The League of Ireland has finally got back under way this weekend and brilliantly had huge attendances to match the League’s opening day drama.
The game of the weekend was Dundalk v Shamrock Rovers at Oriel Park and even with the game being live on Eir Sport the game drew a whopping 4,746.
4746 attendance at Oriel Park!! Great turn out for the 1st game
— Leagueofireland.ie (@LOIDOTIE) February 24, 2017
Limerick came in with the next best attendance for their fixture bringing in 2,357 which is fantastic as a newly promoted club and hopefully will grow throughout the season.
Official attendance 2357
— Markets Field (@marketsfield) February 24, 2017
Dublin side Bohemians had the third highest attendance this week with 2,170 coming to Dalymount to see Derry City dismantle Keith Long’s side.
Tonight's attendance is 2170. #Bohs
— Bohemian FC (@bfcdublin) February 24, 2017
Shane Keegan’s debut league fixture also brought a big crowd to Eamonn Deacy Park, bringing 2,113 people to watch the Tribesmen take on Drogheda United.
The official attendance at Eamonn Deacy Park this evening is 2,113.
Thank you very much for your fantastic support! 👍 #GUFC
— Galway United (@GalwayUnitedFC) February 24, 2017
Finn Harp’s had a big opening day fixture in Ballybofey taking on the FAI Cup champions Cork City and that bought in 1,840 people through the gates.
Good crowd – numbered at 1,840 – for @FinnHarpsFC v @CorkCityFC tonight in Ballybofey.
— Chris McNulty (@chrismcnulty86) February 25, 2017
Liam Buckley will be happy that 1,722 St Patrick’s Athletic faithful came out to Inchicore to watch their opening day tie with Bray Wanderers that ultimately ended in defeat, but hopefully the attendances stay high at Richmond Park this year.
Somewhere in the GDA, @garethpenrose is looking for LOI attendance figures. 1722 in Richmond Park, anyway.
— Tom Clancy (@tclansee) February 24, 2017
That leaves the average attendance for the Premier Division at 2,491 on the opening weekend.
We are currently trying to confirm official attendances for the First Division fixtures of the weekend.
Brilliant…..seems quite misleading. What are we comparing brilliant to. The average of last year was 1,471 according to league numbers so sure that an improvement. However we all know the average of the opening week is always the best turn out. Last years opening turn out for week 1 was 1,912 but this average included the first division.
So if the numbers beat the average of last years average….maybe you can say brilliant. But then again the league average has been on a steady down turn in attendance for the last 3 years.
I love the enthusiasm and love the league…but to me ‘Brilliant” seems misleading. I think to keep a tract of attendance is massively important -since it keeps a pulse of the “happenings” in the league.