THE GAA HAVE mounted a vigorous defence of their decision to host the Allianz National Football League Division 1 semi-finals as a double header in Croke Park with Alan Milton, head of media relations for the organisation, describing the circumstances leading to the poor attendance at headquarters as a ‘perfect storm’.
Just 20,013 people turned up to see Cork and Dublin secure victories over Donegal and Monaghan on Sunday but Milton told RTÉ’s Game On the attendance could have been much worse had they moved one of the games to a provincial venue.
“I think we had what you might describe as a perfect storm,” said Milton.
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“In that unfortunately we had a rematch of a game that was very one-sided just seven day earlier in Clones, which we were powerless to do anything about.
“We’d torrential rain in Dublin on Sunday morning for anyone that was in the capital and there were other sporting events on, so all told, the attendance wasn’t as high as what we would have liked it to have been, but those people who came saw two decent games.
“Would you have put Cork and Donegal in Tullamore or in Galway? I think if you had done that you’d be looking at a crowd of less than 5,000 people.”
Milton went on to say that players would always choose to play in Croke Park if they were given a choice and that, given its size, the GAA realistically only expect to fill the venue two or three times a year.
“You talk to the players as well. This is another hugely important factor. We survey the players on quite a regular basis and the feedback we get all the time from speaking to them would be that they want to play in Croke Park.
“I think most people would accept Croke Park is a very large stadium, it holds 82,300 people, and it’s probably only full two or three times a year, but that said, I think it was a unique set of circumstances that led to an attendance of just over 20,000 last Sunday.
“I wouldn’t be expecting a repeat of that attendance either for the remainder of this year for games of that magnitude or in future years when Allianz football or hurling semi-finals are taking place.”
This weekend’s hurling semi-finals take place in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny which Milton says is a more appropriate location considering the teams involved.
The GAA defend decision to use Croke Park for football semi-finals
THE GAA HAVE mounted a vigorous defence of their decision to host the Allianz National Football League Division 1 semi-finals as a double header in Croke Park with Alan Milton, head of media relations for the organisation, describing the circumstances leading to the poor attendance at headquarters as a ‘perfect storm’.
Just 20,013 people turned up to see Cork and Dublin secure victories over Donegal and Monaghan on Sunday but Milton told RTÉ’s Game On the attendance could have been much worse had they moved one of the games to a provincial venue.
“I think we had what you might describe as a perfect storm,” said Milton.
“In that unfortunately we had a rematch of a game that was very one-sided just seven day earlier in Clones, which we were powerless to do anything about.
“We’d torrential rain in Dublin on Sunday morning for anyone that was in the capital and there were other sporting events on, so all told, the attendance wasn’t as high as what we would have liked it to have been, but those people who came saw two decent games.
Milton went on to say that players would always choose to play in Croke Park if they were given a choice and that, given its size, the GAA realistically only expect to fill the venue two or three times a year.
“You talk to the players as well. This is another hugely important factor. We survey the players on quite a regular basis and the feedback we get all the time from speaking to them would be that they want to play in Croke Park.
“I think most people would accept Croke Park is a very large stadium, it holds 82,300 people, and it’s probably only full two or three times a year, but that said, I think it was a unique set of circumstances that led to an attendance of just over 20,000 last Sunday.
“I wouldn’t be expecting a repeat of that attendance either for the remainder of this year for games of that magnitude or in future years when Allianz football or hurling semi-finals are taking place.”
This weekend’s hurling semi-finals take place in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny which Milton says is a more appropriate location considering the teams involved.
You can list to the full interview here.
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comp:Allianz Football League Division 1 (Gaelic Football 42) Defence Football semi-finals GAA Cork Donegal Dublin Monaghan