Don’t fence me in: Croker out of touch

AT Wimbledon, they eat their strawberries and cream and quaff their glasses of Pimm’s and ice.

At Augusta, they stand in reverential silence as a golfer lines up a one-foot putt.

In Croke Park, when Tommy Walsh catapults himself into the clouds and plucks the sliotar from the sky, the Kilkenny supporters scream like members of Hamas at a political rally. Their team might be trouncing Cork, and the game may well be over as a contest, but Tommy does that to them. They can’t help themselves. Tommy stirs the senses.

We Gaels are like that. It’s what we do. It’s what we are. And what happens in Croke Park is merely a reflection of what happens in every GAA ground in the country.

And so, when the U14s win the county championship, or when the seniors reach their first ever final, we walk onto the pitch.

We don’t invade the pitch, because you can’t really invade your own property. Rather, we stroll onto the grass, we greet family and friends, and we congratulate our players.

It’s a communal celebration and one that is faithfully re-enacted for virtually every game where a cup is up for grabs.

But the GAA leaders want to end this custom. Despite their repeated failures to stop this age-old tradition, they remain hell-bent on preventing supporters from getting on the pitch.

At a press briefing on Sunday, President Christy Cooney and stadium director Peter McKenna revealed that a 2.8 metre barrier will be erected on Hill 16.

Christy said that barricading the patrons of Hill 16 was a “last option”. A question enquiring if other proposals were considered drew a blank response.

During the course of the briefing, Cooney and McKenna revealed that the GAA had studied the video evidence from last year’s finals and concluded that Hill 16 provided the spur for the so-called ‘invasion’.

“If the break hadn’t come from the Hill, nobody else would have moved in the stadium,” said Christy.

McKenna revealed that a plan has already been hatched to stop any moves from the seated areas. For this year’s finals, the first four rows of seats will be allocated to supporters from non-competing counties. Yes, that’s right, four rows of supporters are going to be used as human shields.

The GAA’s motivation for introducing these measures is entirely valid. They want to protect the health and safety of everyone who enters and exits Croke Park.

Unfortunately, the debate has become somewhat muddied. While trying to justify their actions, the GAA has resorted to the tried and tested political device of playing on people’s fears.

Peter McKenna said if there was a fire during the 30 minutes after the All-Ireland final then “fire-fighters couldn’t get to it”.

Okay. But what if there is a fire on Hill 16 and your escape route is blocked by a nine-foot barrier? Secondly, in 1961 there were 90,556 supporters at the All-Ireland football final. Most of them were smoking their lungs out and the wooden Hogan Stand still didn’t burn to the ground.

And in a feverish determination to achieve their objective, the GAA hierarchy is being naive at best and downright foolish at worst.

If Kildare win their first All-Ireland since 1928, it’s totally unrealistic to believe the Lilywhites supporters will just clap their hands and shout ‘bravo’. Our headquarters is in Dublin 3, not SW19.

The crush on the Jones’s Road caused by so many supporters all leaving the pitch via the exits on the Hogan Stand is clearly a massive concern.

Sadly, it appears that the nuclear option is the only solution that was considered.

Instead of paying players to broadcast GAA bulletins on the big screen, the powers-that-be could consider alternative ideas. For instance, they could launch a PR campaign explaining why people leaving the pitch will be directed to exits in the Cusack Stand.

The GAA has an obligation to protect the health and safety of its members.

But it’s wrong to believe that those members who are opposed to nine-foot barriers are reckless mavericks who place a higher importance on tradition than the welfare of supporters.

That simply isn’t the case. The challenge facing Croke Park was to preserve a cherished part of GAA culture while maintaining a duty of care to its patrons.

Regrettably, they have failed to meet that challenge. Following the Taylor Report, it’s universally appreciated that barriers have no place in a modern stadium.

If supporters want to take part in a traditional form of celebration, the onus is on the GAA to accommodate them, and then co-ordinate their exit from the ground.

That is possible. The big house should embody the culture that has developed during the past century. Sadly, Croke Park is in danger of turning into a corporate, sterile, money-making factory, a place that is increasingly divorced from the pilgrims who come to pay homage.

There is one rule for Croke Park and another for everywhere else. Brian O’Driscoll can play in Croke Park but he can’t train in Nemo Rangers. Supporters can walk onto club pitches but they can’t gain access to the most hallowed ground of them all.

We are now being told that if our team wins the All-Ireland, then we should sit patiently, and wait for the parading players to show off the cup to four rows of empty seats! Welcome to Croke Park plc.

Contact: [e-mail]