IRISH FOOTBALL fans spent approximately €145 million last year visiting Premier League grounds and made 164,000 visits, with an average spend of £776 (€884.64) each, according to VisitBritain, the UK’s state tourism agency.
The Irish accounted for one-in-five football fans who visited a Premier League ground from overseas last year. Though the Irish are by far the most popular visitors to Premier League grounds, a similar survey in 2008 found 267,000 Irish fans attended a match in the UK, so the numbers travelling (down almost 40 per cent) have clearly been hit by the recession.
In that year 400,000 Irish people visited a sporting event in the UK, which may be accounted for by the huge influx to Cheltenham and other race meetings every year.
The Premier League is arguably the most popular football league in the world and is beamed into 212 different territories with an audience reach of nearly four billion people.
Last year 750,000 overseas fans attended a Premier League ground. That was worth €678 million a year to the British economy. After Ireland, Norway (77,000), the US (56,000), the Netherlands (41,000) and Germany (39,000) provided the greatest number of visitors.
Unsurprisingly, Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, was the most popular venue – attracting 114,000 visitors. This was followed by Anfield, the home of Liverpool, which attracted 89,000 visitors; Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (88,000), Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge (54,000), and Tottenhams White Hart Lane (38,000).
Surprisingly, Celtic’s ground, Celtic Park, which is a huge draw for Irish fans, did not figure in the top 10 grounds.
Patricia Yates, the director of strategy and communication at VisitBritain, said the results showed the impact of a partnership between itself and the Premier League going back to 2008 with many footballers extolling the virtues of the country on the VisitBritain website.
“It has given us access to some of the stars of the British game who have promoted Britain to their fans back home – and encouraged them to come and visit,” she said.
