Footing Croker bill costs Ladies Association €100,000

THE Ladies Football Association will fork out the guts of €100,000 to meet the rental bill for Croke Park yesterday for the TG4 All-Ireland championship finals in junior, intermediate and senior.

While the actual figure for renting Croke Park from the GAA isn’t known, it’s been reliably learned that it costs Cumann Péile na mBan between €90,000 and €100,000 to hire out the stadium for the day.

And, while the Camogie Association also plays its finals there, the bill wouldn’t be as high because, for the last three years they been organised in conjunction with the All-Ireland U-21 hurling final.

Ladies Football president Pat Quill confirmed last night there is a sizeable bill to be paid to the Stadium Committee for availing of the facilities in Croke Park, but he declined to comment on the actual amount. The official line is that ‘it’s well worth it,’ because of the profile it gives the sport and the way it facilities their live transmission on TG4. And, in his programme notes yesterday, Quill said it was ‘no coincidence’ that the promotion of Ladies Football has been aided enormously by the television coverage.

Yesterday’s attendance of 21,606 (up 1,600 on last year, falls short of the publicised ‘break-even’ figure of 30,000.

However, it’s believed that the actual figure is lower and that the Association will still show a profit on their gate receipts (and sponsorship) after the bill is paid. A Stadium committee spokesman emphasised that Ladies Football is ‘well supported’ through the availability of a purpose built office and meeting room facilities in Croke Park.

And, in the context of the bill to be met by the Association, it was suggested that it represents about 7% of what it costs the FAI and the IRFU to rent out the stadium.