A STATEMENT issued from Croke Park yesterday (see below) has apologised to spectators and the Dublin and Kilkenny hurlers for the disruption to Sunday's Leinster hurling semi-finals which caused the suspension of the first match.

It goes on to explain that the mass movement of around 4,000 spectators from the New Stand to the Hogan Stand was a deliberate response to over-crowding at the New Stand and was retrospectively approved by safety authorities at a meeting yesterday.

"We had a choice of closing the stiles completely," according to GAA Director General Liam Mulvihill, "or allowing people to enter and filter them across the pitch. It was felt the latter was a better way of dealing with it."

The problem had its origin in a failure to anticipate the large attendance that turned up for the two matches. Matches are generally not designated all-ticket unless an 80 per cent attendance is expected. Croke Park authorities had been banking on a turnout of around 35,000. The previous record for the semi-finals was 31,000.

A major factor was the Leinster Council's promotion of free entry for children under-14. Slightly over 10,000 - overwhelmingly children but also around 800 OAPS - of those present had gained free admission to the ground.

One of the reasons that the authorities had so underestimated the crowd was that tickets available for pre-match purchase had sold less than 6,000 during the week leading up to the match. Sources in Croke Park were also anxious to point out that after the overflow crowd had been accommodated in the Hogan Stand, it still wasn't near capacity with around 2500 seats vacant as well as around 1200 in the adjacent Nally Stand.

In relation to the scenes of people clambering over fencing at the Hogan Stand, Liam Mulvihill had this to say:

"The reason why some young people scrambled over fences was that when they were being led up, they were told they were being given seats on the Hogan Stand side of the ground and that there were plenty of seats. There was no danger that everyone would not be accommodated.

"The problem was some people I believe didn't believe they were going to be given seats and were afraid that they were going to be taken to one of the terraces. They started to take the law into their own hands when they saw empty seats in the stand and tried to take a short cut.

"I suppose this was understandable, but nobody was injured in the exercise."

According to Croke Park event controller Ciaran O'Neill, one of the considerations against shutting out the crowd from the New Stand was that some families had become separated. "There were children outside and parents inside and vice versa. The decision to move the crowd across the pitch was deliberate as there was plenty of room in the Hogan, so we terminated ticket sales on Jones's Road. Everyone ended up with a seat."

Crowd distribution on Sunday was: Hill 16, 6,535; Canal End, 5,621; Nally Stand, 976; New Stand, 25,434; Hogan Stand, 13,513. Of all the sections, the New Stand was the only one to reach capacity, the first time in its two-year history that it has been full at a non-ticket match.

Commenting on the lessons of the afternoon, O'Neill said: "Free entry for juveniles has to be revised, but we'd be happy to take a look at other areas where this might continue - there was still room for 12 or 13,000 more in the ground on Sunday. Stands will have to be increasingly all-ticket."

Asked about the delay in issuing the statement, he said: "Experience has taught that one doesn't meet in the heat of the moment. We re-appraised the whole situation this morning. Even our most ardent critics would admit that the right decisions were taken."