ESRI attendances report provides mixed news for GAA

THE Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) was at a loss yesterday to explain why attendance figures at Gaelic football matches experienced a significant jump in 2009 while those for hurling suffered a marked drop.

The statistics, published yesterday in the third annual Irish Sports Monitor, cover the footfall across all sports and at all levels, adult and underage, and include fixtures which are free of charge as well as those with cover charges.

In that sense, the figures are not a barometer for inter-county fixtures and a spokesman for the GAA dismissed their relevance, insisting participation levels were a more accurate means of judging the health of a game.