Last week we looked at the growth in social media following for the teams in the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Men’s Premier Division. Today we turn our attention to the ten clubs in the second tier.
Two years ago three of the clubs were in the Premier Division which doubtless gave their numbers a lift but is encouraging that Finn Harps, Waterford FC and Longford Town have still increased their follower base by 35, 22 and 12 percent respectively.
The first two of those hold the top two places in our league table of Twitter follower bases with Bray Wanderers coming in 3rd and each of them has in excess of 20,000 followers.
Finn Harps have increased their base the most of the top seven in the division but there is strength down the line as well.
Treaty United have increased their base by 124 percent and Kerry FC did not feature in the League last time around. Even Athlone Town at the bottom still deserve credit for a 57 percent increase in their followers. We have excluded these three from the visual above to prevent it from being skewed but is a real positive that the growth is coming right through the division.
The average growth of the fan base is 24 percent, the same as is the case in the top flight. The total number of followers runs to 145,600, compared to the total follower base of the Premier Division clubs at 349,600.
Sport for Business will continue to track and feature the off the field performance of the clubs in the League of Ireland as the season progresses.
