Football’s League of Ireland has seen a jump in average attendance from last year at the mid-season mark.
The total attendance for the first half of the 2017 season across the top tier Premier Division and second tier First Division was 231,222 over 163 games, with an average match crowd of 1,419, meaning this season has seen a 305-person average increase from 2016.
Cork City has again recorded the highest total attendance, pulling in 15.68 per cent of the overall league gate across both divisions, with 36,255 fans entering its Turner’s Cross stadium (pictured) so far this season. Cork’s average attendance has almost doubled from the 2016 season from 2,533 to 4,532.
The club’s and the league’s highest attended match saw 6,746 supporters fill the stands for Cork’s game against Dundalk.
Cork, Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk’s home crowds represent almost 41 per cent of the total league crowd in 2017. Shamrock have well surpassed their 2016 average with 2,978 this year compared with last year’s average of 2,041.
Every Premier Division club, apart from Sligo Rovers who saw 1,614 in 2017 and 1,752 in 2016, currently has a better average than last year.
Irish website Extratime reported that it is important to note that this is a comparison between mid-season versus end-of-season averages, in which there tends to be a trend that attendances can drop off due to less to play for.
Waterford, the only team in the First Division to have crowds larger than some Premier Division clubs, has seen a dramatic resurgence in its home gate compared to last year.
Last year, Waterford finished with an average attendance of just 277, while this year, they have an average of 1,525 supporters at its games.
The First Division continues to struggle to draw the crowds, with the other seven clubs, excluding Waterford, making up 8.13 per cent of the overall league attendance, or 18,808 people.
Image: GulioLopez
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