GAA fans angry at replay price hike

ANGRY Cork and Waterford hurling fans are paying a high price after discovering tickets for Sunday’s crunch replay are €10 more than the original fixture last week.

GAA fans last Sunday paid €35 a head with €5 for juniors to watch the Rebels play the Deise at Croke Park in the All-Ireland hurling quarter finals.

The fixture ended in a draw, triggering a replay with tickets being increased to €45 for adults with juniors remaining at €5.

Effectively, a Cork or Waterford family-of-four who paid €80 for tickets for last Sunday’s encounter at Croker now face paying €100 to watch their heroes play all over again at the Dublin 3 venue.

And supporters face paying out another €100 for tickets the next weekend when the winners of the Cork v Waterford meet Limerick in the All-Ireland hurling semi-finals.

Cork GAA fans are particularly angry because the football is being played on Saturday and the hurling on Sunday, necessitating an overnight stay in Dublin.

Yesterday fans rounded on the GAA for the way the fixtures had been scheduled and for the extra €10 per adult ticket for replay.

“The GAA should have rescheduled the fixtures so the Cork football and hurling was on the same day,” said Cork county councillor and GAA fan and Tim Lombard, of Minane Bridge, Co Cork.

“Cork fans feel they’re being squeezed and there’s talk of a boycott but fans are too passionate to miss these games. The pricing structure is something the GAA has to look at as it is supposed to be a family and community-oriented organisation.”

Yesterday, GAA spokesman Fergal McGill said the price of Sunday’s ticket had increased because a hurling semi-final was being played the same day as the quarter-final replay.

“It would be completely impractical to have a dual pricing structure for the game with one set of fans paying €35 and the others €45,” he said.

“Neither could we reschedule the game as a lot of people are coming home from abroad, from places like New York and London, and that would be unfair on other counties like Sligo.”

Asked why the Cork v Waterford game was not moved to Semple Stadium in Thurles, Co Tipperary, the spokesman said the venue was too small for the number of concessionary ticket-holders likely to attend.

“Cork v Waterford is a big game and a lot of people from all over the country will want to watch it as well,” he added. “In Croke Park, we have one of the greatest stadiums in Europe, if not the greatest, and there’s not much point in having it if the biggest and best games like Cork v Waterford are not staged there.”