9 wrote: »

They had 20,000 or so at a McKenna Cup Final in January around that time as well which was pretty amazing, about 15,000 at the 04 final between Donegal and Tyrone a couple of weeks before Cormac's death.

Yeah I take my hat off to all the Ulster teams - the night they switched the lights on in Croker v Tyrone in 2007 was fantastic, made so by the huge contingent from Tyrone - Donegal and Armagh likewise

largepants

Browney7 wrote: »

I'm sure the people of Waterville, valentia, and ballyferriter will set you straight. When you factor in stopping somewhere on the way down it would be near 5 hours.

Fair enough but the poster said 'most Kerry people'. I'm not looking for a clap on the back but I've travelled big mileage to follow my county this year. The time factor doesn't bothered me at all but the expense part would. In recent years I'd travelled to Sligo and Roscommon for games and will continue to once I can keep affording it.

JohnnyBomb

its crazy to say dublin fans can have the best support when at the end of the day it should be expected when they live close to the stadium, you can even notice too since hurling has come on more and more over the years and now is going places and become a strong team in the championship. where years ago it was never supported like the football. i feel teams like down, cork and kildare show great support wheter it been a league game or championship and will always travel the support for these teams never really drops on any year same with roscommon

DoctaDee

spiralism wrote: »

Dublin's hardcore support is unreal but if they were the best supported side in the country they'd sell croker out every single time when it's only out the road for them. their hardcore diehard support on the hill is class though like i said. ...........

As a Dub supporter I'd have to agree with you. Dublin's hardcore support probably numbers around 30,000 with transient support of about another 30,000. The diehard support on The Hill numbers no more than 4,000, particularly for league games where other distractions - Airtiricty League & Rugby take away a lot

Syferus

yop wrote: »

After Sunday I would not say that the Rossies are the "Best Supporters", maybe yes bring a great following but the disrespect they gave to the Galway minors and Mayo team during the game was embarrassing really.
As I also said in another thread, shouting and jumping up and down, one section it maybe, during the National Anthem is down right ignorant.

Without doubt they bring a following though.

Like others have said, it's just a vocal minority that every county has. The rowdy atmosphere at the graveyard end was mostly caused by the man in the hospital issue forklift riling up kids already pre-disposed to that sort of behaviour, but don't let that stop you from unduly tarring a whole county's supporters.

yop

Syferus wrote: »

Like others have said, it's just a vocal minority that every county has. The rowdy atmosphere at the graveyard end was mostly caused by the man in the hospital issue forklift riling up kids already pre-disposed to that sort of behaviour, but don't let that stop you from unduly tarring a whole county's supporters.

Nope outside of the Dubs on the hill, I can't say I have come across other fans booing the opposition teams.
He wasn't telling them to boo the Galway minors or the Mayo team as he wasn't even up there during the minor game.

I am not tarring at all, I am just telling you the way it was, check the reports in the papers and you will see it wasn't just me who noted this.

DoctaDee

yop wrote: »

Nope outside of the Dubs on the hill, I can't say I have come across other fans booing the opposition teams.........

Really ? .. It's just the Dubs that boo ? ... we boo the loudest I grant ya ..

Indie.

DoctaDee wrote: »

Really ? .. It's just the Dubs that boo ? ... we boo the loudest I grant ya ..

For the Leinster Final last year i remember Louth fans booing quite frequently. And that was before the incident at the end.

Syferus

yop wrote: »

Nope outside of the Dubs on the hill, I can't say I have come across other fans booing the opposition teams.
He wasn't telling them to boo the Galway minors or the Mayo team as he wasn't even up there during the minor game.

I am not tarring at all, I am just telling you the way it was, check the reports in the papers and you will see it wasn't just me who noted this.

I've seen Leitrim chant Geoff-rey, Geoff-rey constantly at our 'keeper, Geoffrey Claffey, I've seen Sligo fans do similar and jeer whenever a Roscommon player got a shot, took a free or the keeper was about to kick the ball out. I've seen Meath fans (and Kildare fans too) do it when they were on the Hill in their quarter-final with Kildare last year. All in the past year, no less.

It tends to be a terrace thing because those are the cheapest seats and there's always likely to be more chance of people who don't give a toss about the game or sportsmanship where-ever the cheapest seats are. Don't single out or blame any county for something that very clearly endemic.

DoctaDee

Indie. wrote: »

For the Leinster Final last year i remember Louth fans booing quite frequently. And that was before the incident at the end.

Yeah my point exactly ... The Rebels gave as good as they got in the AL S/F last year .. not condoning booing for a second here ......

yop

Syferus wrote: »

I've seen Leitrim chant Geoff-rey, Geoff-rey constantly at our 'keeper, Geoffrey Claffey, I've seen Sligo fans do similar and jeer whenever a Roscommon player got a shot, took a free or the keeper was about to kick the ball out. I've seen Meath fans (and Kildare fans too) do it when they were on the Hill in their quarter-final with Kildare last year. All in the past year, no less.

It tends to be a terrace thing because those are the cheapest seats and there's always likely to be more chance of people who don't give a toss about the game or sportsmanship where-ever the cheapest seats are. Don't single out or blame any county for something that very clearly endemic.

Why would Leitrim fans be chanting the name of the opposition counties keeper??? :eek:

Did they cheer during the National Anthem... don't think so. Can't defend the indefensible in that now.

Syferus

yop wrote: »

Why would Leitrim fans be chanting the name of the opposition counties keeper??? :eek:

Did they cheer during the National Anthem... don't think so. Can't defend the indefensible in that now.

They were the fans behind Claffey's goal; they were either trying to rile him or put him off, probably both.

No one is defending it, just explaining to you that it's certainly far more widespread than Roscommon and Dublin.

popebenny16

DoctaDee wrote: »

Really ? .. It's just the Dubs that boo ? ... we boo the loudest I grant ya ..

every county has supporters that do it, every single one of them. if you dont belive me, take a look at any all ireland gold showing on TG4.

hello old friend, this thread, or a variation of it, pops up every year. its sort of like Martin Breheny in the Indo, he only ever seems to write six columns and just mixes them up a bit to fill up 50 weeks of the year.
as for the rolling out of our beds stuff, someone has posted about the fact that when the footballers go to anoter venue outside of CP in the Championship we always pack it out.

Again, people have to relaise that the GAA population of dublin is, according to Tommy Carr who did a study of this, about 120,000. Thats not massive, and so the core element of some 30,000 - 40,000 isnt that bad. What we have seen, espicially in the Leinster Final this year, is that a lot of those who could afford to go to dublin games just cannot anymore. I also think that the novelty factor of the new croke park has worn off a lot the past few years, going to the dublin matches was the sexy thing to do, and has been overtaken by the success of leinster rugby, which is why we are back to the core who used to be at the old venue, and their children.

DoctaDee

Give that man a crepe paper Dublin hat .. well said

buckwheat

In my experience Kildare always bring a v good crowd. Having lived in Cavan for a few years I've no doubt that if the got as much as a sniff of success they would fill any ground as well.

Think we have very good support in Meath myself. It's probably not what it was ten years ago when we were flying but we've been all round the country in the qualifiers over the last number of years and usually bring a very good crowd.

ArtVandelay76

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Cork always always always outnumber ye

Cork in hurling imo

Football hard to know

Not true, and anyway cork have around 5 times the population of waterford so you do the sums.

The_Kew_Tour

ArtVandelay76 wrote: »

Not true, and anyway cork have around 5 times the population of waterford so you do the sums.

Well I remember in 2003 and 04 and few other years there was just as many Cork fans in the terraces on your side as any..

Cheers for smart comment:rolleyes:

ArtVandelay76

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Well I remember in 2003 and 04 and few other years there was just as many Cork fans in the terraces on your side as any..

Cheers for smart comment:rolleyes:

Well I remember '62
I was sixteen and so were you
And we lived next door,
On the avenue.
Jerry Lee was big and Elvis too;
Blue jeans and blue suede shoes,
And we never knew
What life held in store.
We just wanted to rock 'n' roll forever more.

You,re some man to count heads in a crowded terrace

Syferus

Syferus wrote: »

I've seen Leitrim chant Geoff-rey, Geoff-rey constantly at our 'keeper, Geoffrey Claffey,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjnJ8xs6ibs

kerosene

In fairness to tyrone they have a lot of fit women supporting them. Definitley didnt go unnoticed over the years

blowitupref

Without doubt Roscommon fans & a small section of boo boys wouldn't change my opinion.

thefa

dcr22B wrote: »

Are you trying to tell me that there was absolute silence in the Hyde every time young O'Connor went to take a free last Sunday?

Every county has its boo boys, the reason the Dubs are remembered is because there is a larger crowd of them making the noise.

Personally, I hate the booing. I have to say I don't think you can say who the best supporters in the country are TBH.

I don 't remember saying anything about Hyde Park to be honest. My point was just about Dublin fans. For a team that can generate such a positive vocal support for their own team with come on you boys in blue, etc, they lose some credit by creating a fairly ****ty atmosphere for opposition fans. That should really be left to a Dublin team playing well! It's not just a numbers thing either. Attitude plays a big part like it's definitely one of the home teams where booing is more widely accepted than average.

Somebody made a point there that the rebels gave as good as they got last year in the semi final but that's a fairly moot point. It's far from a trend and if a mass of home fans start showing disrespect for an opposition free taker, what do you expect the opposition fans do do in return given human nature not to mention a bit of drink in some cases? Wouldn't happen in a stadium reversal for the majority counties I think. The vast majority of booing I've heard at all the Cork games I've been to has been aimed at either perceived time wasting or a string of poor reffing decisions.

Carthy303

nicmarie wrote: »

Just had a conversation with a dub there and he thinks that Dublin have the best gaa fan base by far! They may have more people at the games but does this not have to do with population?

The Dubs do have the biggest attendances.Then again its not that hard for them considering :

1.They rarely play championship games outside of Dublin.
2.The population.

Not saying the Dubs are not great supporters of their team,just stating facts!

Carthy303

yop wrote: »

Nope outside of the Dubs on the hill, I can't say I have come across other fans booing the opposition teams.
He wasn't telling them to boo the Galway minors or the Mayo team as he wasn't even up there during the minor game.

I am not tarring at all, I am just telling you the way it was, check the reports in the papers and you will see it wasn't just me who noted this.

You obviously didnt watch the Connacht final last Sunday then?Every free Mayo had was greeted with boos from the Roscommon crowd.Well a small minority of them anyway.

Carthy303

JohnnyBomb wrote: »

its crazy to say dublin fans can have the best support when at the end of the day it should be expected when they live close to the stadium, you can even notice too since hurling has come on more and more over the years and now is going places and become a strong team in the championship. where years ago it was never supported like the football. i feel teams like down, cork and kildare show great support wheter it been a league game or championship and will always travel the support for these teams never really drops on any year same with roscommon

As a Cork man and Season Ticket holder I'd have to disagree with you on that.Even as All-Ireland champions this year crowds were abysmal at our league games.The only good crowd was at the home game against Down and that was mostly Down fans who brought bus loads all the ways down to Cork.

Carthy303

Uncle Mclovin wrote: »

Kerry fans only go to the final. Yada yada yada. You have to remember that Kerry tend to play 3 games in Croke Park every year. Its a 5 hour trip to Dublin for most Kerry people. Tickets range from €50 to €70. It's not cheap if you are bringing kids with you. It's quite ironic coming from Cork fans who only started following the footballers once the hurlers went to sh1t.


On a side note the best fans (most mental) I witnessed were the Limerick hurling fans the day Kerry played Monaghan in the 1/4 final a few years back. Can't remember who Limerick were playing. Could have been Waterford.

Bit of an unfair generalisation there.Sure there are a few fair weather followers but thats the same for every county!

yop

Carthy303 wrote: »

You obviously didnt watch the Connacht final last Sunday then?Every free Mayo had was greeted with boos from the Roscommon crowd.Well a small minority of them anyway.

Check my other posts, there is a clue to whether I was at it or not!

The_Kew_Tour

ArtVandelay76 wrote: »

Well I remember '62
I was sixteen and so were you
And we lived next door,
On the avenue.
Jerry Lee was big and Elvis too;
Blue jeans and blue suede shoes,
And we never knew
What life held in store.
We just wanted to rock 'n' roll forever more.

You,re some man to count heads in a crowded terrace

mother of God talk about childish...

ignore button for you

buckwheat

Booing frees and so on has being going on from supporters from pretty much all counties as long as I've been going to games. It's not a new thing and it's not just a Dublin thing either. It's harmless anyway IMO

grenache

Off The Ball guys tonight on Newstalk said Limerick have already snapped up 18,000 tickets for Dublin match on Sunday. And it's not even Thursday yet. Nice to see the hunger is back.

Wonder is that right, ground holds just over 50,000

Would they really give Limerick nearly half of that with Four counties playing?

grenache

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Wonder is that right, ground holds just over 50,000

Would they really give Limerick nearly half of that with Four counties playing?

Semple's capacity is 51k. 18k is just over one-third of that. The Dubs and Galway will bring maybe 12-15k between them (neither will bring huge support), so the rest is left to Waterford fans. Now i wouldn't be surprised if they were slow to snap up tickets after seeing Tipp demolish their boys. They're not going to be too confident going in against a Galway side who beat Clare and Cork by a combined total of 29 points. So, if tickets are slow moving in the other 3 counties, then it's reasonable to expect Croke Park to give Limerick more tickets when demand there is highest.

Browney7

Yeah anyone I've been talking to Grenache is heading along anyway. Nothing like knock out hurling to bring us out. Limerick supporters always go to matches in hope rather than expectation. In fairness to a county that has won Jack sh1t recently we still bring out supporters for games. Sure when we lost to Kilkenny in 07 there were 10000 to welcome the team home. Sure most of the Limerick supporters have their money saved from last year

The_Kew_Tour

grenache wrote: »

Off The Ball guys tonight on Newstalk said Limerick have already snapped up 18,000 tickets for Dublin match on Sunday. And it's not even Thursday yet. Nice to see the hunger is back.

Of all the counties I would Love to see Limerick win an AI, realistically cant see it this year anyway, but over the years ye deserve one..

DoctaDee

buckwheat wrote: »

Booing frees and so on has being going on from supporters from pretty much all counties as long as I've been going to games. It's not a new thing and it's not just a Dublin thing either. It's harmless anyway IMO

There was a quote from some rugby placekicker once (think it was Wilkinson), and it was along the lines of, he doesn't mind the booing or whistling it's part and parcel ... but the deathly hush of 80,000 tightened the sphincter ...

Regards the comment further up, that Cork wouldn't have booed if The Hill hadn't started ... Really ? ... Come on ... yiz are Rebels !!

TreatyGuy

I think the Limerick fans performance on Sunday puts an end to this debate.They were unbelievable!

niallo27

Clare fans are ****e to support, there was only about 7 of us there last saturday.

Flukey

This is a debate that could go on forever, but even from the few posts I've read in it, everyone agrees that each county has their good and bad fans. Every county has their sunshine supporters. Different populations may influence the apparent size of the fans, but percentage-wise it probably is not very different in any county.

We know fans only come out for the big games. A good recent example is when Cork played Down in the All-Ireland final in 2010 and Croke Park was full. In 2011 they met in the quarter final, also a knockout game with the chance of winning the championship being critical, and very few turned up. There are many similar examples.

Just weeks from now we'll see people posting in here looking for tickets for the final from people who haven't been at a match this year and have never posted in here. In any year if you take the two semi-finals and then minus the amount of support of the losing counties and add the support of the winning counties together, you'd come to the conclusion that there would be no need to have the upper decks of Croke Park open on All-Ireland final day. Yet, ignoring neutrals and others that get tickets automatically, out from the woodwork come all the first match of the year fans. Many that look for final tickets, demanding their right to have one given where they are from, didn't even know their county was in the semi-final until after they heard the result. We see it here every year and those of us that are good GAA fans can all tell stories of being asked for tickets by people who have little or no interest. Here's mine:

I go to a lot of GAA matches, including many inter-county ones where my own county, Dublin, are not playing. Most people that know me would know of my great passion for GAA. In 2007, after Limerick reached the Hurling final, someone that knew me came to me asking for final tickets. I asked her had she been at the semi-final, which she hadn't, or any other matches. Her only reply was to keep telling me that she was from Limerick and so deserved a ticket. Even if I did have a spare one, I wouldn't have given it to her.

I am sure we could all take that story, and swap Limerick for some other county, as all 32 counties have people like this. There are 32 counties with the joint best fans, and those 32 counties also have the worst fans. Every county has a cohort of fans that go to matches from January to December, and then there are the rest of the fans, and after that there are the people with no interest whatsoever who want to go to finals.

Clareman

I could insert a witty comment about fans just coming out when their team wins something and link it to the resurrection of a Zombie thread, but I think I'll just lock this instead.