GAA to persist with pitch policy

GAELIC GAMES:THE GAA will persist with their new model of All-Ireland post-match presentations. There will be some minor modifications next year, but the days of allowing fans onto the field, in a controlled manner or otherwise, are over.

Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna described as “ill-conceived” the suggestion fans should be allowed on the field, following the cup presentation, as long as it was in a controlled manner, and a players’ area around the Hogan Stand were cordoned off.

“It’s just not an option,” said McKenna, “and it’s ill-conceived to suggest it, for a number of reasons. The whole rationale for pushing hard to avoid pitch invasions isn’t diminished.

“What you’d actually be doing is giving people a false sense of security, and saying that by allowing people onto the field, the inherent dangers such as falling on field, being trampled on, or children getting lost or hurt, are diminished, and that is not the case.

“One of the other reasons for doing this in the first place is to avoid any cross-flow, or cross circulation, within the body of the stadium.

“In you have a mechanism whereby people are allowed onto the pitch – and I don’t think you could ever do that in a controlled way – it will always be somewhat chaotic, because you will also have people coming from the upper tiers, down to pitch level, and thus try to cross over people that are exiting to get onto pitch. Cross-flows like that reduce the exit capacity by more than half.

“It would also leave the issue of having too many people exiting on Jones’s Road, which the road capacity cannot take. One of the interesting things we saw in the pictures from the Garda helicopters after both games was that Jones’s Road was relatively pedestrian, and didn’t have the big build-up of people in an uncomfortable fashion we saw other years.”

The cup presentations are also likely to continue on the Hogan Stand, although McKenna didn’t rule out the option of an on-pitch presentation.

“That might require some more debate, but the general consensus I’ve been hearing is that the presentation on the Hogan Stand is a very important part of winning, and players would like to see that preserved. They also welcome the space to celebrate on the pitch, or to collect their thoughts, if they’re defeated.

“So certainly the reaction we got after both finals, talking to the fans and indeed the players and officials, was extraordinarily positive.

“Could we do it better, or enhance it? Absolutely. There is nothing that can’t be improved upon. What we’ll do now is take more feedback and comments, reflect on that, and see how we can make it better.”

Also here to stay, according to McKenna, is the 2.8-metre barrier at the Hill 16, despite concerns over condensation on wet days.

“There is no evidence of that at all. The design recognised that potential problem, so at the bottom there is a grill, to allow air circulate around the perspex, and I think the design worked well.

“So this overall model satisfies so many of our objectives, in terms of a safe, comfortable environment for the cup presentation.

“It would naïve of us to say that next year won’t be so much better, because we’ll have tightened up some of the lose ends.

“Like the streamers on Sunday, some people felt, just didn’t work at all.

“That’s the type of thing we’re very open-minded about.

“We were never trying to be antagonistic about it, or to detract from the experience.

“And I think both All-Ireland finals this year, particularly the hurling final, were as good as any sport seen in the world this year.”