The best of times - the worst fans?

[buck02]

I know its been over 7 months since this occurred but I had the full intention of posting a thread about it at the time only for the forum to be down.

In the weeks leading up to the all Ireland final last year there was the usual posts about people being not able to get tickets to the game, struggling to get tickets, looking to win tickets etc. It actually turned to be the worst final I can remember in terms of ticketless fans with a vast number of people looking for tickets on the day and apparently not getting them. There was a big Kerry crowd at the game showing great colour and thousands of fans also turned out for the (well publicised for the wrong reasons) victory celebrations that night in Jurys.

Now fast-forward 6 days. Our minors who had produced a number of great performances in the run up to the all Ireland final were playing the replay in Ennis, just up the road from Kerry. Roscommon must have outnumbered Kerry supporters 10-1 in a 17,000 attendance that day and created a marvellous atmosphere. The crowd are very close to the pitch on all sides in Ennis and I reckon the superb Roscommon support had a lot to do with Roscommon finding that extra gear in the last 10-15 minutes.

It was apparent that the majority of Kerry supporters, many of whom I am sure had congested up the Kerry GAA forum talking about the all Ireland final in the weeks prior to the final and the lack of tickets, unfair distribution of tickets through clubs etc didn’t bother to make to trip to give these young players a bit of support when they needed it most. It disappointed me even more so because Kerry people had made a big effort to get into Croke Park for the minor game the week before and even the semi final when it the first of a 3 match programme (the senior game being the last).

I don’t want to start off a contest with people coming on here saying “I was in Ballyshannon, Omagh, Castlebar, Cavan” and so on this year. I’m just saying that the Kerry football public have become blasé in relation to supporting our teams. The replayed Munster final and replayed minor all Ireland final were the two most blaring examples but it doesn’t stop there. There was barely 5,000 there for the league game against our fiercest rivals Cork this year (people too happy to watch it in the pub).

The past 10 years have been amazing with 7 all Ireland finals and 10 all Ireland semi finals being contested by the Kerry senior teams. We’re so lucky that our teams have been able to bring us such occasions that they are no longer as special as they should be. Back in the bleak old days of the early – mid 90’s a trip to Croke Park or to an all Ireland minor U’21 final was a huge thing for us supporters. Will it take a similar slump in our fortunes to get back that feeling amongst our supporters?

[kerrygold]

Top class post buck02,well done,

[Kingdomson]

Your right buck 02,
hunger is a great sauce.

[Owenabue]

Is it not the same in most counties?

[animal]

I agree very much with what you are saying. Last year was horrendous for tickets. Very frustrating when you are making the journey week in week out to follow the Kingdom and people appear out of nowhere with lower Hogan tickets!
Having said that the two games you highlighted i.e. the two replays were (I stand to be corrected here) a week after the original game. I know from personal experience that it can be difficult for many people to commit to two weekends in a row to travel. Many factors come into play be it work and time off, better halves (you're not going again are you?!!!), finance, local club duties etc. It's not always due to fair weatherness or lack of commitment. I count myself lucky in that I'm normally able to attend games but I'm lucky and long may it last.

[ArthurG]

You're right abue,
Kilkenny hurling fans are not much better, in fact they are worse supporters. For the league final (played on their doorstep) they only managed a hatful of supporters.

[buck02]

arthurg said:

You're right abue,
Kilkenny hurling fans are not much better, in fact they are worse supporters. For the league final (played on their doorstep) they only managed a hatful of supporters.

As opposed to the huge crowd we brought to the league final in 2006?

[ArthurG]

different situations Buck,

Kerry's was on Sunday evening at 6.45, the day of one of the biggest days in Munster sport compared to KK's on Sunday afternoon and feckall else on the same day.

[Piggy]

it was a joke in Ennis last year alright,must of been very hard for some of the kerry lads not to feel intimidated as the crowd were right on top of them!definetly had a factor on the outcome of the game

[buck02]

arthurg said:

different situations Buck,

Kerry's was on Sunday evening at 6.45, the day of one of the biggest days in Munster sport compared to KK's on Sunday afternoon and feckall else on the same day.

The biggest day in Munster sport for any Kerryman should be the Munster Final against Cork. See my original post about what I thought of our attendance that day.

I know that your drawing comparisons between successful counties and poor attendances by their followers. But you shouldnt excuse the Kerry fans for missing a national final either because they wanted to watch a rugby game on the telly (fair enough for the few hundred Kerry folk that would have gone to the said match).

[Aine]

Regarding the minor replay in ennis, the abuse the kerry players got was uncalled for. The intimidation the players must have felt (cause the Ross crowd we were surrounded by definately intimitated us!) had to have an impact on the final result. It has always be the same story regarding tickets every year and i bet this year will be no different. There have been several calls for ticket stubs etc to prove attendance at league/championships during the year but so far nothing has been done about this issue and it doesn't look likely that anything will.

[Mickmack]

I wouldnt be too hard on ourselves. Most people get to as many games as they can. Saturday matches dodnt suit Kerry ..... farming and tourist and construction are the three main industries and these are 6 day week assignments.

Even home matches involve a lot of travelling. When I was living in Kerry, Killarney was 30 miles away......still is.

Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Louth, Armagh, Laois, are all a short hop away from Croke Park on good roads.

Cork and Kerry should seek a change so that the provincial champions have a home quarter final........... that would take a bit of the expense out of it.

[Piggy]

ya your right there MickMack,tis desperate expensive aswell,you'd spend over 200euro's on a trip up to Croker

[MrT]

mickmack said:

I wouldn't be too hard on ourselves. Most people get to as many games as they can. Saturday matches don't suit Kerry ..... farming and tourist and construction are the three main industries and these are 6 day week assignments.

Dead right. One would also have to consider that nowadays at least a lot of the "ordinary" club players are students as well as those mentioned. all lot of those mentioned have to take time off work etc at weekends/weeknights or whenever to go play/train for the clubs. tis all a bit harsh then come September when u have a few complaining about people getting tickets for the big matches.

What id consider to b a true fan of Kerry GAA is the person that gives up their time to watch/train/play with their clubs and then go to as many games as possible. A lot of the things wrong in my opinion are that tickets for Kerry games are given to people who are members just for getting the tickets and not devoting any time to their own club. Everybody who plays with a club in Kerry knows these kind of people, probably a lot of the people of this forum are those kind of people, can a lot of people here say that they have gone to more of their club games than those of county games?

Tis hard buck02 or anybody else to say that Kerry fans are poor especially if they are after giving up so much time of their own, weekends off etc to play/train for the local club n then not go to a county game away/at home etc. week after week

Sorry for the rant, prob doesn't even make much sense, but this malarkey regarding supporters is a BIG pet hate of mine. Really makes my blood boil sometimes

[Tadhgeen]

I can see where you are coming from Buck. However........the minors were beaten that day not because of the crowd but because they were beaten by the better team.

Roscommon gave an immense team performance as they did the first outing. This time they had a tighter pitch and a wet day and ok more support. They managed to shackle Curran whilst Walsh and Moran under-achieved. Kennedy was exceptional but supply was scant.

Generally speaking I would say that forum memebers are true supporters whether they attend all games or not. At the very least they have sufficient interest to make comment on the forum.
I wouldn't castigate such people and put them in the same bracket as corporate clowns or so called local luminaries who on a day to day couldn't give a damn about Kerry football at any level.

[buck02]

I deliberately didnt mention people not going to away league matches (and the odd home one) because they often clash with either county league or divisional league games and a lot of club players and mentors cannot make these. I agree totally that the heartbeat of the GAA is the club and its those who give time and effort to the club have to be commended.

I also agree that the cost is high and I suppose that people are now under pressure to go on their sun holiday, ski-ing holiday and two city breaks every year that spending €30 on petrol to go to Cork or Ennis, €20 on a ticket and €30 on a bite to eat and couple of pints would break the bank.

The point I made centred around the replayed Munster final and replayed minor all ireland final. There was no club games that weekend. Fair enough it was the weekend after the original games and people may well have been skint but I'm sure that a lot of people just couldnt be bothered.
1996 - 2000 were the best years in terms of support (terraces packed with young fellas and girls in Cork, Killarney & Thurles & Croker) because big games were new to the majority of them. Sadly a lot of people now seem bored of all the big games (except the final of course) and the support has suffered.

[Mickmack]

The turnout by roscommon was that huge given that their last all ireland final was 1980 and the one before that was 1943. Halleys comet comes around nearly as often.

seldom seen is wonderful etc

[kerry07]

Still I think a loyalty scheme should be introduced for ticket allocation.Some fans constantly cherry pick. Double points should be awarded to those who travelled to Dungarven last Sunday.....

[Mickmack]

a lot of tickets go on the "ticket scheme"........ if you have the money tom join you are quaranteed tickets even if these are the only matches you go to in the whole year

[Owenabue]

Ya, Mickmack, what's the story with that? We don't have that in Cork at all.

[Mickmack]

A 5 year scheme ..... the last one started in 2004. You pay 300 euro or something like that and then you can but a ticket for the munster final, semi final and final if kerry are in it...............

[Owenabue]

So if things are looking up for Cork, it would nearly be worth a shot!

[kerry07]

yep imagine all those Hurling finals ahead in the next decade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Owenabue]

I wasn't on about hurling.....