A mail I sent to gaa.ie re tickets for quarters

monkeyman

RE: Mayo vs Tyrone double header

Fair play again to the GAA for putting the tickets on sale on a Bank Holiday Monday when all the Northern supporters would be at work and picked up all the tickets.

Then double fair play to ye, when tickets were released yesterday for Canal end. Myself and other credit card holders kept getting "Problem with your card, please contact your bank".
Then we contact the bank and the transaction is not even being presented to them. Please contact the GAA!!! Whats the number again 1580-GAA-JOKE

Typical of the GAA.

I suppose a draw will be played for on Saturday/Sunday as usual gauranteeing you and your cronies another few million for your pockets, coz it sure as hell doesn't go to the players.

Kelter

RE: Mayo vs Tyrone double header

Fair play again to the GAA for putting the tickets on sale on a Bank Holiday Monday when all the Northern supporters would be at work and picked up all the tickets.

In fairness only a small number of tickets are sold on line and as such being at work is a disadvantage. (I won’t even mention that using work internet access to purchase tickets is against the rules)


Then double fair play to ye, when tickets were released yesterday for Canal end. Myself and other credit card holders kept getting "Problem with your card, please contact your bank".
Then we contact the bank and the transaction is not even being presented to them. Please contact the GAA!!! Whats the number again 1580-GAA-JOKE

Typical of the GAA.

I didn’t think using technology at all, even if it doesn’t work, was typical of the GAA


I suppose a draw will be played for on Saturday/Sunday as usual gauranteeing you and your cronies another few million for your pockets, coz it sure as hell doesn't go to the players.

The money not going to the players is a good thing, and it doesn’t go to any cronies either. It goes to local clubs to buy hurleys and such. You do have a possible beef there, as football money is likely to subsidise hurling, but I don’t think you’d ever realise that.


I’m sorry if my answers are not to your satisfaction, but they are a lot more than you’ll get from the GAA

Flukey

Most times when tickets go on sale online it is a working day for most people. A lot of GAA fans would not have been near their computers on Bank Holiday Monday, being off doing other things, so it was of no major advantage. They have gone on sale on days when there were holidays in the North too. Even if it is against the rules people will use their work computer, if they have one, to access tickets.

There was problems on the site, even on Monday. But if everyone was having a problem with their card, then no one had any advantage and the tickets were not being sold, so you were not losing out.

No one wants draws, but they do occasionally happen. If a team wins by a point there are complaints of the ref blowing up to soon or leaving it too long so the other team could get a winning point. Conspiracy theorists are everywhere and can find one no matter what happens.

Paying players anything beyond expenses would destroy the game we all love, so I hope it never happens.

grumpytrousers

(I won’t even mention that using work internet access to purchase tickets is against the rules)

Erm - which rules are these, or do you folks all work together in a place where use of t'internet for ticket purchases is verbotten?

por

I bought canal end tickets online no problem on Tuesday evening, however they have to be collected at Matt Talbot Credit Union, Fitzgibbon St, Dublin 1.
Anyone know where this is ?.

Waylander

I think if you walk down from Mountjoy Square towards Croker you will pass by it on your right. They also sell tickets from there on the days of matches.

Flukey

Yes it is the road opposite the end of Jones Road, straight across the North Circular Road and up the hill. Very easy to find.

Trojan

Flukey wrote:

No one wants draws, but they do occasionally happen.

You're either very naive or taking the piss.

The Rooster

In the past I think its fair to say that refs were encouraged to allow draws. If a game was level at 70 minutes, the whistle was blown straight away. If it was close an amount of injury time would be added, but as soon as the scores got level the ref would blow it up.

Now with the qualifier system in place, there is less need for draws (in fact really all they do is clog up the fixture list), and with the added minutes board it is much harder to manufacture a draw.

However a worrying thing happened in the Leinster Final this year. Laois had just equalised and 2 of the "minimum of 3 minutes added time" were played, and the ref (Pat McEnaneny I believe) blew it up. Nobody complained as both teams were happy enough to live to fight another day, but it effectively meant that the losers would have next to no chance against Tyrone. McEnaeney didnt blow up to generate extra money for the GAA, he did it because he thought it was the fair thing to do. However it was wrong and should have been condemned.

In the Munster final something similar happened. The scores were level and into injury time. Limerick had dominated the last few minutes, but just couldnt get the winning score their play deserved. Then Kerry broke away, and a player was clearly fouled about 30 yards out straight in front of the posts, the ball fell to a Limerick player who cleared his lines. The ref didnt give the free, but blew for full time shortly after. I believe the ref didnt give the free because it would have meant Limerick had been robbed, and that a draw was a fair result and would give Limerick another chance. However the ref ended up costing Limerick dearly, as there's every chance that had the Kerry free been given and converted that it would be Limerick and not Derry who would be playing Westmeath in the Quarter Finals next week.

Flukey

Trojan, what I am saying is teams want to win. A team behind may be glad to get a late equaliser but what they really want is a win. As a supporter there is always a sense of anti-climax when a game finishes as a draw. Ref's can't manufacture draws as such. The teams have to be close in the first instance which is not within the gift of the referee. If a team is 10 points up with a minute to go, a ref cannot make it a draw. He can't score a point or miss a point for a player if it is close. As I said if a team wins by a point the conspiracy theorists are out in force just as much as they are with a draw. The very people giving out about draws would probably be giving out if a team got a winning point and the ref then blew up. Any close result will always have someone giving out. So what I was saying is that draws do happen and they are not all conspired, even if some might be. We've all been at matches with dodgy endings or close endings and no matter what the final result, someone will be working on their conspiracy. Nearly every draw or win by a late score has someone saying there was one. The fact is that one score wins do happen, without conspiracy and draws do happen without conspiracy.

Flukey

They have a few on sale online today for Sunday.

pigeonbutler

The Rooster wrote:

In the past I think its fair to say that refs were encouraged to allow draws. If a game was level at 70 minutes, the whistle was blown straight away. If it was close an amount of injury time would be added, but as soon as the scores got level the ref would blow it up.

Now with the qualifier system in place, there is less need for draws (in fact really all they do is clog up the fixture list), and with the added minutes board it is much harder to manufacture a draw.

However a worrying thing happened in the Leinster Final this year. Laois had just equalised and 2 of the "minimum of 3 minutes added time" were played, and the ref (Pat McEnaneny I believe) blew it up. Nobody complained as both teams were happy enough to live to fight another day, but it effectively meant that the losers would have next to no chance against Tyrone. McEnaeney didnt blow up to generate extra money for the GAA, he did it because he thought it was the fair thing to do. However it was wrong and should have been condemned.

In the Munster final something similar happened. The scores were level and into injury time. Limerick had dominated the last few minutes, but just couldnt get the winning score their play deserved. Then Kerry broke away, and a player was clearly fouled about 30 yards out straight in front of the posts, the ball fell to a Limerick player who cleared his lines. The ref didnt give the free, but blew for full time shortly after. I believe the ref didnt give the free because it would have meant Limerick had been robbed, and that a draw was a fair result and would give Limerick another chance. However the ref ended up costing Limerick dearly, as there's every chance that had the Kerry free been given and converted that it would be Limerick and not Derry who would be playing Westmeath in the Quarter Finals next week.

With regard to the referee in the Leinster Football Final, I for one broke from my usual custom of not criticising referees (since I referee rugby myself) and roared from the bottom of the canal end exactly what I thought of him (I'm a Westmeath fan by the way). The reason for that is because in simple terms he was wrong to blow it up in those circumstances. From the neutrals point of view it was the fairest thing to do but the reality is that a referees job is not to try bring about a fair result but to enforce the laws of the game in a fair and consistent manner.

I'll admit as more of a rugby man I wouldn't be as au fait with the rules of football as I would be with rugby but I'd read the match programme at that match and there'd been a whole page explaining the rule regarding injury time so I was shocked when he blew it up after only 2mins actual play out of the announced "at least 3mins".

Flukey

Anyone who got a ticket for today got great value for money. The 2 results were great and they had two great matches to give them. Just what you want on a visit to Croke Park. Nice open football played by the two winners too. That was the real winner of the day. Fast ball and players, and good support play were deployed perfectly to take the blanket defence on and win.

Flukey

I got my tickets for Saturday and Sunday online, but there were problems getting them for the Saturday game. Their server went down, so I just about got them, eventually!

por

I can't understand this selling of tickets in 'allocations'. Why do they not just put all the tickets in all the sections they have ear marked for online sales on sale at the same time and let the people pick where they want to sit, and when they are sold out they are sold out, instead of releasing an 'allocation' every other day.
As for the server being down, online ticket buying is nothing new at this stage, why can't they have the propper tech. resources availabe for it.
BTW what is demand like, I am in 2 minds to go or not, could it be like last week when people could not get rid of exta tickets they had prior to throw in ?.

Flukey

They cannot totally control what allocations they get. They get an intitial allocation and depending on the take-up on tickets sent to others, they may get further tickets allocated to them. Often later in the week the GAA have tickets returned to them where tickets allocated are not taken up and they are put on sale.

As to their server, well there is always a risk of that happening. The demand for tickets is phenomenal for the game with Dublin in it. I tried to get in not long after they went on sale and it was hard to get in as there were an awful lot of others trying to do the very same. Luckily, I eventually did get in and after a lot of further difficulties, I eventually got mine.

As to whether to go or not? Definitely make the effort. There are few occasions like that and though your team may lose, it is always great to be there. There are always tickets to be got, not always easily, but there are always tickets to be got. Go along and if you don't get one, you'll have no problem finding a TV locally to see it.