After Ireland's ruthless victory over Italy on the second weekend of the Six Nations, the atmosphere in the Aviva Stadium became a hot topic among pundits and fans, and even some of the players have now commented on the subdued buzz on Lansdowne Road.
Ireland racked up a 36-0 victory against Italy on Sunday, but the lull in the atmosphere of the stadium was one of the most talked-about points from the weekend. Once the national anthem, sung by Stevie Mulrooney, was finished, there was a clear drop in the crowd's engagement of the game.
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Caelan Doris, who took up the captaincy role this weekend in the absence of Pete O'Mahony, addressed the disengagement of the crowd and suggested an emphasis on interactive elements of the crowd:
You see in France they’ve got the drones going and a little more music, I think maybe stuff like that, although, some people that are purely there to watch the game might find it a bit frustrating.
I think maybe having sections that are dedicated more for students and younger people, they might be encouraged to have a few more pints for no harm.
I can see the frustration if there’s people literally there to watch the games and they have people up and down in front of them and taking away from being able to track the game. I’m sure there are ways to balance everything.
Stephen Ferris on crowd interaction
11 February 2024; Supporters celebrate their side's fourth try scores by Dan Sheehan of Ireland during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Italy at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Former Irish Rugby player Stephen Ferris also commented on the crowd's lack of engagement at the Italy game while speaking to Balls.ie in association with Ladbrokes.
Describing the significant drop in crowd volume and noise during stoppages in play and after national anthems, Ferris said that Ireland needed to create a more "raucous" and intimidating atmosphere on matchday in the Aviva:
I know there’s a lot of chat about it being a Sunday game, a little bit earlier than usual, and you know, it’s only Italy at home, but at the same time people are paying an absolute arm and a leg to go to the Aviva Stadium and there doesn’t seem to be the attention to detail in terms of end game and interaction with the crowd.
I was reading a lot of stuff online and they said they’ve never been to a game where so many people got up and down off their seats. And why’s that? It’s because there’s no interaction between the fans and the atmosphere in the stadium.
They need to bring people in to explore other options to try and get the crowd more into the game, and interact more in some shape or form.
Look at other sports, I know Caelan Doris was pretty bold, a bit tongue in cheek the way he said it would be good to see people having a couple more pints before the game. I think he's trying to say for it to be more of a raucous atmosphere, to be more of an intimidating place to go.
You want your fans to go to every single week, they want to be a part of that atmosphere, they want to feel a part of the victory. They want to feel like they’ve played a part in you winning that game where at the minute, it just feels like that’s not quite there.
Ireland's clash with Italy was their first home game in a series of three for this year's Six Nations.
One would assume that the building promise of a crack at the Six Nations title, coupled with the slightly more glamorous task of taking on Wales, should lead to a better atmosphere in the Aviva on week three of the tournament. Ireland v Wales gets underway at 2:15pm on Saturday March 24.
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