It was a pretty busy sporting day in Ireland yesterday, wth RTE's Pauric Lodge accentuating how unique a day it was:
Wonder if this is a first for Irish TV.. Right now: RTE1: Live GAA, RTE2: Live golf, TV3: Live soccer, TG4: Live rugby.
— Pauric Lodge (@pauriclodge) May 21, 2016
While attendance at the K Club was reasonable given the weather (circa 20,000) and the Sportsgrounds was rammed, not many turned up at Croke Park:
Croke Park, however, was comparatively jammed in contrast to Athlone Town's Lissywollen for yesterday's FAI Cup clash with Letterkenny Rovers:
Looks like I miscounted the crowd at Lissywollen tonight. Athlone Town v Letterkenny Rovers official attendance... 57. #tumbleweed
— Ashley Cahill (@cahill_ashley) May 21, 2016
57! There were extenuating circumstances: Athlone Town supporters had organised a boycott in protest at how the club were run:
This game is so bad I reckon the lads boycotting picked the right one to miss!!
— Ashley Cahill (@cahill_ashley) May 21, 2016
The club are badly run, and the results of mismanagement festered after a 2-1 defeat to Drogheda a fortnight ago. Athlone manager Alan Matthews told Shannonside FM of that there were 'unsavoury scenes' after the game, as the aftermath of the game between a member of the Drogheda management squad and the Athlone Town chairman. The issue relates to outstanding wages:
It did centre around a number of outstanding items that were due to the players and the coach that were previously at the club that haven't been addressed since the end of the season. It boiled over into an extremely ugly exchange which was carried out in full view of maybe 25 or 30 people.
I know from the Drogheda point of view, from one individual's point of view, it was said last night that it's about the principle. There are payments outstanding and he had an issue with them not being fulfilled.
There are legacy issues from last year. Some commitments were made during the off-season for payments before now, but they haven't been fulfilled.
Financial difficulties have beset the club for some time. This season, a generator was used to power the ground as a result of problems with the ESB, and a tie with Shelbourne had to be postponed following the failure of the generator. Matthews also revealed to Shannonside that some players at Athlone earn as little as €20 or €30 a week:
In our own division you have Limerick who are able to offer full-time contracts but then you come down to the norm. The norm, in essence, particularly in the First Division, is minimal payments. There's guys on our roster who'd bet getting €20 or €30 a week. That wouldn't be unique to Athlone. There'd be guys getting the same at other clubs, covering expenses that sort of stuff.
The club are a mess, so credit to the Athlone fans for organising such a protest.
An almost empty stand in Lissywollen as @AthloneTownFans stage a boycott protest against the @AthloneTownFC board! pic.twitter.com/XxrM58k0iy
— Ashley Cahill (@cahill_ashley) May 21, 2016
While this low attendance has extenuating circumstances, crowds across the board were very low:
For Athlone, the replay is fixed for next Tuesday at 6pm in Letterkenny. If anyone from Athlone shows up at that, they deserve a medal.
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