It’s time we all started to play ball

THE final whistle had barely sounded on Saturday, even in the first game, when the speculation had already started.

“No better man than yourself Marty to bring it up,” said Leinster captain Brian O’Driscoll, when RTE’s Marty Morrissey asked him about the prospect of the European Heineken Cup semi-final between Leinster and Munster being played in Croke Park. This was before Munster had even taken to the field against Perpignan.

It won’t happen of course, a waste of time even discussing the possibility. But oh what a pity, what an opportunity lost for the GAA to make a financial killing, to make a PR killing, to publicise itself, its games, its magnificent stadium, to a broader public. And wouldn’t it have been great too, if the first rugby game in Croke Park had been between two Irish teams, competing in a top European competition? With the extra capacity of Croker, it would also have meant that tens of thousands of rugby supporters, all Irish, most of them also GAA fans, wouldn’t have been disappointed.