A look at the League of Ireland & the importance of the #greatestleagueintheworld hashtag
The 2018 League of Ireland is shaping up to be an enthralling affair. The rivalry between Dundalk and Cork City shows no sign of abating with only goals separating them at the top. The re-emergence of Waterford and Derry City as genuine contenders has added an extra element of surprise while the spectacular goal grabbing headlines of Graham Burke means that Shamrock Rovers are also in the mix.
Twitter deserves a huge high five for the role it has played in the appetite for top level football in Ireland, well League of Ireland fans on twitter do. They have come up with the greatest hashtag ever for sport and it has played a key role in creating a fantastic online community.
The #greatestleagueintheworld is one of the longest hashtags in sport but its role is huge, we take a look at its impact.
The key people
Week after week league of Ireland diehards and fans on twitter push the league. They praise the quality of the football, they struggle to comprehend why someone from these shores would travel across the pond to watch games, and they are confused why the national manager won’t pick players from these shores.
They share moments that you never see in England top flight football; moments such as players celebrating at a chipper van.
Dare I say they have made the league HIPSTER!!!
The #greatestleagueintheworld hashtag has become key to the growth of the League of Ireland. Typically on a weekly basis there are about 115 unique users of the hashtag in Ireland driving the conversation [For context accounts with less than 20 followers and eggs in profile have been ignored].
In terms of influence, Darren Cleary from Newstalk’s Off the Ball drove the most engagement on the hashtag over the last 21 days achieving 4.19% engagement from his audience with #greatestleagueintheworld tweets with Soccer Republic (RTE), the official account, Neal Horgan and Owen Cowzer also key people.
Alan Hurley is the largest account to tweet about the league, spreading the message to his 16.2k audience.
There are a number of coincident hashtags that appears in tweets using the #greatestleagueintheworld. In fact 97 other hashtags have appeared in tweets with #LOI, #Bohs #CCFC84 and #Leagueofireland the most common. The hashtags with the highest engagement per tweet include #soccerrepublic, #koh, and #gufc.
The most common phrases used in tweets alongside the hashtag are “cork city”, “shamrock rovers”, “sligo rovers bray wanderers”, “cork city Dundalk” and “shamrock rovers cork city”.
@CorkCityfc is the most tagged club when it comes to #greatestleagueintheworld, just ahead of @ShamrockRovers and @Dundalkfc.
#greatestleagueintheworld is a brilliant hashtag, one that has become a cornerstone of the community and conversation of the league, long may it continue.