GAA on tour is a wondrous sight
Super 8s has shown that even big games can benefit when staged beyond the confines of Croke Park
SEAGULLS ordinarily have to wait until late in the evening to rule Croke Park on a summer Sunday. After the thousands have spilled into the north Dublin streets and to points hundreds of miles beyond, the gulls come screeching in from the coast to shriek and swoop on the rubbish left by the departed fans.
The danger today is that the gulls chance a visit before the Dublin-Roscommon match has concluded.
No reasonable person could quibble with those who choose to remain at home rather than travel from Roscommon for a match of no practical consequence, at the end of a round-robin series that has exposed without mercy the deficiencies in their group.
And those Dublin fans that eschew the TV lure of Donegal and Tyrone going at it in Ballybofey to see their team in action, will be doing so in pursuit of a day out rather than the attraction of a competitive match.
If one of the drawbacks of a group-phase system is the risk of concluding dead rubbers, the problem is exacerbated by the issue of Dublin and Croke Park.
The ground is simply too big for a match like this, and the fact is the Championship could survive without Dublin playing there before the All-Ireland semi-finals.
A Leinster final could be an exception, but otherwise, the champions are greeted by thousands of empty seats on days outside of finals, last-four matches, or a clash against one of Kerry or Mayo.
The double-header they anchored at the start of the Super 8s struggled to attract over 50,000, despite the fine weather and the novelty of the occasion.
It is indisputable that the fairness of the Championship is compromised by Dublin playing all of their meaningful matches on what is their home pitch, but its atmosphere is also damaged by the champions (and anyone else) playing games in a cavernous place that is half empty.
There is an alternative, as round two of the Super 8s illustrated. The atmospheres in Omagh, Clones and Newbridge were all terrific, and Dublin’s greatness was emphasised by the marvellous display they produced to beat Tyrone in a hostile environment.
Their effort banished even the most grudging criticism that linked the success of this crop to their effective tenancy in Croke Park. Provincial grounds creak and don’t tend to offer much by way of pampering, but their dimensions and their history guarantee perfect conditions for do-or-die contests.
MacCumhaill Park will heave with desire and rivalry and tension this afternoon.
The argument that Dublin should play fewer games in Croke Park needs to be widened: the less all counties play there, the better. Regional grounds are easier to fill and promise a better atmosphere, while using Croke Park less frequently would restore its exclusivity.
Playing there should be an honour hard-earned.
But then the issue of facilities is one that has caused confusion in GAA thinking for years now.
A reactionary position taken by some of its advocates in the Páirc Uí Chaoimh shambles demanded to know why the soccer community could not provide a stadium capable of hosting the benefit game.
But the GAA, above all sporting organisations in this country, should understand the costs of indiscriminate stadium development.
There are too many outsized grounds all over the island, redeveloped at enormous expense, and used only a few times a year.
Even then, they are rarely, if ever, full.
This obsession with ‘suitable’ venues runs deep. That was evident in some of the reaction to the ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’ eruption.
With the authorities scrambling to justify their outrageous desire to deprive Kildare of a home fixture that was rightfully theirs, health and safety was cited as a reason.
Even after the GAA surrendered to fairness and stopped undermining the integrity of the Football Championship, there were pundits and analysts who focussed on the ramshackle state of St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge as the issue.
It wasn’t, but the Kildare County Board push on with plans to double the capacity of their ground to 15,000, at a cost of over €6 million, by 2020.
It is arguable that there are many counties in Ireland in need of stadia of that size, given the costs associated with construction and maintenance.
Yet some of those grounds that stand mostly idle could certainly be better utilised – and the Super 8s has given an indication of that.
Croke Park should be the centre of the GAA world, but its prestige is damaged by overuse.
Today, the gulls will screech and the Dubs will coast and few will leave with their memories burnished by the experience.