Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

It isnt really that much and there is many people who do that all the time in other provinces to get to games as well as leinster fans. if dubs arent willing to do that then it doesnt say much about their support then...

i dont see it happening anyway. leinster will just play reduced crowds in rds and move games as necessary to aviva but

There’s a lot of people on that side of Dublin and surrounding areas who would go to a match in Tallaght who might not bother with a trip to the RDS. A few games in there would bring a new cohort of fans in.

That's very true but I would say it's not worth the gamble of losing the revenue from a lot of STHs for one season as its a fairly significant relocation.

The RDS is a great spot and has lovely bars around it but I think a few people on here have a slightly blinkered view as to it's accessibility and where Leinsters 'traditional support base' hang their hats at the end of the day. If you are on the outskirts of either south or north Dublin its a pain in the backside to get to. It's a bus into town and then a walk from the city center out to ballsbridge.

I absolutely agree that a move to Tallaght for a year would do wonders for the support base. Tallaght has ample parking and is just off the motor way. Numerous buses and a tram go there. Way better option then a dull year in the Aivia, which would be a wasted opportunity to grow the game outside the usual areas and get new fans in the door.

I can't tell you how many would or wouldn't go but as Leinster make a significant portion of their revenue from STH sales, there is an inherent risk that moving the stadium for a year to an area that a lot of fans may not be interested in travelling to week in, week out will lead to them potentially suspending their season ticket memberships for the year and thus outweighing the overall benefit of new fans that may or may not turn up in Tallaght. Bear in mind that having it in a smaller stadium means you're already carving out some STHs, and then moving it further afield may lose more.

If it comes down to 'we have 12.5k STHs' whom we know will more likely than not continue to come to the Aviva' v 'lets reduce our STH income significantly for a year and hope to grow the fanbase with an inherent risk that we lose a lot of income, particularly given that we'll need to rent a new venue rather than use the one we have', I know what option I'd go for from a purely financial position (which is what it will probably come down to).

"It doesn't say much about their support" is such a silly statement to make. There are people who may work in parts of Dublin (or elsewhere in Ireland) where they couldn't feasibly make a 7.35pm kick-off in Tallaght on a Friday night. There may be parents who currently walk or get a short bus journey to games with their kids who don't fancy adding a 90 minute round trip to that experience. There may be older fans who wouldn't be able for a longer trek than they currently make to make it out to Tallaght. You've absolutely no idea. Of course there are fans who may just 'simply not be bothered' but to say that it doesn't say much about their support is incredibly reductive.

I should say that I'm not disagreeing that growing the fan base is important and that having some games in Tallaght or elsewhere would be great, it just doesn't make sense financially to move the home ground there for a year, and it won't happen.

I'm not sure you can really come up with a accurate statistic on where supporters are from based off where the players are from. I enjoy pushing the boat out as much as the next lad, but your in danger of reaching Hollyhead there.

They're not going to go out to Tallaght and pay rent for a year

Its a 90-120min journey, across two forms of public transportation, to Tallaght stadium from the more traditional Leinster areas along the DART line where most of the ST holders would be commuting from.

If you don't think the geographical origins of the players on the team roughly reflect the likely geographical origins of the team's fans then what measureable dataset would you use instead, and what alternative interpretation does it suggest?

I know quite a few season ticket holders and off the top of my head most are not living along the dart line or even went to one of the big rugby schools.

Tallaght stadium is nicely between Tallaght, Clondalkin and Rathfarnham rugby clubs.

RDS is definitely easier to get to for most due to its central enough location but Tallaght is hardly difficult to get to especially for a non Friday night game.

A bit biased myself living in clondalkin but I don't see the harm in it, been a Leinster fan through and through for years above even supporting Ireland, but my one gripe is the support base.

Moving the games to Tallaght, Navan, Portlaois or any other significant town in the Provence can only be a good thing. Revenue next season when the Angelsea is out of action is going to be down regardless. I'd rather Leinster took the bolder and potentially more lucrative offer in the long run and got some bums on seats that might never have come without it.

Leinster are the most successful professional sporting outfit on this island their support base could bare to show that a bit more. I've been to league of Ireland matches with barley 5000 people that packed Leinster games pale in comparison too in terms of atmosphere and crowd participation in getting behind their team. Maybe more supporters from outside Leinster's southside coastal Dublin axsis is exactly what's needed to improve that.

And what exactly do those numbers show?

It hung on me at Queston 10