Getting bums on seats - LOI

Gavin "shels"

happydayz182 wrote: »

For any fans that go to away matches - How much does the trip actually end up costing you in general? Obviously when its outside your own county! Like how much would the bus cost etc!

€15-€25 (Depends if we have our own bus or I'm on the Official Supporters' Bus)
€15 Match Ticket
€10-€15 Cans
€10-€15 Pints
€10-€15 Food

dundalkfc10

Usually 15 on bus (sometimes 10)
€15 Match Ticket
€10-€15 Cans
€20 Pints
€10 Food

Usually would stay over in Derry, sometimes Cork and stayed in Limerick this season

Paz-CCFC

happydayz182 wrote: »

For any fans that go to away matches - How much does the trip actually end up costing you in general? Obviously when its outside your own county! Like how much would the bus cost etc!

For an average trip to Dublin.

Travel: €15-€25 (depends on things like whether it's a lift by car or bus, if the car is full etc.)
Bottles: €0-€10 (don't always bother drinking on away trips, probably be a non-drinking bus, but if going by car, probably bring a few bottles of ale)
Pints: €0-€7 (Dublin pubs can be expensive for the type of beer generally on sale so, unless there's Beamish or a sub-€5 craft beer on tap, I'd probably give it a skip)
Food: €5-€10 (usually save money by bringing sandwiches and small things, but generally I'd get a bit of hot food too)
Ticket: €10-€15 (depending on student prices)

So, usually €30-€65. Away trips can get expensive, but you can bring the costs down by making a few savings here and there.

happydayz182

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

For an average trip to Dublin.

Travel: €15-€25 (depends on things like whether it's a lift by car or bus, if the car is full etc.)
Bottles: €0-€10 (don't always bother drinking on away trips, probably be a non-drinking bus, but if going by car, probably bring a few bottles of ale)
Pints: €0-€7 (Dublin pubs can be expensive for the type of beer generally on sale so, unless there's Beamish or a sub-€5 craft beer on tap, I'd probably give it a skip)
Food: €5-€10 (usually save money by bringing sandwiches and small things, but generally I'd get a bit of hot food too)
Ticket: €10-€15 (depending on student prices)

So, usually €30-€65. Away trips can get expensive, but you can bring the costs down by making a few savings here and there.

Thanks for all the replies guys

One thing we are thinking of doing that is actual realistic -

is sponsoring one full bus of away supporters of the games. Like if you get the supporters club get one full bus (52) of fans heading the games the club - in our case Limerick Fc - could sponsor it. If theres more than that coming then you can split the discount among each other etc you know?

What would you guys think of that as gesture of goodwill in general? Would it help in attracting more away fans and making it more realistic financially at least?

SantryRed

happydayz182 wrote: »

What would you guys think of that as gesture of goodwill in general? Would it help in attracting more away fans and making it more realistic financially at least?

It's definitely a gesture of goodwill, but from a pure business aspect I'm not sure if it makes much sense.

I'm not sure how much it is to rent a bus as a whole, but when I used to go with Shels it was 15-20 euro, even when the bus was full. If you are then charging 15 euro in, you could end up making a loss? Or even only a tiny profit. I think it'd be a risk to take for a couple of hundred euro max.

happydayz182

We have the business side worked out to an extent - but what we are wondering is the overall effect it would have on away attendance? Would it increase attendance at all do you feel among away supporters? Compared of course if there was no gesture in the first place because you are going to have alot of the away followers showing up no matter what anyway!

Gavin "shels"

happydayz182 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies guys

One thing we are thinking of doing that is actual realistic -

is sponsoring one full bus of away supporters of the games. Like if you get the supporters club get one full bus (52) of fans heading the games the club - in our case Limerick Fc - could sponsor it. If theres more than that coming then you can split the discount among each other etc you know?

What would you guys think of that as gesture of goodwill in general? Would it help in attracting more away fans and making it more realistic financially at least?

Generally people who want to and can travel to away games do.

Henlars67

Gavin shels wrote: »

Generally people who want to and can travel to away games do.

There are people who can't go as often as they'd like due to cost. putting on a free bus and reducing that cost by €20+ is bound to get a few extra attending.

uch

Henlars67 wrote: »

There are people who can't go as often as they'd like due to cost. putting on a free bus and reducing that cost by €20+ is bound to get a few extra attending.

Not really, why would you give the free Ride to someone who only show up now and again and not reward the regulars

Henlars67

uch wrote: »

Not really, why would you give the free Ride to someone who only show up now and again and not reward the regulars

The question was whether a free bus would increase numbers attending away games.


I think it would for the reason given.

Not sure what your post has to do with the answer I gave.

CHealy

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

For an average trip to Dublin.

Travel: €15-€25 (depends on things like whether it's a lift by car or bus, if the car is full etc.)
Bottles: €0-€10 (don't always bother drinking on away trips, probably be a non-drinking bus, but if going by car, probably bring a few bottles of ale)
Pints: €0-€7 (Dublin pubs can be expensive for the type of beer generally on sale so, unless there's Beamish or a sub-€5 craft beer on tap, I'd probably give it a skip)
Food: €5-€10 (usually save money by bringing sandwiches and small things, but generally I'd get a bit of hot food too)
Ticket: €10-€15 (depending on student prices)

So, usually €30-€65. Away trips can get expensive, but you can bring the costs down by making a few savings here and there.

I'd say your a great laugh to be around on a night out.

Paz-CCFC

happydayz182 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies guys

One thing we are thinking of doing that is actual realistic -

is sponsoring one full bus of away supporters of the games. Like if you get the supporters club get one full bus (52) of fans heading the games the club - in our case Limerick Fc - could sponsor it. If theres more than that coming then you can split the discount among each other etc you know?

What would you guys think of that as gesture of goodwill in general? Would it help in attracting more away fans and making it more realistic financially at least?

Short term, it'd probably run at a loss, but long term, it might work out well. If a club run a free bus for away fans, it'd no doubt put that club in positive light with those away fans, so they might make an extra effort to make this trip in future.

It'd be hard to judge profitability, though. If you could ensure that all the travelling fans wouldn't have otherwise been at the match, then it'd be great having an extra 52 people to pay for the tickets, buy the programme, food, drink at the bar etc. But, as with things like free ticket offers, some/most/all of the people availing of the free service might have been at the match anyway. So, it'd just be an extra cost on the club - a 52 seater bus, depending on how long the trip is, could cost as much as a grand to rent out.

Lovely Bloke

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

unless there's Beamish or a sub-€5 craft beer on tap, I'd probably give it a skip)

JW Sweetman (used to be Messrs Maguire) do all their own beers for €4 a pint, it's on the quays just beside OConnell Bridge.

Paz-CCFC

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

JW Sweetman (used to be Messrs Maguire) do all their own beers for €4 a pint, it's on the quays just beside OConnell Bridge.

Been there before, alright, having seen someone on the Beer Forum mention it a few months ago. Lovely stuff and a fantastic price. I'd be delighted with a quality pint at that price in Cork or more rural places. For a pub in pretty much the exact centre of Dublin, it's brilliant altogether.

Shame you don't have pubs like that closer to the grounds. It's only really Dalymount and Tolka that'd be close-ish to it. Maybe Richmond, too, but travelling from a Cork point of view, going into the city centre and then back tracking to Inchicore is a bit out of the way. Maybe Wetherspoons might look at opening a few pubs near grounds in Dublin?

happydayz182

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

Short term, it'd probably run at a loss, but long term, it might work out well. If a club run a free bus for away fans, it'd no doubt put that club in positive light with those away fans, so they might make an extra effort to make this trip in future.

It'd be hard to judge profitability, though. If you could ensure that all the travelling fans wouldn't have otherwise been at the match, then it'd be great having an extra 52 people to pay for the tickets, buy the programme, food, drink at the bar etc. But, as with things like free ticket offers, some/most/all of the people availing of the free service might have been at the match anyway. So, it'd just be an extra cost on the club - a 52 seater bus, depending on how long the trip is, could cost as much as a grand to rent out.

Don't worry we have considered the economics of how it would work - and if the bus is filled it will take care of itself. As you said the idea is to get more fans going than otherwise would anyway - and that's what were trying to get a feeling of. Like how popular would this kind of scheme be with away fans and would it get a few extra people down to Limerick for the games themselves!

Lovely Bloke

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

Been there before, alright, having seen someone on the Beer Forum mention it a few months ago. Lovely stuff and a fantastic price. I'd be delighted with a quality pint at that price in Cork or more rural places. For a pub in pretty much the exact centre of Dublin, it's brilliant altogether.

Shame you don't have pubs like that closer to the grounds. It's only really Dalymount and Tolka that'd be close-ish to it. Maybe Richmond, too, but travelling from a Cork point of view, going into the city centre and then back tracking to Inchicore is a bit out of the way. Maybe Wetherspoons might look at opening a few pubs near grounds in Dublin?

There's a Porterhouse nearly beside Dalymount, they do a daily special €4 pint.

You've also a decent craft beer pub on Dorset St called WJ Kavanagh's, which is close to both Tolka and Dalymount.

Ivy House in Drumcondra does craft beers, and Fagan's has a small range of bottles.

Gavin "shels"

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

There's a Porterhouse nearly beside Dalymount, they do a daily special €4 pint.

You've also a decent craft beer pub on Dorset St called WJ Kavanagh's, which is close to both Tolka and Dalymount.

Ivy House in Drumcondra does craft beers, and Fagan's has a small range of bottles.

Fagans supposedly doing craft on tap now.

BOHtox

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

There's a Porterhouse nearly beside Dalymount, they do a daily special €4 pint.

You've also a decent craft beer pub on Dorset St called WJ Kavanagh's, which is close to both Tolka and Dalymount.

Ivy House in Drumcondra does craft beers, and Fagan's has a small range of bottles.

Bohs have 3 fairly cheap bars inside the stadium. Away fans are often in the members bar and have never seen or heard any trouble.

gimmick

"Craft Beer" :rolleyes:

How do you know someone drinks craft beer? They will tell you about it over and over again.

Seaneh

gimmick wrote: »

"Craft Beer" :rolleyes:

How do you know someone drinks craft beer? They will tell you about it over and over again.

Heaven forbid people drink something for taste and quality of ingredients rather than just lash mass produced piss into them to get locked.

Iang87

Seaneh wrote: »

Heaven forbid people drink something for taste and quality of ingredients rather than just lash mass produced piss into them to get locked.

point well and truly missed

AgileMyth

League of Ireland supporters are the craft beer drinkers of the football world.

Omackeral

AgileMyth wrote: »

League of Ireland supporters are the craft beer drinkers of the football world.

Not really, craft beer lovers are into an international niche product from exotic places. We just like a crap local cheap version.

beakerjoe

Omackeral wrote: »

Not really, craft beer lovers are into an international niche product from exotic places. We just like a crap local cheap version.

Id agree, more devils bit cider than the craft stuff. We started drinking it from an early age and still like it cause its cheap.

Pighead

Omackeral wrote: »

Not really, craft beer lovers are into an international niche product from exotic places. We just like a crap local cheap version.

Wrong. Joseph N'Do is an international niche product from an exotic place.

beakerjoe

Pighead wrote: »

Wrong. Joseph N'Do is an international niche product from an exotic place.

Hes that odd bottle you buy from time to time to try it out

Omackeral

Pighead wrote: »

Wrong. Joseph N'Do is an international niche product from an exotic place.

Sure where are his medals to prove it?!

CHealy

AgileMyth wrote: »

League of Ireland supporters are the craft beer drinkers of the football world.

Jesus, imagine being Paz-CCFC so where he's clearly a LOI fan, and a craft beer drinker. It must be no life constantly having to tell people about it.

dan1895

This is starting to turn into a thread of huge interest for me. They had almost all the O'Hara's in fagans last time I was there.
Irish soccer and Irish beer, a dangerous mix!!

dfx-

Seaneh wrote: »

Heaven forbid people drink something for taste and quality of ingredients rather than just lash mass produced piss into them to get locked.

Some LOI games demand the latter

Paz-CCFC

happydayz182 wrote: »

Don't worry we have considered the economics of how it would work - and if the bus is filled it will take care of itself. As you said the idea is to get more fans going than otherwise would anyway - and that's what were trying to get a feeling of. Like how popular would this kind of scheme be with away fans and would it get a few extra people down to Limerick for the games themselves!

Ah right, fair play. Any gesture by the home club to improve the away support's experience and to make things a bit easier cost-wise would certainly be appreciated. If it gets reciprocated by the other club for the reverse fixture, then it's a win-win for fans.

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

There's a Porterhouse nearly beside Dalymount, they do a daily special €4 pint.

You've also a decent craft beer pub on Dorset St called WJ Kavanagh's, which is close to both Tolka and Dalymount.

Ivy House in Drumcondra does craft beers, and Fagan's has a small range of bottles.

Gavin shels wrote: »

Fagans supposedly doing craft on tap now.

BOHtox wrote: »

Bohs have 3 fairly cheap bars inside the stadium. Away fans are often in the members bar and have never seen or heard any trouble.

Thanks for the info, lads.

Never knew away fans were allowed into the Dalymount bars. Doyle's is a handy pub, as well, so a good few options around Dayler.

dan1895 wrote: »

This is starting to turn into a thread of huge interest for me. They had almost all the O'Hara's in fagans last time I was there.
Irish soccer and Irish beer, a dangerous mix!!

Sounds like a perfect mix to me!

10green bottles

DundalkFC are playing their part.Fair play and well done to all at the club.

Dundalk Football Club has announced that they will be offering free season tickets to Primary school aged children aged 12 and under for the 2014 campaign. The club will be launching a new Junior Supporters Club in the coming weeks. This new initiative will be free to join with all members entitled to a free season ticket for the upcoming season as well as further benefits.

Chairman Ciaran Bond stated, “This has been a long-standing ambition of the board since we completed the takeover last year. With this unique plan we wish to make Friday nights at Oriel Park a more family friendly experience and to ease the burden on parents who wish to bring their kids to matches.”

General Manager Paul Johnston added “We have recently added our former Captain Liam Burns to our ranks as Schools Co-Ordinator and he will be involved in the rolling out of this project in the coming weeks. We have been visiting a number of schools in recent weeks and the interest in the club is massive in the community. This initiative will hopefully have the short-term benefit of making attendance at live football matches at Oriel Park much more affordable for families plus have the long-term benefit of introducing kids to supporting their local football club and set them on their way to becoming life-long fans”.

More information will be released soon on this initiative. Junior Supporter Club members will also be able to vote for their own Player of the Year and have the opportunities for to get involved in the club as ball-boys and ball-girls.

http://www.dundalkfc.com/dundalk-fc-announce-free-primary-school-season-tickets/

Omackeral

Great idea. Get them started on the product for free when they're young and impressionable. Then when they get the buzz, they'll be back dying for more... only this time charge them.

Worked great in Inner City Dublin for years this approach did!

ciaranmac

Used to go to Shels games in the 90s. I loved the fact I could just show up at Tolka and see a league decider, a euro qualifier or a friendly against a top team. I stopped when I moved to the West. There isn't a club near enough to where I live to be worth the journey.

happydayz182

Quick question guys - Do any of the clubs do much around the games themselves?In America there are some several pre match traditions that get the crowd in early and make the game a bit more of a an event socially at least anyway.. Could this kind of thing work over here? So even if the game turns out to be a dud newcomers and fans get a little more out of it ?

Gavin "shels"

happydayz182 wrote: »

Quick question guys - Do any of the clubs do much around the games themselves?In America there are some several pre match traditions that get the crowd in early and make the game a bit more of a an event socially at least anyway.. Could this kind of thing work over here? So even if the game turns out to be a dude newcomers and fans get a little more out of it ?

Friday matches tend to stop most pre match things.

happydayz182

Gavin shels wrote: »

Friday matches tend to stop most pre match things.

Any reason in particular ?

Alfa Quadrifoglio

All Friday games in Dublin should ko at 8pm to give more time to get home from work and get back out to the game in comfort

BOHtox

Alfa Quadrifoglio wrote: »

All Friday games in Dublin should ko at 8pm to give more time to get home from work and get back out to the game in comfort

It's 15 minutes. Won't make a blind bit of difference and it means I'll be 15 minutes later driving home from Limerick or wherever that night when 15 minutes will really matter.

I think Saturday 5:30 or so. Maybe 7. I'd like to see it tried for a few weeks. I'd certainly go to more away matches and I mainly work mon-fri, as do the people with whom I go, and we'd definitely be able to make an extra few games a year this way.

chopperbyrne

If all matches were on Saturday evenings I'd get to a lot more.

Saturday at 20:00 should be tried. People can watch all the EPL they want, get to a local match and get home in time for MOTD.

dan1895

Can only speak from a Shels point of view but we've had a couple of matches on a Saturday night over the last couple of years due to Internationals on the Friday and the attendances have been nothing special. What's worse is that a few hundred of the people there were Austrian or German fans over for a qualifier, the regulars had other places to be.

Gavin "shels"

happydayz182 wrote: »

Any reason in particular ?

Alfa Quadrifoglio wrote: »

All Friday games in Dublin should ko at 8pm to give more time to get home from work and get back out to the game in comfort

Speaking from a personal point of view, getting from work (Citywest), home, feed, changed and over to Tolka for earlier than 7.30 is a pain.

Zebra3

Pretty much every day and time have been tried over the years.

For the clubs (and fans) in Dublin, Friday evening has established itself as matchday/night.

Worrying to see the Gah trying to make a move to Fridays.

oldyouth

chopperbyrne wrote: »

If all matches were on Saturday evenings I'd get to a lot more.

Saturday at 20:00 should be tried. People can watch all the EPL they want, get to a local match and get home in time for MOTD.

You're assuming that most dedicated LOI fans would put going to a match ahead of getting a BJ from the girlfriend after a night out on a Saturday

justshane

oldyouth wrote: »

You're assuming that most dedicated LOI fans would put going to a match ahead of getting a BJ from the girlfriend after a night out on a Saturday

bring her to the match, few scoops after and could end up with the same finish.

Henlars67

I've always been of the view that games should be made as easy possible for fans, both home and away, to attend.

There is no doubt that that would be at weekends, not a weekday.

whether or not fans choose to go to games on a Saturday is another thing, but it would undoubtedly be easier to go for the majority of people.

Friday is fine for clubs within Dublin, but it's a nightmare for people who have to travel a distance.

I've missed countless away games over the years because I coudn't go on a Friday, would have had no problem making them on a Saturday.

I know loads of others in the same boat.

Zebra3

Henlars67 wrote: »

I've always been of the view that games should be made as easy possible for fans, both home and away, to attend.

There is no doubt that that would be at weekends, not a weekday.

whether or not fans choose to go to games on a Saturday is another thing, but it would undoubtedly be easier to go for the majority of people.

Friday is fine for clubs within Dublin, but it's a nightmare for people who have to travel a distance.

I've missed countless away games over the years because I coudn't go on a Friday, would have had no problem making them on a Saturday.

I know loads of others in the same boat.

But there aren't loads in the same boat.

There is no noticeable jump in away fans travelling long distances when games are switched from Friday to Saturday.