GAA say orange pitch invasion was one off event

THE mass exodus of Armagh supporters onto Croke Park after the Orchard county’s breakthrough victory in Sunday’s All-Ireland football final was allowed for safety reasons and doesn’t represent a change of policy on behalf of the GAA.

The decision to allow the thousands of fans access to the field was made by gardaí, according to GAA Director-General Liam Mulvihill yesterday, adding that immediate steps were taken to assist the movement of people on to the pitch once it became clear what was happening.

But he stressed that the Association intend to enforce the policy of not allowing spectators on to the field after games in the future.

Confirming that the ban had not been lifted for this game, Mr. Mulvihill said it was accepted that the scenes witness on Sunday were the inevitable consequence of such an outburst of emotion by the Armagh followers. Given the situation, garda authorities present decided to open the gates on Hill 16, to allow people to spill on to the field.

"The gardaí will always have the final say in matters like that. They felt it would be dangerous to have kept the gate closed,'' added Mr. Mulvihill.

"Additionally, all the other gates around the perimeter walls were opened. In the circumstances, what happened was understandable. The excitement was just unbelievable.''

Armagh goalkeeper Benny Tierney admitted to being unsurprised by the attitude of supporters on such a historic occasion.

"Every one of them was saying, 'they'll not stop me getting on to that pitch if we win.' I made a bee-line for the tunnel after the final whistle. I was the first man to get near Sam Maguire. Somebody joked it was the fastest I moved all year.

"When we were walking off the pitch through the Hogan Stand I turned around and looked back on to the field. It was the most unbelievable sight I had ever seen!''

Meanwhile, Mr. Mulvihill points out that it will be their intention to enforce the policy in the future as they have done over the last few years.

"It was a pity that it was broken, but then again you won't have days like that every day,'' he said.

Note: While the GAA has been consistently criticised for not allowing people on to the field in Croke Park, the policy was introduced on the advice of the gardaí and safety authorities.

They have always denied that it was done in the interests of safeguarding the surface, even though damage inevitably resulted. More significantly, people were often injured in the crush to get on to the field and claims for damages in many cases were pursued through the courts.