Dublin angry at GAA view on series

GAELIC GAMES:IT WAS launched with considerable fanfare but now it seems to be ending on a sour note. Dublin's so-called Spring Series – initially billed as a three-year venture to bring the county's top football and hurling league games to Croke Park – is already up for review due to several apparent difficulties with the GAA.

These include the GAA’s distribution of the series tickets, which Dublin County Board chief executive John Costello describes as a “fiasco”, and the continuing fall-out from the GAA’s decision not to approve Dublin’s request to stage their Football League fixture with Mayo in Croke Park on Friday week, insisting instead that it take place on the Sunday as originally scheduled.

Costello describes that decision as “unfortunate” – with some obvious understatement – and also claims the Friday night fixture would have attracted an additional 10,000 supporters over the Sunday afternoon fixture.

The GAA insist they had no choice in ruling out the Friday fixture, citing various issues surrounding their amateur ethos, but clearly the Dublin County Board are not buying that.

“When both counties involved are willing, and the players from both teams indicated they were happy to participate on this, then in no way is it in breach of any amateur status,” says Costello.

“Plenty other games take place on week days, from junior football championships, to under-21 football championships, etc.

“But this was also a special weekend, as we’ve been pointing out all along. It was no ordinary Friday.

“It was the Friday after a Bank Holiday (St Patrick’s Day), and therefore a holiday weekend. So it really was a unique opportunity, a once-off, and now that opportunity has been lost, and it’s just unfortunate that it didn’t come to pass.”

It was the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) that ultimately pulled the plug on Dublin’s request, despite their late agreement with Mayo to defer any potential clash with the under-21 fixture in the Connacht football championship.

The GAA’s Fergal McGill, head of games administration and player welfare, explained that there were several reasons behind the CCCC’s decision, including the fact the request was made on such short notice, but mainly because amateur guidelines prevented them for approving weekday matches at national level due to the various compensation issues, such as loss of wages.

But that’s only part of Dublin’s grief: the Spring Series itself, with its attractive ticket prices and various musical acts, always required the necessary engagement from the Croke Park authorities, mainly in ticket distribution, yet problems endured there.

That, Costello says, is the other reason why they’ll be reviewing the entire venture.

“Croke Park changed their preferred ticketing system, from the Ticketmaster provider, to tickets.ie, and there were serious problems encountered by our volunteer officials at clubs as a result of that.

“They were discommoded severely, which forced an apology from Croke Park. And in fact they received that subsequent apology from Croke Park.

“So all I can say is we are going to have to review it all, at the end of the series. We’ll sit down and review every aspect of it, from that initial ticketing fiasco, to our ability to deliver something like a Friday night fixture, when both counties are willing.”

The opening two dates in the four-game series – starting with Dublin against Cork in football on February 19th, and then Dublin against Kerry on February 26th – drew decent attendances: Dublin against Cork drew 35,028, although that was aided by the attractive curtain-raiser of Dublin against Tipperary in the Hurling League (which Dublin won by a point); the Dublin-Kerry game drew 23,720, although the curtain-raiser there was a camogie game, involving Dublin against Kilkenny (which Kilkenny won 7-16 to 0-5).

It should be pointed out the Dublin-Mayo game was always fixed for the Sunday afternoon, March 20th, until plans to switch it to the Friday night gained momentum.

The curtain-raiser has since been confirmed as Dublin against Laois in the Leinster minor football league, which isn’t exactly a massive draw, while the match day musical act has been confirmed as Horslips.

The Saturday evening wasn’t considered because of the overlap with the Ireland-England rugby match in the Six Nations, which has a 5pm start at Aviva Stadium.

But the Dublin County Board also targeted the Friday night fixture on the basis it would fit nicely into the St Patrick’s Day weekend, with Croke Park hosting the All-Ireland club finals on the Thursday, and the rugby finishing things off on the Saturday.

Costello has no doubt the Sunday afternoon fixture will draw a considerably lower attendance than the Friday night would have – most likely the difference between 35,028 and 23,720.

“We were confident from all our inquires and early approaches that we would have got something similar to the opening night’s figures.

“We also had a unique approach along with our sponsors, Vodafone, where we intended on text messaging every visitor coming to Ireland that weekend, advising them of the Spring Series game in Croke Park, between Dublin and Mayo. Obviously that won’t happen now, because with the rugby also on the Saturday afternoon, most people will be on their way home on the Sunday morning or afternoon.”

In the meantime, adds Costello, Dublin will be trying extra hard to draw a maximum possible attendance on the Sunday afternoon, despite all the difficulties.

“We’ve had to scramble together a fresh promotion over the last number of days. We’ve radio ads ready to out, probably this weekend. But we’ve had to take a different approach to it.”

There is, of course, a final Spring Series fixture to come, with Dublin’s concluding home match in the Football League on Saturday, April 2nd, against Down, for which Dublin against Kilkenny in the Hurling League provide the curtain-raiser.

That may yet draw the largest attendance of the series, but whether it’s enough to ensure its long-term future remains to be seen.