Croker costs may force the ladies out

THE high cost to the Ladies Football Association of staging All-Ireland finals in Croke Park could eventually force them to look elsewhere, chief executive Helen O’Rourke admitted yesterday.

However, she stressed that it was the stated wish of their playing membership to remain there and that Croke Park will be the venue for this year’s finals.

Last year, it cost the Association almost €92,000, including pitch security and other areas. Additionally, they had to fund a reception and catering. Based on attendances at recent finals it was not a financially viable proposition, she agreed.

“It’s something we are going to really have to look at. Maybe it’s something in the whole integration process (involving Ladies Football and camogie) that the GAA can take on board for the two female sports.

“That would be a nice gesture if we got one day in Croke Park that we didn’t have to fund it to the tune of nearly a hundred thousand,’’ she commented. “It’s getting more expensive every year.”

While a figure of 30,000 would represent their target attendance, the crowd at last year’s finals amounted to 25,665 (even though that was up over 2,000 on the 2005 figure). And, while the Association marketed the championships as best they could — with limited resources — at the end of the day, they were dependant on the media supporting them.

“It’s back to the same thing — that it’s a female sport,’’ she added.

“We find that every second year there would be a slight drop in the crowd, that when there are games in the International Rules series, a lot of GAA clubs and schools hold back on coming to our final. But, that might not arise again.

“Some people might suggest Parnell Park, but that would be too small. It’s not even something we have sat down and talked about. The reality is that it’s every player’s dream to win an All-Ireland in Croke Park. We have to start drilling it into our members that if they want to continue doing that and the players continue to have that dream, they’ll have to come out more and support us.

“We want to stay in Croke Park and the finals will be there this year — on September 23. However, that’s conditional on neither of the All-Ireland senior finals ending level. If the hurling final is a draw, we’d have to move out to the 30th and if the football final is a draw we’d have to move out again,’’ she explained.

“But it was important for us to have that “continuation” there — of the four All-Ireland finals in September. If we were to leave a break to avoid clashes in the event of a draw, we would be going three weeks later. And, then you’d be running into soccer internationals and all that.”