Saturday evening’s All Ireland Qualifier between Kildare and Mayo will now take place at St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge after further discussion on traffic and crowd management between the GAA, Kildare GAA and local Gardaí.

Getting the game played in a safe environment has been the underlying constant throughout the media fuelled 48-hour debate that raged over Newbridge or Croke Park and that this is now happening will ultimately be best for all.

There are a number of issues that arise from the storm which will no doubt form part of the already planned review of changes to the Football Championship on this three year ‘trial’ of what has become colloquially know as the Super 8’s.

There are also a number of ‘facts’ that were mixed up in the argument that deserve to be nailed.

Regional Spread

One of the principal reasons for change within both the Hurling and Football Championships was to create more meaningful games in more stadia around the country. Galway has hosted its first ties in the Leinster Hurling Championship this year and more games in the All Ireland series will be staged away from Croke Park this year than has ever been the case.

It has though highlighted the fact that there is a deficit in many grounds between what has always been seen as ‘OK’ but which is now ever more important in a consumer-driven age.

Fans First

The reality which Kildare fans will now face is that while they would all have been able to travel the 50 kilometre journey from Newbridge to Croke Park, most will now be unable to attend the match due to the capacity constraints.

With a maximum crowd of 8,200, 3,500 tickets have to be reserved for Mayo Season Ticket holders. Each county will be given 1,500 tickets each to distribute through clubs with the remaining 1,700 going to players, officials, sponsors and other groups.

In reality, this means that St Conleth’s will in all likelihood be a sea of red and green rather than white when the players run out onto the pitch. For many of those who support Kildare, it will be a case of be careful what you wish for.

How will Wicklow and Waterford Feel?

Fans in Wicklow and Waterford were aggrieved that their fixtures in this year’s Football and Hurling Championships respectively were moved from Aughrim and Walsh Park to Portlaoise and Limerick this year, on the same basis of concern for fan safety and experience.

Feeling hard done by is OK so long as everybody is in the same boat but Waterford fans who are now kicking their heels after elimination from an ultra-competitive Munster Hurling Championship will doubtless hold this against their own officials for ‘not fighting as hard as Kildare’ to maintain a home advantage.

Why has Kildare not got a better facility?

Kildare has a population of over 220,000, bigger than Meath and Limerick as well as a vibrant club scene and regular appearances in Division One of the Allianz League. And yet it is one of a handful of counties that do not have a fit for purpose stadium.

That is changing with plans afoot to develop St Conleth’s Park for 2020 but how can it be that Meath, Laois, Offaly, Kilkenny and Wexford, all within Leinster have done so already and Kildare do not.

Allowing local pride to force the staging of a match in the town is great on paper, but the reality is that very few will see it and those that do will do so in a stadium that is fine for most games but not the biggest ones.

The Sky Factor

Much was made of allegations that the original decision to host at Croke Park was based on providing Sky with access to a Double Header. Absolute rubbish.

Sky was always scheduled to carry two Round Three Qualifiers this weekend at 5 pm and 7 pm and that is what they will do, regardless of whether they were in Croke Park, St Conleth’s or Timbuctoo. They neither have now nor ever asked for a say in the venues and yet they became wrapped up in the anger from those ‘supporting’ Kildare but in reality looking more to bash the GAA.

The Money Factor

In a similar vein many commentators, backed in many media, placed this firmly into the allegation that this was just a money grabbing affair from the GAA.  The fixed costs of opening up Croke Park are substantial and there is every likelihood it could have lost money.

The GAA had offered Cavan the opportunity to host at Brewster park and Kildare the same chance to host this game at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise.  It was only Kildare’s unwillingness that prompted the decision to do both games in Dublin.

Any administrator is in the game to administer and not for a popularity context but accusations that this was some nefarious plot to extract more money from the commercial team are as wide of the mark as most conspiracy theories.

 

So there you have it.  The game goes ahead and one winner will emerge.  If it is Kildare we may see a rerun of the same arguments when it comes to Round Four or the Quarter Final Round.  Ultimately games are won by the best teams on the day.  Home advantage is just that and it is important but only when the ‘home’ is the right place across more factors than local pride.