‘We would nearly be better off with none’

“We could’ve handled a little bit more”

LIKE an overhyped game, yesterday’s publication of the ‘Living with Covid’ plan will have left many in the GAA ruing the fact that the build-up was the best thing about it. Giddy predictions of a road map to include an allowance for 5,000 attendances at major sporting fixtures were revealed to be hot air. More than an hour after yesterday’s Government briefing, the GAA, IRFU and FAI issued a joint statement saying they would work together to create guidelines ‘essential to the safe delivery of major sporting events’ – and the speed with which it was delivered would suggest that they were ready for what was coming. That is more than can be said for the GAA’s grassroots, where the news that attendances would be capped at 200 in stadiums of 5,000 minimum capacity, and just 100 in other grounds, was hardly greeted by the sound of popping champagne corks. The numbers through the gates will offer little in terms of revenue or atmosphere, but will ratchet up the logistical challenge of distributing the small number of tickets in the face of huge public demand. In Tipperary, where they are gearing up for their biggest game of the season on Sunday between Loughmore and Kildangan in the county senior hurling final, there was little effort to disguise the disappointment. More hassle than it is worth? ‘That is exactly what people are saying this morning. You are nearly better off having nobody than having a hundred here and there,’ Tipperary County Board chairman John Devane told Sportsmail yesterday. ‘It is not satisfactory, even though a lot of people understand that we are living in exceptional times.’ What the GAA continues to struggle with is the reluctance to allow larger numbers of spectators in stadiums with greater capacities, such as the 45,000-capacity Semple Stadium which will host just 200 people this Sunday. This was underlined last month when GAA president John Horan called for the publication of ‘empirical evidence’ to justify the ongoing restrictions. ‘In effect, you could have 200 in exclusive pods in the four sides of the ground inside Semple, all with their own entry and exit gates,’ said Devane. ‘It is a real pity because I think we could have handled a little bit more than what they have regulated for this weekend.’ But those are the numbers the GAA has to play with in the short term, limits that will only increase to 500 in stadiums with a minimum 5,000 capacity in the event of a reduction in infection levels. That will not happen in time to facilitate club games. However, in terms of a timeline, it could be in place in time for the inter-county championships which begin in November. As the winter months approach, though, there is little optimism that the period in which the health service usually comes under its greatest pressure in terms of capacity will see any relaxation of the rules. There is also the possibility that the risk level could move in the other direction and games would return to being played behind closed doors. Still, the Government’s ambition remains. Taoiseach Micheál Martin specified yesterday that a review on numbers for ‘larger sporting events towards the end of the year’ would remain. The GAA will hope that any such review will extend to not just the latter stages of the AllIreland Championship, but also that the assessment of stadiums ‘for major events’ stretches to provincial venues. While the focus has been on Croke Park and the Aviva, the GAA needs travel kept to a minimum – particularly after putting in place instructions that teams be only allowed stay overnight on journeys in excess of 130 miles. That would make it even more logical, especially in the event of attendances rising, for regional venues to be included. But after yesterday, all that feels a long way down the road.