GAA pitch invaders an undisciplined, self indulgent rabble

[Iarmhi Gael]

GAA post-match pitch invasions are a national embarrassment,the actions of an undisciplined,self indulgent rabble indifferent to crowd safety. Foreign visitors unaccustomed to mob rule must feel pity and contempt for this behaviour.

It is time the GAA took decisive action to put a stop to invasions. There should be public announcements at half time in big matches that in the interests of crowd safety,pitch invasions are banned and invaders will be given heavy fines of say €500 by gardai present at matches.

Totally disagree with your post.....

I was sat beside the director of a major US multinational from Chicago at last year's All Ireland final and he thought what happened at the end of the match with fans running onto the pitch was not short of spectacular......

In relation to the difference between it happening at a soccer match and a GAA match.... With GAA you are more likely to have been born beside a player from the team, went to school with someone, know his parents, play at club level with the lad or work with the him. With Soccer teams you'll find no little to no local representatives playing on the team. So it means more for a fan to be run onto a pitch and seek the player they know

[alonso]

That was a riot not a pitch invasion and the deaths were caused by a wall collapsing in a stadium that should've been condemned. I don't see the relevance other than to attack football, or sacar as you might call it

[alonso]

for the record I don't care about pithc invasions - do what ye like. I have an opinion on how dumb they are but i'll leave that aside. Tradition is tradition and if assault is a "tradition" then so be it

[The_SR]

Trespass: Can't be done for that unless the GAA take a case. And considering these people paid to get into Croke Park and are therefore there under licence I'd like to see that one in court.

So the GAA take a case....

If I pay into a nightclub I am not entitled into the dj booth or the womens toilets. Same premise applies. Welcome to Croke Park, stay off the pitch.

Breach of the peace: You'd have to prove people were alarmed, annoyed or disturbed by it. Who is going to take that action?

The FAI or IRFU take the action.

Not obeying Garda instructions: As this is private property, instructions would have to come from the Croke Park authorities.

So instruct

The only issue is health and safety, the rest is breach of a ticket-holder's licence to enter the stadium by doing something it is clear they are not allowed.

So do it on that then...

Football and rugby do all of the above because the will is there to keep people off the pitch. You run onto the playing surface, you are arrested, charged and banned. Simple as that. If the GAA want this practice to end, they end it.

€500k a year in claims should ring alarm bells....

[The_SR]

ah this old chestnut again... SR let the apes act like apes. It's none of our business

I actually think you are right.

The very fact that an outside observer is observing seems to galvanise them into closing ranks. Doesn't stop them coming out with the same tired anti-football nonsense though

Leave them to pay out huge money to protect their 'traditions' and hope to god a kid doesn't get killed.

[Iarmhi Gael]

=

Football and rugby do all of the above because the will is there ....

No they don't.... In Rugby you have fans invading for Club matches (Shannon, Cork Con, St Mary's - Even fecking school's cup)... Like GAA - You'll know the team. Be rared with them...

Provincial Rugby and Soccer - Fans do not know the teams as much as they would at local level. Bit like the Provincial GAA and I have never seen fans invade a pitch on Railway Cup day....

Please when you are arguing stuff - Try and state facts instead of making them up

[The_SR]

No they don't.... In Rugby you have fans invading for Club matches (Shannon, Cork Con, St Mary's - Even fecking school's cup)... Like GAA - You'll know the team. Be rared with them...

I don't necessarily agree. I have never been at a rugby game where there has been a mass pitch invasion.

Are you justifying the invasions on the basis the fans 'know' the players? All the more reason NOT to, you can catch them anytime.....

Provincial Rugby and Soccer - Fans do not know the teams as much as they would at local level. Bit like the Provincial GAA and I have never seen fans invade a pitch on Railway Cup day....

No-one there at the Railway Cup to invade the pitch....

Please when you are arguing stuff - Try and state facts instead of making them up

Here is a fact. Pitch invasions cost the €500,000 a year in injury claims. Is the tradition worth that money and the risk of a serious injury or worse? Any comment on the steward hospitalised with a dig last year at the hurling?

[JCR]

We have a GAA expert among us.

Just saying the stupid violence in gaa tends to be part of the game. I have a county medal in that cr*p because there wasn't much else to do where I was growing up, which I suppose explains the popularity of the gaa and why the team who win it every year win it (yawn). I Left the gaa behind many years ago because of its crass ignorance of its governance and a lot of its supporters. Calling games 'gaelic' because they are differnt to what the brits play is ridiculous. .

[Iarmhi Gael]

I don't necessarily agree. I have never been at a rugby game where there has been a mass pitch invasion.

Are you justifying the invasions on the basis the fans 'know' the players? All the more reason NOT to, you can catch them anytime.....

I'm saying that is why you do not see that sort of passion at a Soccer match in Ireland

No-one there at the Railway Cup to invade the pitch....

About same as an All-Ireland league Rugby match where they do come onto pitch to celebrate


Here is a fact. Pitch invasions cost the €500,000 a year in injury claims. Is the tradition worth that money and the risk of a serious injury or worse? Any comment on the steward hospitalised with a dig last year at the hurling?

You can get injured crossing the road after a few drinks - Does that make you stop. In relation to the steward. What do you know about it?.

[rockofcashel]

Well in fairness to the gaa the rioting tends to be restricted to the players, specially the fellas with the sticks and the hard hats..

Hmm, obviously someone with no real clue about this subject. Large scale meleé's at hurling matches (or schomozzles in GAA parlance) are much more common in football matches than hurling