High price of entry risks alienating the GAA’s young and old

ONE of the hot topics for supporters right now is ticket prices.

I made a comment last Sunday which, judging by the reaction, struck a chord with all of those giving out over the price of entry to games. I simply said that my biggest gripe is with the student prices, that €10/€15 for a 17/18-year-old doing the Leaving Certificate is very wrong.

From the reaction, it’s clear that plenty feel unhappy with the various prices being charged around the country.

First of all, it has to be said that the GAA has some great offers right throughout the season. I go to a lot of matches myself and would rarely leave home without a gang of three or four young lads in the car, one or both of my sons amongst them.

Look at the ease of access. Tickets can be bought via SuperValu or Centra, with some priced at just €5. By any standard, that is great value.

When I was chairman of our club here in Offaly, you’d be well aware of the group ticket deals available in Leinster where an adult goes free with a group of 10 children. In some group packages, tickets cost as little as €2. In a lot of cases, the GAA makes an effort to get juveniles or students in the gate for free – or the closest thing to it.

On All-Ireland final day, I’d argue that €80 for a ticket represents value. If a concert ticket is all that and more, then the biggest day in hurling or football is worth the price.

Ticket prices in Tipperary and Cork have got everyone thinking. This is the time of year when you have club Championship quarterfinals and semi-finals and finals, with people going to various matches each weekend, sometimes more than one.

Hence the very clever marketing ploy from Tipperary. The county board advertised a special weekend package which allowed fans entry to all games for €20 – this on a weekend when the county hosted up to 15 championship games. It was a very nice gesture to supporters.

Jim Troy, the legendary Offaly goalkeeper, is a neighbour of mine. He goes to matches every weekend. He has the season ticket which covers club games – another fantastic initiative.

My criticism last weekend was in relation to the price being charged for those still in secondary school. Cork were charging €25 entry on the day for the county hurling final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, with students and OAPs charged €20.

Just take that amount for students, which is unusual. My own lad is doing his Leaving Certificate, so he’s not a third level student, but neither is he a ‘juvenile’. That means no free entry for an age group where there is a massive fall-off in the GAA. Prices like this will only accelerate that process.

If I was living in Cork and wanted to go to the game last Sunday, it wouldn’t have been cheap. I have one son studying in the University of Limerick, another is still in secondary school. A trip to the newlydeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh would have cost us €90.

You look at the inventive way Tipperary are doing things and wonder why county boards can’t be more creative. What about a family ticket for a county final? Or a weekend package?

Encourage more to go. Don’t screw them for more because of the huge price tag that came with the stadium redevelopment. I know you could buy a ticket for

‘IF YOU WERE CLEVER, YOU WOULD GO FOR THE RECORD CROWD SIZE’

€22 online but €25 is steep no matter what way it is dressed up. And it’s a 25 per cent increase on the previous year.

If you’re clever with your marketing, go for the record crowd rather than record price. Put on a lunch special, or entertainment, rather than say, ‘They’ll have to come to support their club, let’s charge an extra fiver’. That extra fiver won’t kill people, but it’s the spirit of it – the meanness of spirit.

You’re alienating young lads. OAPs, too. I know there are retirees on good pensions, but plenty are on a state pension. This is a chunk out of their week.

Free entry for under-16s is a great initiative. But why not do a family ticket for €40 or €50? Wouldn’t it have been a great way of engaging supporters with the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh, or Stade de Frank as I heard it called.

The lack of joined-up thinking around the country stands out. Tipperary went off and did what they did on their own initiative. But provincial councils should be saying, ‘Here’s a number of initiatives we think you should try’.

Take best practice and implement it around the country.