Should Dublin play every game at Croker?

MaroonAndGreen

I think its massively unfair that the Dubs get every Leinster Championship game at home in Croke Park.

Its an advantage for them in every game, when they already have the advantage of having the greatest population!

Playing in Croke Park should be an achievement that teams earn, not something that should be given to Dublin or any team automatically.

Thoughts?

DEFTLEFTHAND

It comes down to money I suppose, Because of their population and large fan base they draw big crowds to Championship games. Parnell Park only has a capacity of 13,000.

Justin10

Its of benefit to the GAA and every other team financially.
Dublin would hammer most teams in parnell park or away grounds anyways.

Is it of benefit to Dublin? Of course, I think it is over exaggerated though.
In return there is financial benefit to other teams as the money trickles through the counties.

Poor_old_gill

The figures don't stack up for early round games and it should be assessed on a game by game basis.

ProudDUB

I'd love to hit the road for more away games & most of the people I know who go to games feel the same way.

It's the Leinster Council who decide where games are played btw, not the Dublin Co Board. Last time I checked, the Leinster council was comprised mainly of non Dubs.

zetecescort

Would like to see the Leinster council do what they've done in Ulster, first name out of the hat gets home advantage, so Donegal played Tyrone in front of 18,000 or so instead of moving it to Clones just for the extra crowd.

Sure, people would be disappointed with the reduced capacity but a full smaller ground is far better than a half or 3/4 full Croke Park for atmosphere IMO.

Lemlin

zetecescort wrote: »

Would like to see the Leinster council do what they've done in Ulster, first name out of the hat gets home advantage, so Donegal played Tyrone in front of 18,000 or so instead of moving it to Clones just for the extra crowd.

Sure, people would be disappointed with the reduced capacity but a full smaller ground is far better than a half or 3/4 full Croke Park for atmosphere IMO.

Ulster has the grounds for that though. Every county has a fairly decent ground. I don't think the same can be said of Leinster. For example, Meath and Kildare.

I think Tailteann can only hold 10,000 or something now so the Leinster Council aren't going to allow Dublin to play to such a small crowd and lose the revenue.

dunnerc

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

I think its massively unfair that the Dubs get every Leinster Championship game at home in Croke Park.

Its an advantage for them in every game, when they already have the advantage of having the greatest population!

Playing in Croke Park should be an achievement that teams earn, not something that should be given to Dublin or any team automatically.

Thoughts?

This has been done many times already,
is it fair?no
is it an advantage?yes
will we be asking the same questions next year?unfortunately yes
maybe if everybody who cared wrote into the leinster council and complained,something might be done.
may i finish by saying myself and every genuine dublin supporter i know
would love to play away matches in the championship and league,as indeed the dublin football team to.

howiya

Culchies decide where Dublin play. The Leinster Council decide we play all our matches in Croke Park so we can fund what goes on in the rest of Leinster.

GAA does similar when when we get into the All-Ireland series. Take 2010 when we were in the qualifiers. Despite Dublin fans crying out for road trips all of our qualifiers were played in Croke Park.

Its not our fault that we are your cash cow. Just go easy on the milking

Frankie Lee

One other thing that is unfair is Dublin fans getting the advantage of cheaper tickets for the Hill.
Hopefully somewhere along the line the GAA would look into safe standing in the lower tier of the Davin Stand.

howiya

Frankie Lee wrote: »

One other thing that is unfair is Dublin fans getting the advantage of cheaper tickets for the Hill.
Hopefully somewhere along the line the GAA would look into safe standing in the lower tier of the Davin Stand.

Nothing stopping you buying a Hill ticket for tomorrow. It should be open for all games though to give all fans the option to buy a cheaper ticket. This would be a lot simpler than doing work to the Davin stand.

dunnerc

Frankie Lee wrote: »

One other thing that is unfair is Dublin fans getting the advantage of cheaper tickets for the Hill.
Hopefully somewhere along the line the GAA would look into safe standing in the lower tier of the Davin Stand.

what a load of rubbish
hill tickets are open to any county.

Frankie Lee

Its more the issue of having fans together on a terrace, back in the 90's there was always a good atmosphere generated by having Dublin or Kildare in the Hill and Meath fans in the Canal end.

Finton90

Of course they shouldn't allowing one team an advantage like that, especially when they have such a population advantage as well. It completely undermines the integrity of the championship.

dunnerc

Finton90 wrote: »

Of course they shouldn't allowing one team an advantage like that, especially when they have such a population advantage as well. It completely undermines the integrity of the championship.

good man excellent first post,now write a letter into the leinster council and complain;)

JessePinkman

Agree that it's not Dublin's fault but the Leinster Championship is the most romantic of all,Westmeath,Laois,Kildare,Dublin,Meath all winning in recent years,Louth,Wexford and offally have all made finals aswell in the past decade. Throw in games with huge atmospheres like Aughrim & Pearse Park.

Bringing the Dub's on the road will enhance the Leinster Champ as a whole.

An extra couple of thousand quid gained by Croker matches can't equal the buzz of provincial matches in small towns,The scramble for tickets,the boost for local economies & the bigger media appeal.

I firmly believe the Leinster Council will implement this from next year.


The biggest problem facing the Dubs is where do they play there League Games? Parnell is too small so do they increase it ? or let them play there 3/4 home games in Croker every year?

klairondavis

People are forgetting the importance of the corporate and premium tickets in this whole debate. The less matches you stage in Croke Park, the less valuable these tickets become. If their demand drops, the GAA lose out on a major revenue stream.

A case could be made for moving the opening round of the Leinster Championship out of Croke Park but Dublin v Kildare and Dublin v Meath will always be staged there. No other stadium in the province would be capable of holding the crowds those matches draw.

Sunnyisland

Its all about the money, At the moment Dublin hurling supporters travel all over the country to support the team,In the not to distant future when the hurling Dubs get there all Ireland medals and cup, the same will happen, All major games in HQ.

Sunnyisland

O and my opinion would be it be better for the game if Dublin travelled around the country,like we did in the early eighties and 70,s.

Finton90

The bigger picture here is that the GAA needs to get rid of all the ridiculous anomalies that exist. Dublin and croker is just one example.

The Galway hurling underage and club champions getting byes into AI semis every year is an even worse example and is completely ridiculous. The most annoying cliche in Irish "sure Galway always have good underage hurlers" of course they flippin do they get a bye into the semis every year.

I remember trying to explain this to a mate from New Zealand before and he just laughed and wondered why I bothered following such a nonsense competition. If it happened in rugby or cricket over there where one team got a bye every year the other teams would boycott the competition. But here "ah sure tis grand" typical irish nonsense, makes the gaa look amateurish and pathetic

MANUTD99

I'd love to get the chance to go to a Leinster game outside Dublin.

Pearse Park a few years ago was great craic. Cracking Summers day aswell.

It's not a Dublin decision. Most fans would love a day out

Citycap

Three All Irelands since 1977! No great advantage there. Some of Dublin's most abysmal performances have been in Croke Park. If the county is good enough Dublin can always be beaten

Patser

MANUTD99 wrote: »

I'd love to get the chance to go to a Leinster game outside Dublin.

Pearse Park a few years ago was great craic. Cracking Summers day aswell.

It's not a Dublin decision. Most fans would love a day out

Agree with this, Longford was our last away trip in the championship and that was 2006. That was a cracking day, scorching hot on a bank holiday weekend and the whole town was hopping.

Croker can have a great atmosphere but recently it has been less and less full for matches and when you leave the stadium the atmosphere drops off very quickly the further you move away - by the time you're on O'Connell St it can sometimes be hard to know there was even a game on.

Some of the best games I've been to have been Munster Hurling finals with my Tipp born Dad. When a final like that is held in Semple, Thurles does be hopping - and Dubs still remember the 2 Trips to Tipp versus Kerry.

Oasis_Dublin

I enjoyed the Longford trip, and sometimes Croke Park with only 30,000 can feel very empty. But us Dubs give the Leinster Council money, which can be used in other counties. What real advantage is it?

For every team that is nervous playing in Croke Park, there's another who are lifted by the sight of the place. Dublin don't have that because they play there so often.

We always lose to Mayo in Croke Park; Mayo obviously have a psychological advantage playing Dublin in Croke Park so we better move any of those games outside Croker!!!