All Ye Fair-Weather Supporters

29th Oct 2002

Fair Weather Supporter
 

It's rare that I get the opportunity to go to a Cork City FC game and I decided to make it over to Turner's Cross today to see the team stamp all over relegated Monaghan Utd's pride in a comfortable 5-1 trouncing. As the match became a delightfully one-sided affair my mind wandered slightly from the game. Looking around the stadium I wondered why there was such a low attendance. For Cork's biggest football club with a 10,000 capacity ground, it was the last home game of the season and yet hardly a soul was to be seen...

To be honest I hadn't been to a game in ages. You see it's easy for those fiercely loyal supporters to condemn the "fair-weather-folk", slamming the lack of local pride and the interest in foreign football. Like an alco at an AA meeting I hold up my hand. I am a fair-weather supporter. I admire the loyalty and support the hardcore give the club and can understand why they dislike people like me but hear me now: I'm not a fanatic, I simply like to see a decent game of football. One thing is for sure, for all the Champions League games you might watch on telly, nothing can compare to the atmosphere of actually being at a game. Whether you are a Cork City FC virgin or a fair-weather feen this is what makes going to a CCFC match worthwhile, believe me! Being at a decent game absolutely pisses on a premiership-in-the-pub atmosphere ten times out of ten. Right in front of me I watched Noel Hartigan slot home his second of the afternoon : all around me the Shed erupted into cheering and song, taunting the smart-ass Monaghan keeper as he picked the ball out of the net. Pure suround sound - very satisfying.

The hopeless Monaghan keeper hoping to get the ball out of his half (in vain!) in Turner's Cross. Note the St. Annes' End, completely empty. Should it be covered in ? Should that money be spent on players ?

Anyway to be honest it's not hard to figure it out why the numbers are low. I thought there must be thousands of people (like myself) who wouldn't mind combining a bit of Cork pride with watching a game of football. I love football. I'm passionate about being from Cork. So why don't I and thousands like me go to games more often?

SELF-PROMOTION DISASTER

Well first of all it's not obvious when games are on. Where are the posters? Up the road at Musgrave Park Sunday's Well and Dolphin Rugby Clubs have big signs saying when, where and against whom the next home game is. What about a couple of massive billboards by the Kinsale Road roundabout with the time for next home game? What about a big red consistent quarter page advert in the Echo, with the next home game details on a given page the night before the game?

What about posters in all the sports stores? Take Ludgate-O'Keeffe Sports Shop as one example. There are posters for everything from kick boxing and martial art tournaments to hockey matches and darts competitions. Pubs, bars and restaurants should be targeted. Why just advertise in The Horse Shoe Bar and to the Ballyphehane and Turner's Cross communities? I'm far from a marketing expert but if you want attention, you have to go and get it and not sit on your hole and HOPE people notice you.

What about the players? I find myself in the strange and somewhat embarrassing position of probably being able to name Manchester United's and Leeds' usual starting eleven - despite being a "non-supporter" of any English football club- but not the first team of Cork City. Why? Because the British langers are in the newspapers every week and not just for football. "BECKHAM CAUGHT WITH SLAPPER" , "WOODGATE SMASHES ASIAN FACE", "ALAN SMITH TAKES IT UP THE ASS" etc. Turn the Cork players into local celebrities. I'd love to walk into a shop and see a Sun headline like "MY NIGHT OF PASSION WITH PATSY FREYNE"- Sin'