[quote=“therock67”]Depends what you call fans. They had an average of 39,000 at their games last year, capacity is well over 60,000.
Dortmund’s 72,000 average last year was third after Real Madrid then Man United. They have a massive fanbase.[/quote]
to be honest i wouldnt consider benfica that big of a club but read on the HB yesterday that they have the biggest registered support in the world which is surprising- would you consider a registered fan more of a fan than an irish barstooler like puke?hard to say
SL Benfica has one of the biggest fan base among Portuguese clubs, having also the largest number of supporters outside of Portugal for a Portuguese club, with a total of 14 million Benfica’s supporters worldwide.[2] It is also the biggest club in the world in number of associates (registered paying supporters), with a current (November 2006) number of 160,398, a fact which was attested by the Guinness Book of Records on November 10, 2006.[3]
Sorry thought you thought they were well supported from your statement that read:
“benfica have the most fans”
Probably reading too much into your posts though.
It’s a shite way to judge anything. 39,000 at their games says they’re relatively badly supported. Leeds had 26,000 last year in the third tier of English football. That’s very impressive by any standards.
[quote=“therock67”]Sorry thought you thought they were well supported from your statement that read:
“benfica have the most fans”
Probably reading too much into your posts though.
It’s a shite way to judge anything. 39,000 at their games says they’re relatively badly supported. Leeds had 26,000 last year in the third tier of English football. That’s very impressive by any standards.[/quote]
all my posts are 1/2 truths - you should know that by now
Beginning to realise that. Apologies for taking them at face value!
You missed out on a potential TFK debut earlier. We were so stuck I tried to make contact with ya but we coasted to a 9-1 win anyway. Would have been nice for you to meet your heroes though.
Schalke 04 would be up there for proper support I’d say as would Dortmund - some of the atmospheres at German grounds looks unreal - lke English football used to be before Sky sanitised it.
Sid - Schalke get good crowds alright but I think they’re behind Dortmund and Bayern anyway. Koln are always very impressive - they averaged over 40,000 in the second division. Best place to watch football at the moment is Germany. Terracing makes a world of difference.
Who, the Irish people who couldnt give a toss about Scottish football?
Oh yea.
No offence mind, Scottish football never interested me. Of course it suits my sensibilities to see Celtic triumph rather than that other shower, but to be honest I dont really care all that much.
[quote=“myboyblue”]Mthy - All Irish Catholics love and support Celtic and detest Rangers.
Reality - Many Irish people couldnt give a toss about either of them.[/quote]
Is that even a myth any more? I’d say you’d struggle to see a Celtic game on TV in a pub around the country if it clashed with an EPL or English Championship game. For example, I watched Celtic at Motherwell last year in a Paddy Power’s shop in Wexford town after the only pub I know in Wexico town who had Setanta Sports 1 (and hence access to SPL games) already had the build-up to some Charlton game Sky were televising on and couldn’t/wouldn’t turn the Celtic game on. Even if you look at forums that seem to garner a broad range of people from around the country, like boards.ie or somewhere, there’s pages and pages of debate on stuff like the situation at Newcastle and other random EPL news and little debate about Celtic or other teams and leagues outside the EPL.
[quote=“Chicken George”]Myth: Chelsea were 2nd in the league the year Roman bought them
Fact: They were 4th (behind Newcastle)[/quote]
I beg to differ on that one Chicken St George.
Chelsea finished their first season after the takeover in second place in the Premiership, from fourth the previous year, and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League
Yeah fair point Bandage. If you look back to a couple of years ago Celtic were one of the most popular clubs (if not the most popular club) in terms of tv coverage but now it is very hard to see them in a pub if it clashes with any EPL match. The EPL cultural has seeped into this country bit by bit and is now a huge force. It has even affected the casual fan of Irish football team I reckon. More folk seem to find who Newcastle will appoint as their next manager more interesting to how we will get on in Montenegro. Remember looking at this messageboard and thinking about whats the point in contributing to a board where more posters seem to find story about Newcastle manager more interesting than Irish match. Suppose silly reaction of mine but this culture pisses me off. Not sure how much of this interest is media driven. Bill O’Herlihy announcing at half time in the Montenegro game who the next West Ham manager is going to be doesn’t help (would he have done this for a League of Ireland team or even for an EPL team a few years ago? I don’t think so). Similarly the Irish Times devoting a front page piece to Newcastle and nothing on Trap’s team for a match was hard to believe too. Suppose it can be argued that media will report what people are interested are in but can’t help but think that some of it is just lazy journalism where Irish reporters just copy English stories and this then leads to more people discussing it on messageboards and the likes. Additionally the amount of promotion that broadcasters like RTE, Today FM give the EPL is startling and only goes to feed the EPL monster.
Having said all this despite lesser prominence of Celtic and Irish teams I believe that supporter numbers of these teams have not dropped considerably or at all. Also while Newcastle story etc might be a hot topic of discussion on messageboards and on our media do many people in Ireland have a genuine passion for it? Do they fuck. Excuse the ramble.
[quote=“larryduff”]Yeah fair point Bandage. If you look back to a couple of years ago Celtic were one of the most popular clubs (if not the most popular club) in terms of tv coverage but now it is very hard to see them in a pub if it clashes with any EPL match. The EPL cultural has seeped into this country bit by bit and is now a huge force. It has even affected the casual fan of Irish football team I reckon. More folk seem to find who Newcastle will appoint as their next manager more interesting to how we will get on in Montenegro. Remember looking at this messageboard and thinking about whats the point in contributing to a board where more posters seem to find story about Newcastle manager more interesting than Irish match. Suppose silly reaction of mine but this culture pisses me off. Not sure how much of this interest is media driven. Bill O’Herlihy announcing at half time in the Montenegro game who the next West Ham manager is going to be doesn’t help (would he have done this for a League of Ireland team or even for an EPL team a few years ago? I don’t think so). Similarly the Irish Times devoting a front page piece to Newcastle and nothing on Trap’s team for a match was hard to believe too. Suppose it can be argued that media will report what people are interested are in but can’t help but think that some of it is just lazy journalism where Irish reporters just copy English stories and this then leads to more people discussing it on messageboards and the likes. Additionally the amount of promotion that broadcasters like RTE, Today FM give the EPL is startling and only goes to feed the EPL monster.
Having said all this despite lesser prominence of Celtic and Irish teams I believe that supporter numbers of these teams have not dropped considerably or at all. Also while Newcastle story etc might be a hot topic of discussion on messageboards and on our media do many people in Ireland have a genuine passion for it? Do they fuck. Excuse the ramble.[/quote]
good point - RTEngland had the Liverpool score ahead of the SPAs score on the radio today - it will keep barstoolers like puke happy but its crazy
I think the coverage given to the EPL en masse is widely disproportionate to the interest people have in it. I post about it quite a bit because I’m exposed to it but when push comes to shove I rarely bother to watch it. That’s not a criticism of the product but I prioritise my sport and I’d watch SPL, GAA (except women’s), Bundesliga, NRL, European club rugby ahead of it.
The Newcastle example that you pointed out from the Irish Times is just a shocking editorial decision. Part of it is down to the fac that EPL coverage is cheaper because they just buy it in from the Guardian, they don’t have to write it. But their space allocation on front pages and photos and stuff like that is poor and is far too focussed on the EPL at the expense of other soccer.
As a kid growing up in the late 80’s my primary interest was Liverpool FC and soccer was by far my favourite sport. As I got into my teens I became far more interested in GAA simply because I thought hurling and football were more exciting sports, and also because I found it easier to identify with. In soccer I became more interested in Celtic rather than Liverpool because I found it far easier to identify with them.
I still like Liverpool and I watch out for their results and maybe watch some of the highlights on a Saturday evening (I make a point of watching the European games) but outside of that I find it increasingly hard to take an interest in English soccer, in fact my interest in it has waned in inverse proportion to how it has been hyped by Sky over the years. It’s surprising how many many people have similar attitudes to me saying they used to be big fans but don’t really follow it anymore. To me it’s become more showbusiness than sport and I fucking hate that. It has become sport for people who don’t like sport - they see it on TV and pick a team so they can fit in somehow.
The points above about lazy journalism and it being cheaper to print stuff about the Premiership are on the money.
btw yes I have noted the irony of somebody using a Sky commentator’s name criticising Sky.