As I sit here writing this article a day after Portugal sealed their first ever major tournament title, I feel lucky that I got to spend two weeks over in France experiencing all EURO 2016 had to offer.

Along with three Extratime.ie reporters and, on occasion, our various friends, I got to go from Paris to Bordeaux and then onto Lille before making the hard call to leave two days before Ireland’s final game against France.

I got to experience going to a major tournament game for the first time in my life, I visited fan zones in all the cities I stayed in, and chatted to all kinds of fans from all kinds of places.

The Irish fans have been much praised in the media over the last few weeks, and while they seem to have left a positive impression, I rarely found myself in the central locations they partied.

Instead, I watched games with the fans of the teams playing and I watched the matches in smaller French bars away from the Irish swell. During my time at the Euros, one constant question was asked by fans, both Irish and from elsewhere, was what team do I support?

I support Shelbourne and I have done so since 1987. I don’t have any other teams. I enjoy watching some other sides around the world and I’d like to see some others have success but if they lose it means nothing to me.

“I support Shelbourne,” I’d say. Most non-Irish fans didn’t know the club but would accept my answer that I support an Irish club. I did meet some who knew us from our European exploits during the 2000’s. Some would randomly say Shamrock Rovers, or Bohemians, having either come across the teams via European competitions or from betting.

Unfortunately when Irish fans heard my answer, most either looked confused or asked me who my real team (meaning English team) was?

When I explained I had no other team bar Shels, I was looked at with a sense of suspicion and, at times, a disbelief that I could only support an Irish team.

The questioners, often donned head to toe in green, in a foreign country to support Ireland, couldn’t get behind the idea I supported a club from the country they would represent in the stands and cry tears of joy for at times during Euro 2016.

I rarely try to convert people to the cause of supporting League of Ireland – you might get one or two but nothing close to what’s needed to boost the league. That’s not going to happen unless there is a focused, intelligent re-imagining of the league with a budget for marketing, a focus on infrastructure and a commitment to developing the talent on this island.

The Euros re-ignited a fire of belief in the Irish team and that bounce will be felt when the qualifiers for World Cup 2018 kick off later this year. It will not be felt in our League of Ireland stadiums however.

It will not matter that the Ireland team was made up from players who cut their teeth in Turner’s Cross, Dalymount Park, Tolka Park, The Showgrounds and elsewhere.

It’s a footnote to most Ireland-going fans. They don’t see it as a reason to go to a domestic league game and, to be honest, it is the job of the clubs and the FAI to make it a reason rather than hope for some miraculous mind-set change.

The League of Ireland took a break for the first few weeks of Euro 2016 but came back a couple weeks before it ended. Instead of any boost from Ireland’s campaign, the crowds have dropped to the lowest all season.

Gameweek 17 and 18 recorded the lowest average attendances. It’s important to point out however that these Gameweeks had seven and eight games out of a possible 10 played due to Europa League participation.

So, as not to be all sensational with an overall or average count, we can look at the gates of the clubs that played compared to their previous home games.

6 of the 15 games over the last two weeks registered their lowest crowd of the season. 6 more registered their second-lowest crowds of the 2016 season.

Only Waterford United and Finn Harps seems to do ok with the Blues recording their third highest crowd, although it was just 356. Harps hit a decent 1,030 for their game against Galway.

In total, 11,103 people went to League of Ireland games over the last two Gameweeks. There was one midweek game – Dundalk beat Longford Town 4-3 in a cracker of a game. 1,919 attended the game. This was Dundalk’s lowest home crowd of the season.

Was it a mistake to play two rounds of the league before the Euros ended? Was it also a case that people who would pay to go to games may have been either in France (or broke from the trip), on holidays, too busy watching the other Euro games, or just couldn’t click back into League of Ireland mode after the break?

Regardless of the answers, the truth is all clubs need revenue, but even more so after a tough barren spell of no games. What was not needed was for the clubs to register some of the lowest crowds of the season.

Alarm bells keep ringing each week with attendance figures but is anyone listening?

The breakdown of the Gameweek attendances are below. The red figures are estimates. Below the Gameweek totals are a breakdown of all the Gameweeks since the start of the season.

Home Team Away Team Attendance Derry City Dundalk 1,500 Limerick UCD 847 Shelbourne Cobh Ramblers 469 Drogheda United Waterford United 382 Bray Wanderers Wexford Youths 350 Longford Town Bohemians 296 Cabinteely Athlone Town 100 TOTAL GAMEWEEK 17 ATTENDANCE 3,944 Average Overall 563 Average Premier 715 Average First 450 Home Team Away Team Attendance Sligo Rovers St. Patrick's Athletic 1,583 Bohemians Bray Wanderers 1,205 Finn Harps Galway United 1,030 Wexford Youths Cork City 525 Waterford United Limerick 356 Cobh Ramblers Drogheda United 224 UCD Cabinteely 175 Athlone Town Shelbourne 142 TOTAL GAMEWEEK 18 ATTENDANCE 5,240 Average Overall 655 Average Premier 1086 Average First 224