Venues for All-Ireland Quarter Finals (Football)

[armaghniac]

Having the QFs and the Hurling on the same weekend is creating a problem for the GAA, surely an unnecessary one in the overall planning of the year. There are several problems, one is catering for Dub support, but also there is a lack of venues for certain combinations. Thurles allows a big venue for Dublin v Cork/Kerry clashes but almost any Ulster/Connacht pairing lacks a convenient venue with large capacity.

[Maguire01]

Also, Has a all-ireland football quarter final ever been part of a double bill with the all-ireland hurling semi final? If you have two big attractive pairings here, could be a push for tickets.

Monaghan v Kerry and Waterford v Limerick last year.

If they were to draw Kerry, it would only be fair that it was moved down the country a bit. Thurles holds 55,000 - you wouldn't get just as many Dubs travelling, and Thurles would probably be big enough. It's better to spread the games out a bit.

But when you can get 25000 more people @ 25-30 euro a pop, Why would they move it down?

Because money shouldn't be the primary concern. If possible and practical, such matches should be at neutral venues. I can't believe i'm fighting Kerry's fight here  , but why should they have to drive 5 hours when Dublin fans won't have to travel at all? And why shouldn't the country's other big stadia benefit from some more full houses every now and again?
If Croke Park is neutral and central to the counties involved, then by all means use it. If not, save it for the Leinster Final, and AI Semi-Finals and Finals.

So lets stop 25-30k people supporters seeing a match is the way to go then??? Reduce the chances for counties to play in Croke Park also???

Neither Dublin nor Kerry are short of chances to use Croke Park, so lets not bother with that line.

Lets not have the 25-30k fairweather fans dictate that a quarter-final should always be in Croke Park when the Dubs are involved (and let's be honest, we're only talking about the Dubs here, as few others will fill HQ at QF stage).

Also remember that i'm only suggesting this in cases where Dublin are playing someone like Kerry on the other side of the country where there's a reasonably big stadium in a central location. I'm not suggesting that a Dublin v Kildare/Meath/Louth/Westmeath etc QF should be moved for the sake of it.

[Frank Casey]

Was in Thurles in 2001 (Thanks Mossie Fitz ). Game had to have a delayed throw in as Dubs got lost on the way as distinct from having an extra bevvy before throw in. Would probably need to throw in Sat navs with the tickets to avoid a repeat.