Treaty FC

Of that six hundred, at least four hundred were from Cork

Xpro wrote: The apathy among Limerick sports fans is something else. Ok they`re bottom of the league and struggling but their gate at Jackman Pk against 2nd placed Cork was 600 punters. It`s very depressing for players to play in front of such small crowds. Look at the Cork-Dundalk game with 7000 at Turners. Players respond to that and up their game, to the benefit of the punters looking on. I hope the Markets Field move grabs the attention of local sports fans, now that the rugby season is coming to a close and Limerick hurlers and footballers prepare for their early exit from the Munster championship.

What do you expect when most of their most loyal and vocal fans are banned for supporting the team? And no one else is going to start going to stand on a grass hill to watch a match. Limerick have potential but are being run into the ground it seems. Somethings going to have to give if they are to survive..

While it may like to think of itself as the "sports capital of Ireland", that delusional claim isnt borne out by their soccer and gaa attendances. Fair weather fans are the order of the day in Limerick and on the rare occasions when their hurling and football teams do well in the gaa championship, green jerseys suddenly appear from the woodwork.

Likewise with the blue jerseys of their soccer team. They did well way back in the day under Eoin Hand, when the Irish rugby out-half Tony Ward was one of their star players. Al Finucane was another big name at the time and the old Markets Fields got decent gates. But it only lasted as long as the club was successful. (Fair weather fans again).

The mainstay of club support in Limerick has long been rugby. Way before the professional era and when there was little or no interest in inter-provincial rugby in Ireland, the likes of Garryowen, Young Munster, Crescent, Shannon and Bohemians were stuffing grounds for club games. Sam Allardyce learnt this to his cost, when he tried to promote Limerick FC during his early managerial career, even handing out A5 flyers for the Markets Field on a Sat night for the following day`s afternoon kick-off.   

Great to be going home. 

The Sligo Rovers League Cup Final in 1975 was the worst football violence I ever saw and yes I was in Lansdowne Road in 1995. 

Heard POS say on radio the renovated Markets has that "Wow Factor". Must say, i can't see it nor the €4.5m spend from the photos online but it certainly beats all previous Limerick FC home grounds for facilities, Thomond obviously excepted. 

My last 2 visits to Limerick they had approximately 300 fans and 150 fans. I hope they get more than that out there

Good to hear. What is capacity there?

Disappointing result last night but overall an enjoyable occasion. It was brilliant to see people come out and support the team, and hopefully a lot of those will come back. The roar when Paul O' Conor scored was unreal, a special moment.

Good point. But Thomond is the main sports venue in Limerick and there was a certain novelty factor there to watch a soccer game.

The new home in Markets Field hasn`t been helped by timing, with Limerick adrift in the relegation zone on 5 points. But on the positive side, if my club was in that situation, I`d feel a lot more confident of survival with Martin Russell in charge than any other LOI manager. He`s been there and done that with UCD, on scraps of a budget, so a relegation scrap is a breeze for the man!