Forget Plan B, let supporters pitch in at their own risk

THERE was a distinctly solemn atmosphere when I arrived slightly late for the start of this year’s Annual Congress in Newcastle’s Slieve Donard Hotel.

Normally a talkative bunch, the delegates were uncharacteristically silent as I made my way across the reception room to a seat.

The reason for the respectful hush soon became clear.

The 300-odd county officers were watching a presentation about the dangers of pitch invasions in Croke Park.

It was the type of slick production that we have come to expect from the GAA’s top table. It included testimony from gardaí and direct references to the Heysel and Hillsborough tragedies.

Thirty-nine people died at Heysel and 96 died at Hillsborough.

Anyone who dared to present an opposing argument would have risked looking like a complete anarchist.

Instead, Kerry’s Sean Walsh, a possible future president, stated how he believes that on-pitch presentations are the way forward.

Armagh’s Jarlath Burns, another possible future president, revealed how he understood why people would have a nostalgic attachment to the annual gallop across Croke Park. Burns once entertained such notions, but no more.

He cited his experience of watching stewards, “grown men of 50 or 60 years of age, getting punched and hit” as they tried to stop supporters getting on the field.

As Jarlath spoke, I wondered how many grown men he could have completely obliterated when, after watching his beloved Armagh win the All-Ireland final, he nearly jumped out of the BBC’s studio on the upper tier of the Canal End.

As a supporter and a journalist, I have savoured the privileged experience of being in Croke Park when my native county and Tyrone, and Armagh won the Sam Maguire Cup for the first time.

I remember bumping into my father on the pitch after Derry beat Dublin in the ‘93 semi-final. Having spent his entire adult life watching Derry lose in Croke Park, he looked like he was floating as he told me about the great view he had of Johnny McGurk’s winning point from his place on the Canal End.

For the All-Ireland final, a cousin of mine who is not known for his speed of foot was captured by the TV cameras as he blazed across the pitch.

Usain Bolt would have struggled to catch him.

Rather than ask, demand, or insist that supporters stay in their seats, the GAA is hoping to persuade them to remain seated. The presentation at Congress was the first part of the dissemination process. County boards will be shown the same DVD.

As the motives of the men who are trying to end pitch invasions are entirely humane, it is wrong to ridicule them.

However, if we are going to have a debate about the pros and cons of pitch invasions, then let’s have a fair one.

References to Heysel and Hillsborough are unwarranted, unfair, and totally irrelevant. The conditions at Heysel (a crumbling stadium and rampaging fans) and Hillsborough (a lack of crush barriers and no open access to the pitch) couldn’t be replicated in a modern stadium like Croke Park.

The use of these disasters is moral blackmail and it’s a slightly devious way of trying to stifle a proper discussion.

The fact of the matter is that to date, no one has died during an All-Ireland pitch invasion.

People have died on the annual pilgrimage to climb Croagh Patrick – but not in Croke Park.

Yes, there are dangers involved. The mass of heaving bodies does create health and safety issues – but so does crossing the road.

If supporters venture onto the pitch, they should be instructed that they do so at their own risk. Why do we need to sanitise and sterilise everything?

They’ll be running the bulls in Pamplona in a few months’ time. It’s part of the culture in northern Spain. Fifteen people have died since 1910. Two men were gored to death in the last decade. But the bulls will be running this July and rightly so. Those who don’t want to risk being gored don’t run.

Croke Park should adopt a similar attitude. The alternative methods employed so far have been a disaster.

At this year’s Hogan Cup final, gardaí apprehended teenaged St Colman’s supporters by forcefully dumping them to the ground and handcuffing them.

It was behaviour more befitting of Tiananmen Square and it was the gardaí and not the young lads who looked like mindless idiots.

It is of course our thoroughly decent and civilised director-general Páraic Duffy who is trying to instigate this change in GAA culture.

Páraic is from Monaghan, the county which invaded HQ after winning – wait for it – the Division Two League final.

Before pursuing this policy any further, Páraic should perhaps take a long, hard look at some of his native county men and think how they might react if Monaghan won this year’s All-Ireland title.

Would he try to stop them? Would you? I’d prefer to take my chances with the bulls.

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