Pricing families out of the game

NO doubt I'll be considered naive, but I had retained some vestigial belief in the GAA as a community-based organisation, interested in promoting family involvement and love of our national games among the young.

The high moral ground adopted by the GAA in the recent FAI soccer games debacle took me in too. We were reassured that the GAA would never sell our national games for profit or deny accessibility to the plain people of Ireland.

But then I brought a family parents, four children and myself (the maiden aunt) to Croke Park for a family outing to support their county team in the All Ireland hurling quarter-finals. These same parents bring their children, often inconveniently, to training and matches the length and breadth of the county. During the last week I've accumulated a catalogue of correspondence with GAA representatives at national and local level in search of that rare item, the family ticket.

Radio ads announcing the availability of tickets from the GAA website and usual outlets (whatever they are) brought short-lived hope. Only adult tickets were available from this source, at 25. At that price, tickets for our outing would cost 175 before we even contemplated transport and a bite to eat. Does this outrageous price promote family involvement?

If enlightenment is the stripping away of illusion, then I've had a sharp dose.

Maureen Kelly,

Eden Court,

South Circular Road,

Limerick.