The controversial new fence in Croke Park was near completion yesterday, ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland football semi final.
The nine-foot-high (2.8m) barricade will be in place at the Hill 16 end for the weekend’s eagerly awaited crunch game between Down and Kildare.
The barriers have brought criticism from fans who claim it will hinder the view from ‘the Hill’.
But the fence is being criticised as a step backwards by some fans of the sport. Joe Nugent, the secretary of the Dublin Supporters Club, said they are absolutely opposed to the new system. “We think it is retrograde step in stadium safety,” he said.
Well, what can you do when you’re dealing with 80,000 chimps who refuse to follow orders that are put in place for their own safety? You might actually need an electric fence to keep some of those gormless people from trying to get on the pitch.
I love the electric fence idea…post match entertainment…
Bmd is an awful spoofer
C’mere to me ya little pup.
Seriously though you’ve missed the point pearl harbour style with this one.
In fact, the extent to which you have been deceived makes me question your acerbic social commentary which I had hitherto considered both astute and insightful. My world is suddenly awash with uncertainty.
I’m all ears, BJCM. Or eyes.
Where to start mate. The excerpt you’ve posted has enough hints. The Taylor Report which has been widely cited by Croke Park explicitly stated that “pitch invasions never led to a single death” in English football. Barriers it stated, led to terrible tragedies and should be torn down and never brought back.
Croke Park, citing public safety as their primary concern, put up a barrier along the front of the only remaining terrace in the stadium, This has never been about safety. This is about a corporate ethos at Croke Park which is in stark contrast to the rest of the association. It is also about democracy in the organisation and the concentration of power in a tiny bureaucracy which is itself unaccountable to the membership.
I don’t expect people who haven’t any particular interest in the GAA to understand the significance and the symbolism of the crowd coming onto the field after a final win, (although I will try if pushed) but I would expect them to simply consider the evidence.
Since this agenda emerged from HQ there have been persistent and sincere calls for evidence of the real risk to supporters based on the previous century of this specific phenomenon. None has been forthcoming. No evidence of injuries has been presented. There have certainly been no deaths, or near deaths.
Despite this there has been a consensus among the membership that a managed process of slowly allowing fans onto the field after All Ireland victories would be an acceptable compromise (between the entire mass membership of the organisation and the five to ten people who administer Croke Park).
In response to this, various excuses were rolled out mainly centered on the issue of ‘pitch compaction’. It was pointed out that the management at Croke Park have presided over concerts being staged in the middle of the championship season, sometimes involving the relaying of the entire pitch. This was dismissed as irrelevant. Late this summer it was acknowledged that pitch compaction was a red herring and never a real concern.
GAA supporters have had to put up with a litany of lies and smears throughout this debate. The language itself – pitch invasion – seeks to criminalise GAA supporters in their own stadiums. The absolutely despicable video released by McKenna and his cronies, evoking Ibrox, Hillsborough, and Bradford was the final straw for most people.
This has turned into shameless corporate bullying, an attack on tradition and an attack on supporters. McKenna envisages a day when a Heineken Cup style presentation, fireworks and all will become the norm. Nice and neat and corporate. A fine big logo emblazoned on a presentation stand in the middle of his field. The great unwashed kept at a safe distance.
The case of the supporters has been put forward with much eloquence than I can muster here and if anyone wishes to comment on this issue then they are obliged to seek it out. More than just a GAA matter, this is at its core a case of shiny event management and marketing, versus community pride and tradition.
Much more important than that though, is the need for the wider public to see this dirty tricks game for what it is, before the Croke Park management create a real tragedy through their deliberately confrontational stance towards supporters. I wouldn’t be the first to suggest that maybe this is what they really want. It would finally provide them with the mandate they have tried so desperately hard to fabricate.
You say I missed a point, but I didn’t. I made the point I was making, which you don’t agree with, that’s a different kettle of fish.
I’m not interested in the GAA, but I think they’re entitled to put a stop to pitch invasions. You’re saying that there is no evidence as to risk of death or injury? I’m not buying that myself, the pitch invasions present an opportunity for injuries/deaths/lawsuits and I think that the fact that it is a tradition and hugely symbolic is not enough of a reason to allow it. Perhaps it’s time for the GAA fans to move with the times. The bottom line is that they’re trying to stop them, but the people won’t stop trying to get on the pitch. So of course they have to go down the route they’re going down. A lot of what you’re saying seems to be concerned with the politics and inner-workings of the GAA.
With respect, your personal incredulity does not represent an argument worth considering. Multitudes can’t buy the idea that the complexity of the known universe is possible without the design of a higher power. They are nevertheless incorrect.
I again suggest that you have severely “missed the point.” Pejorative tone aside you asserted that supporters must “follow orders” for their own safety. You restate your point in the form “they’re trying to stop them”, “they’re” presumably a reference to the GAA.
First and foremost you have created a false dichotomy, in that going “down the route they’re going down” is the only alternative available to the GAA. It is not. What do you mean by “move with the times”? There is a tradition of allowing fans onto the field to celebrate after a player reaches the 100 goals landmark in Australian Rules football. Perhaps because this is a professional sport it will provide a more respectable locus of this activity for you than the amateur GAA. It also demonstrates that the confrontational. zero-tolerance approach of Croke Park is not the “only route they can go down.”
More importantly, it should not matter if the GAA was the only organisation in world sport that allowed fans onto the field to celebrate on the field. It is irrelevant. Pats on the head from other organisations is no measure of merit. So “moving with the times” can only refer to public safety, of which there is no evidence that there is a legitimate concern, or games presentation – in other words marketing.
Well the membership is quite willing to forgo any marketing opportunities which may be lost, which in itself reminds me of a final significant point. When you say “they’re”, remember that they is the Croke Park administration. They is not the GAA. The 80,000 “chimps” are the GAA. This is an organisation of the people, and the people have not been satisfied by the evidence on offer. Nor should they be. It is utterly insufficient to merit the sweeping away of a much loved tradition. This has been articulated in county board meetings all over the country for the last three months. HQ serves the organisation and its membership, not the other way around. So remember who ‘they’ are who are ignoring their orders.
No point was missed, merely a point was made that you don’t agree with, which is that the barriers have been erected to prevent pitch invasions because the fans, who believe it is their right to storm the pitch at the end, refuse to stop. Pretty straightforward point I first made, it wasn’t missed.
You are suggesting that pitch invasions don’t present risks of serious injury, a point which I find ridiculous. Stadia all across the world go to great lengths to prevent them, because they are a public safety concern.
‘Pats on the head from other organisations’ have nothing to do with it, it’s a step that has been taken for safety and security reasons, whether or not you believe that it is necessary. You say that there hasn’t been a death, but that of course is no argument for continuing the ‘tradition’ and the ‘symbolism.’
Barriers are bad, but I don’t see that they have any choice in the matter, when the fans refuse to give up their traditions. So my point, that they have to put up fences because the chimps won’t stop running onto the pitch, is absolutely correct.
No, the route they are going down is the route whereby fans are not allowed on the pitch at the end of the game. A lot of the fans want to get on the pitch, and will not listen to the orders, coming from the ‘Croke Park administration,’ (precisely who the order is coming from, I don’t think is relevant.)
If you’re demanding evidence of a legitimate concern, what do you think of that? Just one little snippet. Of course pitch invasions are dangerous; they are impossible to control and the security of the patrons cannot be guaranteed.
Do you believe that this event was fabricated? Of course pitch invasions are risky and dangerous. The bottom line is that the people in power are trying to stamp out the pitch invasions, and it’s a pity the fans couldn’t do as they were told. I think they are perfectly correct in the sweeping away of that much-loved tradition. Can’t see us agreeing on this, my good chap.