IT’S SUCH AN exciting time for Irish football as we ramp up towards the European Championships, but why aren’t we seeing that love of football have a knock-on effect on our League?

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Waterford United. Long-serving chairman John O’Sullivan (no relation), who had put huge finance and effort into the club, stepped down. He is an exceptionally popular gentleman around the league and most will be sorry to see him move on.

Following his departure came the public announcement that the club would require €80,000 to finish out the season.

There was a strong reaction across the league and it was heartening to see collections being organised at a number of games to support the Blues.

To raise €80,000 in a single event or even over a series of fundraisers would be incredibly difficult. However, in reality, the number could be achieved in a simpler fashion. If Waterford attracted approximately 350 adults to each of their 14 homes games each season, maintaining their current ticket price of €15, they’d be most of the way there.

Since most League of Ireland clubs would expect somewhere between a quarter and a third of adults to purchase a match programme, with a similar fraction of people availing of concession stands through the ground, you’d expect a couple of euro per person in terms of spend across those 350 adults, which would cover the gap.

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Across the league, 34% of income comes from gate receipts, as detailed in last year’s Uefa Benchmarking report, so taking additional steps to drive up attendance, and further steps to maintain it, is vital. Waterford’s appeals were picked up by fans across the country, with rival fans organising bucket collections. It looked like there was strong momentum.

Then, many of us were left scratching our heads after their most recent home game attracted only 268 people through the turnstiles — an abysmal turnout from the local community to their local club’s crisis.

When I expressed surprise at the figure on social media, a few people flagged that the €15 fee for a First Division entrance ticket was part of the reason people stayed away, which is no doubt a valid complaint in the First Division, but I don’t believe it adequately explains such a small response to such a large appeal.

It seemed we were still reacting to the Waterford attendance when last Tuesday’s Premier Division fixture between Longford and Wexford Youths attracted just 294 people to the City Calling Stadium.

If, as Uefa suggest, Longford are relying on attendances for 34% of their income, I’m afraid 294 fans isn’t going to help. You can point to the clashing English Premier League fixtures on Tuesday night, as some have, but it seems as baseless a reason for a lack of support as Waterford’s ticket price.

Neil O’Riordan of the Irish Sun highlighted this week that Dundalk’s attendances drop by approximately one third when their games are televised, Cork City recently had five home competitive games in a two-week period that resulted in fans picking and choosing games with the result that attendances were down on their season average across the fortnight — of course, costs involved in running the game will not have fallen.

These drops come at a time when Euro 2016 excitement is rising and the FAI are missing a trick to use this excitement to add to all aspects of the game. Even a campaign as simple as putting billboards of the many current Irish Internationals wearing the jersey of their former LoI jersey would raise awareness of where so many of our current heroes come from.

The apathy surrounding Waterford and low attendances across some grounds is worrying. What’s perhaps more worrying is the lack of action in the FAI to raise the profile of the league at a time when it makes most sense.

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