Football championship attendances plummeting October 20, 2016





Kerry's Darran O'Sullivan and Gordon Kelly of Clare.

©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan. Kerry's Darran O'Sullivan and Gordon Kelly of Clare.©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan.

Attendances at intercounty senior football championship matches are dropping to alarming lows.

The average attendance at this summer's championship matches was 13,146 - the lowest average since the Qualifiers and All-Ireland quarter-finals were introduced in 2001.

Average crowds peaked at 20,172 in 2007 but have been in steady decline since, failing to rise about the 15,000 mark in each of the last five years.

The total number of people who attended football championship matches in 2016 - excluding replays - was 788,746 - a drop of more than 100,000 from last year!

Over one million spectators flocked through the turnstiles every summer from 2001 until 2009 but those sort of numbers are now just a distant memory.

There were four replays this year and they attracted an additional 136,000, taking the overall total to 924,746.

Most Read Stories