John Fogarty: How badly do the GAA want crowds back?

Do we detect an element of resignation in the GAA’s ads and billboards about live audiences over the next nine weeks? Or, dare it be said, a reluctance?

GRIN AND BEAR IT: Offaly fan Ray Larkin celebrates after the Leinster SFC Round 1 win over Louth after extra time in Navan last Sunday. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

From the people who once brought you such marketing slogans as “Nothing Beats Being There”, comes the latest “These Are Our Colours”.

“Maybe your passion is not red but white,” started the GAA’s radio ad we heard coming away from Thurles on Sunday. “Maybe you have green blood or cried gold tears. Maybe your pride is maroon or your belief is blue because the colours you wear are the colours you feel.