WE'LL
SUPPORT YOU EVER MORE?
From
OWC issue issue 12
"I shook my head when
I walked into the ground last night and saw the crowd"
- Jim Boyce 17/8/00
The 6095 at the Yugoslavia game
was the smallest at an international at Windsor since Sweden
1996. In just 4 months over 3000 'supporters' decided to give
the game a miss. Two weeks later 2000 of them reappeared for
the Malta game.
So what is it with some of our
'supporters'? Is it that they can't make midweek games, don't
go to friendlies, only go to big games etc? I had I wee look
at our attendance figures at Windsor since the war and although
new factors come into play, wall to wall TV football coverage
for example, this is not a new phenomenon, it has been going
on since the 1940's, if in greater numbers:
1949 - 22880 for Wales, then
50000 for Scotland
1953 - 33000 for Wales, then 58248 for Scotland
1962 - 28900 for Poland, then 55000 for England
1971 - 33000 for England, then 15000 for Wales
To me every Northern Ireland
game is a 'big' game. I go to Windsor to support Northern Ireland
and couldn't care less if the opposition was Argentina or Albania.
Unfortunately many others don't think the same way. We must have
some of the most fickle supporters in the world.
Looking back at the last 25
years (since the return to Windsor after home games were played
on the mainland due to the troubles.) the attendance figures
make interesting reading. You can divide the 25 years into 4
parts. The 1970's, 1980-86 Glory Years, Bingham's demise 1987-94,
and the last 6 years.
The
1970's
In 1975 we played
5 home games, 36500 against England and 6 days later 17000 against
Wales! Only 8923 saw the game against Norway. Average - 20578.
No home games
were played in 1976 and in 1977 35000 for England, 6 days later
15000 for Wales. In October 33000 watched the Dutch but a month
later only 8000 v Belgium. Average - 21200.
Only one home
game was played in 1978 v Denmark when 25000 turned up. 1979
saw England play at Windsor twice and also a visit from the Republic.
35000 for the first England visit, 6 days later only 6500 for
Wales! The second England game saw 25000 followed a month later
by 15000 for the Republic. Average - 20040.
The
Glory Years
Arguably the
best period for the international side started in 1980 and a
visit for the first time in 10 years for Scotland. 18000 followed
5 months later by 20000 for the Sweden game. Average - 19000.
1981 saw the
cancelling of the Home Internationals due to Jimmy Sands and
the Hunger Strikes but 3 world Cup games were played. 18000 for
Portugal, 35000 for Scotland then 40000 for Israel and the game
that sent us to Spain. Average - 31000.
Only 2 home
games in 1982, 20000 saw a British Championship game/ World Cup
send off in April and then 25000 the triumphant delayed return
against West Germany in November. Average - 22500.
The final 3
Home internationals (the Scotland game from 1984 was played in
December) and 3 European qualifiers were played at Windsor during
1983. 20000 for Turkey, 12000 for Albania, 22000 for England
followed 3 days later by 8000 at Wales followed 3 weeks later
by 25000 for Austria! Average - 19800.
The end of the
British Championship saw the introduction of regular friendlies
to try and recoup the lost revenue from the England games. In
1984 10000 saw the Israel game and 26000 and 25000 for the Rumania
and Finland World Cup 1986 games. Average - 20333.
Only 2 games
were played in 1985 both World Cup qualifiers against England,
28000 and Turkey, 18000. Average - 23000
After qualifying
for Mexico 1986 we played 2 games, both friendlies prior to the
World Cup 20000 against Denmark in March, then only 12000 v Morocco
in April. A great send off. Average - 16000.
Bingham's
Demise (7 years of hurt)
The first home
game since Mexico saw a healthy 20578 at England in April 1987.
A month later we had 5482 at Yugoslavia then in November 3931
at Turkey! All these games were EC qualifiers. Average - 9997.
From 1988 we
started playing regular friendlies, Poland saw 4903 in March
1988 and a month later 6250 v France. For the competitive fixtures,
Malta attracted 9000 and the Republic, who's supporters had discovered
football that summer, 19873. Average 10006.
1989 saw 15000 against Spain and 8000 v Hungary in WC90 qualifiers
but only 2500 against Chile. That game was our lowest ever attendance
for a international at Windsor, due to the Liverpool v Arsenal
title decider live on TV that same Friday night. Average including
Chile - 8500. Not including Chile -11500.
Friendies, not
being played the same night as title deciders still weren't attracting
the crowds. We saw in 1990, 3900 v Norway and 3500 v Uruguay,
only a 1000 more than Chile! The EC92 games later in the year
saw 9008 v Yugoslavia and 9079 v Denmark. Average - 6371
The Poles attracted
7062 for a friendly in 1991 and loads of free tickets for school
kids pushed the attendance v Faroe Island in an EC92 game to
10000. 9000 saw Austria in the same group game. Average - 8687
The quest for
USA94 saw us in a massive group with six other teams. No friendlies
could be fitted in so no excuses for only 4000 turning up v Lithuania,
the second worse ever competitive attendance. 4 months later
we got 10000 v Albania, 9500 v Spain and 11000 v Denmark. Average
- 8625.
Only two games
in 1993, both WC qualifiers. 6262 v Latvia and 10012 v the Republic.
Average - 8137.
Hamilton
/ McMememy / McIlroy
Bryan Hamilton's
first game in charge was a friendly v Rumania in front of 5065.
The Euro96 qualifiers later in the year saw 7150 v Liechtenstein,
6000 v Portugal and 10336 v the Republic. Average - 7137.
1995 saw only
two home games with 6500 v Latvia and 8400 v Austria, both Euro
96 qualifiers. Average - 7450.
Three 1996 friendlies,
Norway 5343, Sweden 5666 and the Kop's last stand v Germany 11770
and three France 98 games Ukraine 9358, Armenia 8357 and Albania
7935. An Average - 8071.
The 3-0 victory
in a friendly v Belgium in 1997 saw 7162 at Windsor and the France
98 games v Portugal 9392 and Germany 12035, this was with quite
a large German travelling support. Average - 9517.
1998 saw the
appointment of McMemeny as manager. Two friendlies Slovakia 7895
and Switzerland 8862. The Euro 2000 qualifiers saw 10002 v Finland
and 11137 v Moldova. Average - 9474.
Again in 1999
we had two friendlies and two Euro 2000 games, Germany 14270
and Turkey 7270. The Germans again brought a large travelling
support. World Champions France only attracted 11804 and Canada
7663. Average - 10251.
To summarise
the last 13 years home qualifying games averages:
Euro 88 3 games
Highest 20578 Lowest 3931 Average 9997
Italy 90 4 games Highest 19873 Lowest 8000 Average 12968
Euro 92 4 games Highest 10000 Lowest 9008 Average 9271
USA 94 6 games Highest 11000 Lowest 4000 Average 8462
Euro 96 5 games Highest 10336 Lowest 6000 Average 7677
France 98 5 games Highest 12035 Lowest 8357 Average 9415
Euro 2000 4 games Highest 11137 Lowest 7270 Average 10669
Friendlies 88-94
6 games Highest 7062 Lowest 2500 Average 4685
Friendlies 95-99 9 games Highest 11804 Lowest 5065 Average 7910
You can see the average attendance hasn't varied much since 1987
for the competitive games and has even gone up for the friendlies!
So what has
happened since 1986 to cause the drop in attendance? Only turning
out for big games? We had more for Albania than Spain 3 weeks
apart in 1992. The sectarianism? Hardly, as the 'Glory Years'
saw some of the worst of it coming from the Kop. The rise of
the Beggars then? Nope, as football was only discovered down
there in 1988 explain the Turkey 1987 attendance. Removal of
the terracing then? Again no as we got 14270 in 1999, the highest
in 10 years. The simple reason in the drop is that the team has
been playing shit. If we put a decent run together, the fickle
supporters along with the 'be seen crowd' would be back at Windsor.
It would matter if it was Germany or Georgia but instead of 14000
and 6000 we would be getting a full house and 10000.
At the minute
we have a hardcore support of 6000-8000 going be the last two
games, a mid week friendly and a Saturday competitive game. Therefore
we should be trying to attract the 4000 odd floating fans and
perhaps some of the 'be seen' crowd. So how do we get them back
to Windsor? As I said, a decent run of results, but the last
issue of WSYEM made an interesting point. The media coverage
of the build up of the game.
Those 6000-8000
know when the next game is, they read the build up on the sports
pages. Why do the IFA advertise the game on the same page with
a pathetic 2x3 advert?
Once the squad
is announced we should be getting a full page, bright, bold and
colourful advert on page 5 of the Tele and News Letter. Pictures
of the players, ticket prices, outlets, a wee map of the ground
etc. Print it again a couple of days prior to the match. Aim
for those people who would perhaps go 10 pin bowling or to the
cinema.
Maybe even go
as far as a couple of short TV adverts? You don't need a Nike
budget, it will only be for UTV, I'll even lend them a camcorder!
Something along the lines of Sammy Mac saying "We need your
support" with clips of recent goals, crowd scenes and where
to get your tickets from.
Now, you can
just imagine the reaction from Windsor Av? The forlorn cry of
'Money' will be made. I'm not a marketing expert, but advertising
works otherwise why is it a multi million business? I could say
the IFA should get a sponsor but at the minute the they have
as much chance of a big name contract as Barbara De Bruin has
in becoming the next Wonderbra girl. To get decent sponsorship
we need success, but with success we wouldn't need a sponsor!
Come on IFA spend some money and give it a try, nothing ventured
nothing gained.
Perhaps I could
suggest something? If you took one less committee member to Iceland,
saving on air fare and hotel expenses you could take out the
nice big colour advert in the Tele for the Czech game in March.
I'm sure one of the committee would sacrifice a couple of days
in Iceland for the good of the game?
If only eh?
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