Camogie SemiFinal attendance

1) Lack of real promotion over a long-term period (I mean over a 3/4/5 year period and not just the week leading up to the matches)

2) Even if offering free tickets to school students/underagers, I doubt the trip to Dublin was too appealing to many

Camogie Association need to understand this is a 5+ year project, so they likely weren’t expecting a big attendance- It’s a case of year-on-year increases

If it was any good it would be attended!

Ah yeah, I wasn't trying to suggest there was 30,000 there last year, it's probably telling that the actual attendance is hard to come by. Like any organisation, they have their targets, meeting them is another thing.

100%, it's down to persistent promotion to get the numbers in, the quality games are there.

I think it is a long term culture thing. Even today the mens senior intercounty championship gets way more coverage and interest in every facet imaginable, whether it be ticket sales, stadia filled, media coverage, interviews etc. It is seen (whether officially or unofficially) as the pinnacle event of the GAA sporting calendar and everything else is in second place.

It doesn't matter if it is right or wrong or intentional or accidental. that is just the way it is whether we like it or not.

The elephant in the room is the fact that they are making Croke Park available when the demand doesn't meet the supply. Croker probably made a loss even hosting the games on Saturday (admittedly off-set by a bumper crowd Sunday)

I mean the GAA broke from tradition by moving the minor finals away from the curtain-raiser to the senior, and the hurling final subsequently broke attendance records (while the Jubilee teams waved to empty stands). Yet they cow-tow to the woman's sport movement by hosting camogie semis in a deserted venue- was Portlaoise or O'Connor Park not good enough? Definitely wouldn't have stood out as embarrassing as it did on the telly anyway.

Look at the ongoing women's Euro 2022 championship. England are riding a crest of a wave and are in the semi-final. Where's their next game being played? Bramall Lane. Why? Because the relative authorities realise that it's ridiculous to think they'd even one-third fill Wembley, and smaller, provinicial grounds = better atmosphere.

There was a great deal made of one of the recent ladies football finals setting global attendance records for woman's sport. But that wasn't organic either as they got as many kids in for free as possible.

Travelling out the road to a Junior B game is a hell of a lot more appealing then to trying to get up to Croker for Camogie game!

GAA need to open their eyes should be home or away and a toss of a coin to host the Final!

Thats the cold reality of it!

For four counties that's a really poor attendance although the cost of transport is a big problem for fans at this stage. Personally I think there's an overuse of Croke Park amongst all codes at this stage and the novelty for fans going there has long worn off. It's a shame for the players but it might be better if the Semifinals were at a smaller ground and I don't mean Semple or Pairc ui Choimhe which would still be too big for those crowds.

Beyond the top level, Irish people dont really attend sports. You can see it in everything, LOI has poor attendances but the internationals get 10s of thousands. Rugby teams get poor league attendances and sell out the Champions cup. Hurling/football league games arent as well attended as championship games.

The fact is that camogie isn't the top level and in general womens sport isn't top level, therefore it gets poor attendances.

People vote with their feet, their pockets and their time. On related matter I believe a womens soccer tournament is on RTE at the moment, probably cheap and fills a good bit of air time. Have you heard any hype about it? Have you watched any games? I couldn't be arsed investing a couple of hours to watch any of them bar maybe the final.

Demand obviously isn't there for it.

TBF - the standard of senior camogie is decent and is very watchable stuff. What strikes me from the attendances is that it is mainly groups of young girls - presumably being brought down by their club.

Having it on TV is a double edged sword - it generates interest but at the cost of casual supporters who will just stay at home and watch on TV.

In regards to the finals what caused the spike in attendances from 1997 onwards? Was this due to young camogs getting free attendance?

Unfortunately, I would have to disagree about the standard. I don't mean to be harsh or critical about teams and players who put in the same effort as their male counterparts, but the 2 games last Saturday I found to be of a poor level. Lot of aimless play, lack of cohesion, poor decision making, handling and passing mistakes, poor tactical set-ups etc. I know you can't compare like-for-like anyway but there's no comparison between the mens' and ladies' game at the top level. Ladies football I find of a much better standard vis-a-vis the male game.

This may be one reason why attendances were so poor. I think a lack of knowledge and profiling that the semis' were on was also a factor. Here in Galway, the main focus was completely on the AI final on Sunday, completely overshadowing the camogie.

Watching and following sports is still very much a male driven thing.

The reality is that a larger percentage of lads get invested in following sports from a young age than girls do.

And it's also a reality that men just don't like watching women's sports to the extent they like watching men's sports.

So you have the majority of sports fans not that interested in women's sports.

And as the poster I quoted alluded to, it's only if the men have female family members that are interested in it they get interested in it.

That means that the ceiling for interest in women's sports is pretty low and all the marketing and promotion in the world will not raise it.

That being said 3,500 is abysmal for what it was.

So youd only watch elite sport then? Only finals?

Question - Would you watch Man City hammer a lower league side in the Fa cup?

So just Premier/Elite sport for you then....

Fair enough - But wouldnt a Senior all irl final not be elite ?

Or is it you only watch mens sport?

In fairness the womens senior football final last year was way better than any of the men's games last year!!