Dublin will ride to the rescue of GAA attendance figures on Saturday when the first 82,000 sell out of the season will turn out at Croke Park to see a Quarter Final double header.
Donegal, Mayo and Tyrone will provide the quality to ensure a full house drags overall attendance at this stage back to within 10% of the same stage last year, relieving concerns over the impact of the Euros and fall offs at the provincial championship level.
The crowd on Sunday for the two matches between Kerry and Clare and Tipperary against Galway was only 29,521, and while the quality of the second game in particular was high, the lack of competition up to this point in the Championship has led to smaller crowds than the Association would be comfortable with.
The provincial Championship attendances were down just under 100,000 this year over last but with games taking place throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s advances at the Euro’s that would not be unexpected.
A perceived lack of competition in Leinster, with Dublin racking up almost uncontested victories will have a longer term impact and there is increasing pressure to consider change to the Championship structure so that there are more days like Saturday promises to be.
The ability for sport to draw a sell out crowd of over 80,000 in the midst of holiday season is testament to the fact that there is a lot more right with the GAA’s appeal that there are problems to overcome but it is the need to stay ahead of the curve and not allow doubt to creep in over whether it is worth the price of admission that will be exercising minds through the rest of the summer.
