'A lot of unhappiness in clubs': Delayed Cork football final crowd capped at 500

A view of Pairc Ui Chaoimh, which will have a restricted capacity of 500 for the Castlehaven-Nemo Rangers Cork Premier Senior football final on Sunday, August 29. Picture: INPHO/Ken Sutton

The attendance at the Castlehaven-Nemo Rangers Cork Premier Senior football final on Sunday, August 29 will be capped at 500, despite hopes of a larger crowd being let into Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the 2020 county final.

The Páirc Uí Chaoimh venue was attended by more than 6,000 spectators for both the Munster SHC final and All-Ireland SHC quarter-final last month, with Cork GAA CEO Kevin O’Donovan telling a county board meeting at the beginning of this month that “we should now lobby that if Páirc Uí Chaoimh can take 6,100 for inter-county championship games, there is no reason, with the event control team we have, why we couldn't take bigger crowds at county finals”.

Confirmation emerged today, however, that the 500 cap applicable to all stadiums with a capacity in excess of 5,000 will be in place for the August 29 Cork senior football decider at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

The Castlehaven-Nemo Rangers game is one of the remaining 2020 Cork county finals still to be played, with O’Donovan also commenting at the county board meeting on August 3 that clubs involved in delayed county finals were less than pleased at seeing “big crowds in Páirc Uí Chaoimh one weekend and then they are reduced to 500 at the same venue the weekend after”.

He added: “A lot of unhappiness in clubs that are in county finals this weekend with the restrictions still on attendances. There were 6,100 at the Munster hurling final and the same again last weekend for the All-Ireland quarter-final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and it is hard for clubs to digest that they are back down to 500 this weekend for vital games for the clubs. Unfortunately, they are the regulations. There is a special government statute that permits the inter-county games to have a special status on a case-by-case basis which allows for bigger numbers.”