GAA make calculated decision with Croke Park double bill

GAELIC GAMES:THE GAA put people before profit in utilising Croke Park for Saturday's double bill of All-Ireland football fourth-round qualifiers. The expected attendance will probably cover the highs cost of opening the stadium, but coupled with the €5 reduction in qualifier ticket prices this summer, it's more likely a case of breaking even.

“We could have divided them up further to provincial venues, such as Portlaoise and Clones,” says Alan Milton, GAA communications manager, “but that mightn’t necessarily have attracted a bigger attendance.

“Of course we’re keen to get in as many people as we can, but the qualifiers have already been a huge success this year, in terms of the quality of games, and the overall attendances across the games.”

First up is Derry against Kildare at Croke Park at 4pm, followed by Down against Cork at 6pm, a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final.

While Wexford against Limerick will be a stand alone fixture in Portlaoise, Tyrone will have home advantage in Omagh for their delayed third-round qualifier against Armagh – as was their entitlement as the first team drawn.

“The fact of the matter is Croke Park is most convenient to the four teams involved,” adds Milton, “and it’s where every player wants to play, and every supporter wants to come. There is also the €5 reduction across the board, in every central game up to the All-Ireland final, so we feel it is a very attractive package.”

Stand tickets for the Croke Park double bill are priced at €25, with the terrace priced at €15, and under-16s at €5. Last year those stand and terrace tickets would have been priced at €30 and €20 respectively.

The stand alone game in Portlaoise is €20 for the stand, and €15 for the terrace, with under-16s being admitted free. Again that’s a €5 reduction on last year.

Sunday’s hurling double bill in Thurles (with Dublin against Limerick at 2pm, and Waterford against Galway at 4pm) is at the quarter-final stage, and therefore tickets there are priced at €30 for the stand, and €20 for the terraces.

“We would argue both those double bills are good value for money, given what’s at stake,” says Milton. “Croke Park includes a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final. It’s impossible to tell at this stage what the crowd will be, because it’s been such a quick turnaround. The venues were only announced on Monday.

“We do know some provincial attendances are down, but it’s swings and roundabouts. We don’t have exact data on the provincial figures because those competitions were only completed on Sunday. But it’s been a very strong performance overall. We’d expect another strong crowd in Thurles for the hurling quarter-finals, again with Dublin involved, we’d be hopeful of upwards of 30,000.”

A new component of this year’s qualifiers is that tickets for all central GAA matches are now being sold at Fáilte Ireland tourist offices around the country, partly to boost attendances but also to give tourists an authentic Irish experience. Tickets are being sold in around 20 of Fáilte Ireland’s tourism offices in a new initiative developed in conjunction with the GAA.

“I wouldn’t call it an experiment, more of a pilot,” says Milton. “Fáilte Ireland were eager to come on board, and in many ways it’s a logical place to have our tickets on sale. It’s fair to say any tourists who have seen our games for the first time have been hugely positive about the experience.

“We’d think there is scope to develop this even more, especially in hurling. We’d don’t know at this stage what the uptake has been, but it’s still in its infancy.

“We’ve had talks with Fáilte Ireland for the last number of years, and right now they are driving it through their premises. If we feel there is definitely a market for it then we’ll look at implementing it on a wider scale.”

While tickets will be available for the marquee matches in Croke Park and championship games around the country, local tourism offices will also be pushing club matches in individual counties. Tickets for Croke Park matches will be available through Dublin Tourism’s Suffolk Street office.

The initiative started with the opening weekend of the football qualifiers in June, the same time the GAA announced a €5 reduction in prices for all central fixtures up to and including the All-Ireland semi-finals, although compensated for by a €10 increase in prices for the All-Ireland finals.

The GAA have also confirmed the draw for the All-Ireland football quarter-finals will take place on Sunday in Thurles at approximately 6pm, following the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals.

Lying in wait are the four provincial champions – Dublin, Donegal, Mayo and Kerry – and their opposition will be decided in what is effectively an open draw, on the basis the four provincial champions play the four winners of the fourth round of qualifiers, and the only stipulation being the provincial champions can’t meet the defeated finalists from their own province.