Pitch invasions on way out

THE GAA yesterday moved to combat the costly and dangerous tradition of pitch invasions and announced that they are lobbying the government to make such incursions illegal, possibly by this time next year.

Concerns over the safety and welfare of players and spectators have already prompted the association to discontinue the presentation of All-Ireland trophies from the Hogan Stand.

As of Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling final, GAA bosses will be making the presentations on the pitch itself, as was the case from 1999 to 2001 when the Hogan Stand was being rebuilt.

Director General, Páraic Duffy, has revealed that the association has already been in discussions with the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism about the possibility of drawing up the required legislation.

Were it to be introduced, it would apply to all sporting codes and venues and Duffy intimated that some laws may yet be in place for the 2010 hurling and football deciders.

Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna has also revealed that the GAA has had to fork out almost half a million euro in claims to patrons claiming injury in post-match pitch incursions in the last four and a half years.

Claims made against the Dublin venue in that time have varied between €15,000 and €300,000 and insurance costs for the stadium have soared in recent times.

“The thing with claims is that they don’t come in when the incident happens,” said McKenna.

“There is a length of time before a claim is crystallise and then issued so we are dealing with claims two and a half years old at this stage. That is straight out of our coffers. The fact that the insurance may help our cash flow doesn’t take from the fact that we have to pay for it eventually.”

The cost factor alone would be reason enough to proceed with the switch of presentations but the primary concern for all parties remains the safety of both players and supporters.

Aside from the potential risks of injuries on the pitch, McKenna pointed to other knock-on effects of post-match invasions such as massive congestion issues when exiting the ground onto Jones’ Road. One child is known to have ended up as far away as Mountjoy Square after becoming separated from their parents and carried along in the human wave of traffic out of the stadium.

There have also been numerous instances of players, including Kerry’s Colm Cooper and Wexford goalkeeper Anthony Masterson, being struck by spectators as they made their way onto the field.

“This is primarily about safety,” said Duffy. “That’s the issue, the safety of our spectators and the safety of our players. Winners are entitled to have space to celebrate and the losers are entitled to leave the field with dignity.

“In the present situation, neither of those two things is really possible. The players can’t celebrate because they are engulfed. And for the losers it’s a dangerous situation.”

President Mary McAleese will still make the presentation to the winning captain from the pitchside podium and a number of initiatives are being used to educate fans and keep them in their seats, including a fireworks display.

Both county boards have been asked to spread the word, leaflets will be placed on every seat detailing the new procedures and a message from Christy Cooney will be played on the two big screens at half-time.

What won’t change is the number of stewards or gardaí on duty. The GAA will be relying on the goodwill and good sense of fans who will instead be treated to a lap of honour by the winning team.

“At the end of the day, it is down to (goodwill),” said Cooney. “We recognise that very well. Confrontation doesn’t always resolve issues so we would like to appeal to people to understand why we are doing it.

“The last thing we want is confrontation between the fans and the gardaí or stewards. That’s not helpful to anybody and gives a greater chance of somebody getting injured. That is what we want to avoid.”

Meanwhile, the GAA top brass are “hopeful” that the problems with the pitch, which so affected last week’s All-Ireland football semi-final between Kerry and Meath, will not reoccur on hurling’s biggest day.

“The pitch looks in excellent shape,” said Duffy, “but I have to accept that there was some slipping last week.

“There is always a problem when you get a shower of rain on a firm pitch before a game. That’s largely what happened last Sunday. I’m hopeful. The pitch is essentially in good shape. The pitch is quite firm but we got a shower of rain at the wrong time (last weekend). There is work being done on it but I’m pretty hopefully it will play well.”