When are they going to learn?

[BigJohnBrowne]

"I've a steward with a broken nose. Another has an eye injury. We have to remember these stewards are volunteers. For them to go home with facial injuries is unacceptable."

It appears that the stewards are voluntary - http://www.crokepark.ie/page/stewarding_at_croke_park.html

Can't say I'm impressed with some of the shite I hearing on radio over the last few days about tradition.  Some of the gombeens haven't a clue what they are talking about and all they want to do is make a fuss for the sake of it - typical Irish blinkered psyche. 

I witnessed at hand the crowd at last years football final and saw the dangerous crowd situation at the presentation and also saw ridiculous situation the Gouch was in.  Thought is was wholly unfair that any player should have to put up with some fat lout who waddled in from the hill end to engage in jostling him and learing into his face, after what he had contributed to a grand finals and considering what all these players do all year.  As a neutral I had supported Tyrone during the game until that point when that arsehole put me off them.

The presentation in the centre is not ideal but sense must prevail.  I do hold the GAA to blame for the way this whole change in plan was originally announced.  It should have been brought to everyone's attention at Congress or at least before the Champ commenced and everyone would have had time to absorb it and see sense.  Instead the GAA have  appeared to have taken the candy out of the child's mouth - a poorly managed situation.

[ballinaman]

The GAA have under health and safety law have  to provide safe access and egress to all users of the stadium and to minimise the risk of injury  to all patrons.

It is perfectly possible to throw yourself off the top deck of the stand, if you have a mind. The GAA has an obligation to provide safe access to places that you are supposed to be in and that's it. Say you go to DCU and you walk out on the road in front of car, it is DCUs fault to not having an electrified fence along the side of the road to stop you doing this.

Anyone seeking compensation should be vigorously fought, named and shamed and banned from GAA property

Agreed. The line of thinking saying that it's "only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured" just doesn't stand up.

If thats the case, we'll have to ban people from standing oustide pubs on dorset street because it's only a matter of time before they'll get run over by a car!! Why build a terrace so if croke park are so worried about saftey.

Bottom line is....Croke park want the presentation in the middle of the pitch so they can have big dirty sponsor logos in the backround while Sam and Liam are being lifted. MONEY MONEY MONEY! Christy Cooney saying that last sunday was " Sad"....cheek of the man.

[Billys Boots]

Anyone seeking compensation should be vigorously fought, named and shamed and banned from GAA property

The problem is that the insurance companies won't fight these claims (or pretend that they can't win these cases) - instead they raise Croke Park's premiums until they (CP Management) can demonstrate that they have done everything in their powers to prevent the accidents.I doubt that they're getting pushed around by sponsors. 

I agree with Big John, we Irish love to make a big fuss on the wrong occasions.

[pintsofguinness]

Why don't we just stay off the field? 

It's not a tradition, it's a pile of shite. We should leave the players to enjoy their day nice lap of honour, everyone gets to see the presentation.

Even putting aside safety concerns it's better all round.

I have been reading the posts on here for a while now and as a Mayo man i dont think we will be running on to the pitch to see our county pick up Sam any time soon. of course there is the tradition of runnig on to the pitch at the end of the game, we used to have the tradition of having 10 pints and driving home from the pubs, but that has stopped. i dont buy into this tradition thing at all, what happened on Sunday was a disgrace, in Australia if anyone runs on to the pitch they are fined 5000 dollars and banned for ten years. There are no doubt commercial issues as to why the presentation is moving center pitch, but as someone who deals with insurance claims and insurance companies on an almost daily basis, let no one be under any illusion about the amount of claims that will be lodged follwoing sundays incident, especially now there is a recession on. Say for instance some lads claims he slipped on the wet pitch on Sunday, hurt the back and is out of work for a couple of weeks, it doesn't take long for the amounts to add up. The GAA have under health and safety law have  to provide safe access and egress to all users of the stadium and to minimise the risk of injury  to all patrons. if someone gets killed or trampled inside the stadium it's the stadium director who will be in the high court answering the charges. If sports clubs around the world can keep their fans off the pictches without much fuss, why can't it be done here. Tradition is all good and well but when some 7 year old kid is trampled or seriously hurt, hand wringing and d**kheads ringing Joe Duffy about tradition wont be much good then. Times move on and the GAA will have to move with them. The corporate sponsors and insurers will demand it.

125 years and it still hasnt happened.

Good point ballinaman, terracing is banned from soccer grounds due to a large number of deaths yet we have terracing.  I would have thought you boys concerned about saftety would take issue with Hill 16 rather than what hasnt happened in 125 years.

[Armamike]

I can't believe they're even contemplating fencing. Is this still legal after Hillsborough?

A different jurisdiction I believe unless soomething major happened in the last few weeks that escaped my notice.

Yeah i am aware that it's a different sport and jurisdiction. Thanks for pointing that out though.

[KILLKERRY]

I believe it's time for the GAA to embrace this 'tradition' of fans going onto the field, put structure to it, say allow 5 minutes for players and officials to gather in front of the Hogan, and then allow all fans onto the pitch.

At least it may stop the 'crushing' from the Hill end, because lets face it as long as fans 'push' from the Hill they will have to go to 'PLAN B'!.......at least if everyone knows they'll be left on in 5minutes. it may prevent the crushing.

Failing that, i fear that they may have to put seating in the Hill as they can never fence in the pitch again.

[RadioGAAGAA]

It's not a tradition, it's a pile of shite. We should leave the players to enjoy their day nice lap of honour, everyone gets to see the presentation.

Ach, sure why not rename the f**king place to wembley while we're at it.


That soccer shite sickens my hole.