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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

Sunday football proves big hit for Irish League clubs

Newry City boss Darren Mullen insists he would have "no hesitation" recommending Sunday football following the success of some early games this season.

Three fixtures have been played on Sundays this season with the NI Football League recording record attendances.

Newry welcomed champions Linfield to the Showgrounds on August 21 with 2,029 supporters flocking through the turnstiles.

Read more: County Antrim Shield live score updates from Tuesday's games

The attendance was the highest ever officially recorded for a league game at the Newry Showgrounds.

Newry manager Mullen said: “I would have no hesitation in recommending Sunday football.

"The atmosphere was fantastic and gave those fans not able to watch games on Friday night or Saturday an opportunity to support their team.

"We can see from other leagues how it works so hopefully we will see further Sunday games.”

Over 42,000 fans have passed through the turnstiles in the first five weeks of the season. One of NIFL's biggest success stories has been the introduction of regular Sunday fixtures for the first time in the league’s history.

Gerard Lawlor, Chief Executive of the NI Football League said: “We are delighted with the initial attendance figures, there remains a lot of factors in the success but one thing I strongly believe is, we can no longer grow the league with everyone playing on a Saturday afternoon at 3pm.

“We continue to encourage and support our member clubs to look at innovative ideas in how to increase crowds and make the league more attractive and accessible to new supporters, I commend the clubs who have taken action so far and have got positive rewards.”

Linfield’s season opener against Portadown at Windsor Park on Sunday, August 14 attracted 2,806 fans to the game and was a 13% increase on the previous highest recorded attendance for that fixture, set in 2011.

The third of August’s successful trio of Sunday games was at the Loughview Leisure Arena where another fixture specific record crowd watched on the first big upsets of the season so far as Carrick Rangers defeated Linfield in front of 1,452 supporters.

John Hood, Vice-Chairman of Carrick Rangers said: “We were very pleased with how our first Sunday fixture went, there is no doubt that the beautiful weather and scoreline helped with the feel-good atmosphere among our supporters, and we hope that any neutrals who attended also enjoyed it and would plan to come back again on a regular basis.

"We are certainly considering trying another Sunday fixture later on this season.”

The next Sunday action that fans can enjoy will be Cliftonville’s venture in the SPFL Trust Trophy against Queen’s Park on Sunday, September 26 at Solitude.

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