Donegal V Armagh - Clones, NOT Ballybofey!

[lynchbhoy]

Donegal branch of the Irish Vintners Federation couldnt guarantee that there would be adequate suplies of buckfast, plus the range for massey fergusons really only comfortably can make clones so Donegal co board reluctantly agreed to move it to the monaghan venue

[cavanmaniac]

KIngspan Breffni Park has never come close to housing its capacity crowd of 33,000 approx. Ditto for Wexford Park. Ditto for Portlaoise. Ditto for Casement. Ditto for Salthill. The list goes on.

Breffini's capacity is way lower than that cavanmaniac.  You could knock at least 10,000 of it .

There was almost 22,000 officially there for the replay against Down in 2004 and it was by no means full or even approaching it. Both end terraces had plenty of room on them and at a push the terrace opposite the stand would have taken a few more down towards the ends as well.

Depending on where you read, the capacity is 33,000, 32,000, or 28,000. Official GAA Supporters Handbook lists it as 30,000. Point being though, we'll never know it for sure as it'll never be tested to its limits anyway!

[dodo]

Somebody needs to call a halt to the good money being thrown down the drain on shiny GAA stadia that never once in their lives cater for the capacity the people developing it are so keen to trumpet about. KIngspan Breffni Park has never come close to housing its capacity crowd of 33,000 approx. Ditto for Wexford Park. Ditto for Portlaoise. Ditto for Casement. Ditto for Salthill. The list goes on.

Salthill had 33,000+ in attendance for Galway vs Mayo Connacht final in 2005.
Same pairing there this may in Connacht 1st round will surely be 20,000+.
International Rules match was also a sell out crowd.

Know your point though, the board of Pearse Stadium, Salthill have been vocal in their desire to get more games there to help pay off the debt and to make more use of it.

[The Bottom Brick]

The big strength of the GAA is its ability to offer the possibility of live attendance at big games

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

GAA promotion of games on TV, radio, newspapers, internet, etc is the way forward!

[J70]

Looks like the Donegal county board are going to appeal...

Statement from C.L.G. Dhun na nGall


At an emergency meeting of the County Executive held in Ballybofey last night, it was agreed unanimously to contest through the appropriate authority, the decision of Ulster Council to use Clones as the venue for the forthcoming championship game between Donegal and Armagh.

[armaghniac]

At an emergency meeting of the County Executive held in Ballybofey last night, it was agreed unanimously to contest through the appropriate authority, the decision of Ulster Council to use Clones as the venue for the forthcoming championship game between Donegal and Armagh.

Another appeal against an outrage! I blame the church, the Armagh people would miss mass if they had to set out at the crack of dawn to go to Donegal.

[ardal]

What's Charlotte got to do with it?

[ONeill]

Comhairle Uladh Statement

The decision by the Competitions Control Committee of Comhairle Uladh last Tuesday night to name Clones as the venue for the Donegal v Armagh
Ulster Senior Football Championship game, was made after short submissions by each of the Donegal and Armagh delegates
present at the meeting.  Correspondance was received from Donegal on Tuesday and was put before the meeting on Tuesday night.
This related to further development works which are due to commence at Sean MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey in the near future.
The National Infrastucture Committee of CLG indicated that the completion of these works would bring the capacity of the ground up to
21,500 which would work out at c.19,000 for an All Ticket game.
Armagh submitted a requirement for 17,000 -18,000 tickets for this game.  Based on the new capacity of MacCumhaill Park, the allocation
of tickets to each county would be of the order of 8,000 tickets each.  This information was provided to the meeting on the request of the delegates
present.
On foot of this information, the motion from Donegal and an amendment from Armagh were put to the meeting and a majority decision was
made that the venue for the game would be Clones.  The current capacity for Clones is 33,000.  Based on past practice, the Ulster Council
anticipates that because of the significantly greater capacity of Clones, it can provide unlimited free access to the game for all Under 16's and
a significant quota of family tickets to each county at reduced prices.

[armaghniac]

excerpt from todays Indo, probably Eugene Magee

Until recently Donegal did not have a decent ground capable of holding a large crowd in safety but over the past while they have spent a lot of money developing Mac Cumhaill Park in Ballybofey and they now claim that the ground can safely hold about 21,500.

I would assume that the Ulster Council was fully aware of this development and must have given some indication to Donegal GAA that they would be able to avail of home venue in the first-round championship games should the Ulster draw so permit.

So when Donegal drew Armagh in the first round on May 27 next they were naturally looking forward to the greatest GAA occasion ever in Ballybofey in their spanking new ground.

But one should never assume that the obvious will become reality when it comes to a GAA body and last week the Ulster Council decided by a vote of 7-6 NOT to play this game in Ballybofey but in Clones instead.

This is a terrible slap in the face for the GAA people of Donegal who over the past 25 years or so have been one of THE biggest suppliers of large crowds to Ulster championship games including finals played in Croke Park.

The Ulster Council is claiming that a capacity of 21,500 would not be enough because Armagh say they want about 17,000 tickets - they would say that wouldn't they.

I have been at Ulster championship games in recent years involving Armagh where their followers would not have made up half that figure.

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this is quite scandalous, which games had only around 8000 Armagh supporters, minor ones? Maybe a replay on a Saturday had a reduced crowd, but in games against Monaghan and Fermanagh Armagh generally made up much more than 50% of the crowd (reasonably enough, as it has a bigger population). I reckon there will be in the region of 17000 Armagh people wanting to go.

Also where is the logic in saying the huge Donegal support that turns up in Croke Pk, say 30000 should be "rewarded" with a game in a location in which only less than half that number can attend.  Donegal has a large population, its fans have not been particularly good attenders at Ulster championship games.

McGee claims the whole thing is about money, but money reflects the fact that people want to attend, why on earth would the GAA not want people to attend its games?