Cooney says Croker fencing a last resort

THE GAA is to erect fences around parts of the Croke Park playing area in the wake of pitch invasions such as that which occurred after the Louth-Meath Leinster final, resulting in referee Martin Sludden being assaulted.

Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna warned yesterday that if a “serious accident or incident” occurred in the stadium that Croke Park would be closed down for several months to investigate.

“We are doing this of our own volition,” said McKenna yesterday.

“If we have a serious accident or incident, it will be taken out of our hands immediately.

“The ground will probably be shut for a number of months while the Gardaí do a thorough investigation, and then the HSA will come back and say ‘This is what you need to do,’ whether reduce capacity, fully seat or whatever.

“So what we are doing is a genuine attempt to ensure the health and safety and fulfil our duty of care. ”

GAA President Christy Cooney added that the fences, which would be two metres higher than the 0.8 metre fencing which exists at present, and would not obstruct spectators’ view of the field.

Cooney also stated that the decision had been taken by the GAA’s management committee and that the fences would be up for the second All-Ireland SFC semi-final.

“Do we really want to do this?” said Cooney. “We believe we are left with no other option but to do this. It’s a last resort.”

The GAA President said the measures had been taken in consultation with Gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority.

“We have recently written to the Dept of Sport to reactivate in a serious way the whole issue of legislation. We’ve asked them to look at the situation very seriously and talk to us about what progress can be made about it.

“We have to look after ourselves initially, but if it comes to it all sporting bodies will work together comfortably.”

Asked about GAA personalities like Mickey Harte speaking in favour of allowing people onto the field after games, Cooney said: “Mickey Harte is entitled to his views but the players have come out very strongly and the GPA have supported us in this course of action. We’ve heard from inter-county players and the difficulties caused after games.

“Mickey Harte is entitled to his views, but I would suggest he look at the bigger picture and see the challenges there that we have outlined already. ”

Cooney also said that they wished to leave the stadium as it was rather than introducing seating to Hill 16 as a safety measure.

“This is the only proposal we’re going on at this stage. It’s not our intention to seat Hill 16, it’s never been our intention to do that. We discussed it 12 months ago but decided it against it. We believe it’s appropriate to leave the stadium as it is; we believe Hill 16 adds something to the stadium on match-days.

McKenna added that it was a myth that people invaded the pitch in a “calm and dignified manner”, adding that in recent weeks a Tyrone GAA official had to be removed to the Mater Hospital by ambulance with a serious illness.

The stadium director said that if there had been a pitch invasion at the time, with the attendant bottleneck at the Hogan Stand, then the ambulance would not have been able to gain access to remove the Tyrone official, adding that the stadium was “vulnerable” to fire when crowds tried to exit the field through the Hogan Stand, as fire services would be unable to access the stadium.