Dublin chief lashes fan invasion plan

DUBLIN county board chairman Gerry Harrington believes that Croke Park stadium chiefs should abandon the “nonsensical” practice of trying to stop pitch invasions at GAA HQ and allow fans onto the field.

Harrington has insisted that there is no way of stopping people charging onto the hallowed sod after big matches and has suggested that fans should be allowed onto the pitch in an orderly fashion after the full-time whistle.

Harrington pointed out that repeated attempts to stop pitch invasions have failed, as ‘Plan B’ became one of the buzz phrases of the summer at Croke Park.

Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna suggested last year that the installation of wire fencing and railings was being considered but during the summer, he ruled out this ‘nuclear’ option.

Privately and indeed publicly, there is a massive fear within Croke Park corridors that a serious incident will occur and that only sheer luck has prevented that from happening already.

Harrington’s solution is to stop fighting the issue and instead accept it by allowing controlled pitch encroachments.

The Cork native was reacting to speculation that the GAA is considering turning Hill 16 into a seated area in a bid to combat pitch invasions. Harrington is dead set against any plans to seat Hill 16, which is so dear to the hearts of thousands of hardcore Dublin fans.

Harrington said: “Hill 16 is iconic from Dublin’s point of view and that’s where we get our 16th man from whenever we play in Croke Park. The majority of Dublin supporters assemble there when we play and the loss of the capacity would be a huge blow not only to Dublin, but also to match day revenues for the GAA.

“We wouldn’t be in favour of putting seats into Hill 16 and why can’t we have a proper stewarding system to accommodate Hill 16 and people all over the ground when they want to get onto the pitch?

“I’ve seen it at the 18th hole of golf tournaments where the stewards walk along behind the players and it slows everything down. When people want to come out onto the field at Croke Park, they run to get out before the crowd but if the stewards are slowly walking out in front of them, it can be done in an organised, orderly fashion.”

Harrington believes that the GAA should quickly admit defeat in the battle against pitch invasions at Croke Park and said: “We can’t keep them off it, unless you put up barbed wire all around the ground and that’s a no go.

“No matter who wins a game at Croke Park or an All-Ireland final, those fans want to get on the field and we have failed to stop them so far. This idea of keeping off the pitch is nonsensical.”