Déise chiefs to scrap controversial Munster final ticket levy

FOLLOWING the Munster hurling final venue debacle which led to apologies to the Munster Council and the Cork and Tipperary county boards, the Waterford County Board executive is again on the back foot after they scrapped a controversial levy on ticket prices.

Less than 72 hours after deciding to impose the €5 levy on the purchase price of tickets for the July 11 Munster hurling final, in which Waterford will play the winners of Sunday’s Cork/Limerick tie, the hugely controversial proposal has been ditched.

Confirming the decision to drop the plan – which would have required the approval of Croke Park – county secretary Timmy O’Keeffe did not, however, spell out the specifics behind the decision to scrap the additional ticket charge.

“Instead of the levy we will be running a raffle in conjunction with the sale of the Munster final tickets and we are confident our supporters will rally in support of it,” O’Keeffe said.

“The raffle tickets will cost €5 and this will replace the proposed imposition of a levy on the purchase price of the tickets.

“We are determined to provide the very best for all our county teams which last year cost us €733,000 to prepare for the various competitions. Players are entitled to the best and that is what we always strive to give them.”

When the decision was taken at Monday night’s meeting of the county board to impose the levy, Dungarvan delegate Paddy Fitzgerald warned of the probable backlash that would follow from the public.

No sooner had the story been exclusively revealed in Tuesday’s Irish Examiner when criticism of the decision began to flow.

That forced the board officers to rethink the levy proposal and yesterday came the official announcement that it had been assigned to the scrap heap.

“It has been a disastrously bad few weeks for the Waterford County Board and for the GAA as a whole in our county,” one long serving and top ranking member said.

“The county executive has been stumbling from one crisis to another, and it is all hugely embarrassing for the members and the public.”