MAUREEN KELLY,
Sir, - No doubt I'll be considered naïve, but I had retained some vestigial belief in the GAA as a community-based organisation, still interested in promoting such values as family involvement and love of our national games among the young. The high moral ground adopted by the GAA in the recent FAI débâcle probably took me in too. We were reassured that the GAA would never - perish the thought - do such a thing as sell our national games for profit or deny accessibility to the plain people of Ireland!
But then try bringing a family of Gaelic Games enthusiasts - parents, four children and myself (the maiden auntie!) to Croke Park for a family outing to support their county team in the All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals. Never mind that these same parents bring their children, often inconveniently, to training sessions and matches the length and breadth of the county. Never mind that one parent, a teacher by profession, spends hours after school supervising training and ferrying other people's children to matches.
During the past week I've accumulated a catalogue of correspondence too tedious to detail with GAA representatives at national and local level in search of that rare species, the family ticket. Radio adverts announcing the availability of tickets from the GAA website and usual outlets (whatever they are) brought short-lived hope. Only adult tickets were available from this source, priced at €25. At that price, tickets for our family outing would cost €175 before we even contemplated transport and a bite to eat. Does this outrageous price promote family involvement?
Enquiries to two county boards were less than helpful - those of my native county and the neighbouring county where I now live. They didn't know anything about tickets except that they were forwarded to the clubs. Contact my local club, I was told. Would the club have family tickets? The respondent wasn't sure. At least at local club level honesty prevailed. Yes, there were some tickets for children, but expect to be consigned to sections of the ground where the chances were poor that either adults or children would see the match. So the choice was clear. Pay the
If enlightenment is the stripping away of illusion, then I've had a sharp dose of it this week. Enough to convince me that the G in GAA stands for the greed of the Grab All Association. - Yours, etc.,
Eden Court,
South Circular Road,
Limerick.