John Mullane rages at All-Ireland final ticket hike – ‘It will price a certain class of people out of going to games’

This latest increase, which the GAA has said will help to fund a rise in club grants, means that All-Ireland final tickets have risen significantly in recent times having jumped from €80 to €90 in 2019 before another €10 hike this year for a stand ticket.

Terrace tickets (Hill 16/Nally) have also risen from €50 to €55 and Mullane fears that the GAA is starting to lose the inclusivity that makes it special, especially amid a condensed season with huge costs involved for supporters.

“My only fear is and I hope we don’t go down this route because GAA is for everyone,” Mullane said on the latest episode of Irish Independent Throw-In podcast.

“It doesn’t matter what class of people you are, the GAA is inclusive for everybody and I just hope that we’re not going down the road of pricing a certain class of people out of going to games and a certain class can go to games.

“The Munster final at the weekend is €45 and I think that’s great value considering what type of match we’re going to get. The Leinster final and Joe McDonagh Cup final is €40 and that’s very good value.

“But there’s the potential that Clare and Limerick could again meet in the All-Ireland final in six weeks’ time so you’re paying €45 in to go and watch 30 amateur men run around the field and put on an unbelievable occasion.

“I keep going back to it, it’s all about the players. Without the players, we have nothing. On the off chance that Clare and Limerick are to meet again in the final, how can you justify having the price where you have to pay an extra €55 to watch the same amateur sportsmen run around the field and play the exact same match?

“And probably, we mightn’t get as good of a match as we will this weekend. I’m just scratching my head and they’re going to have to look at it with this condensed season because there’s only a certain amount of income that comes into a household per month.

“In the past, you had the luxury of going to a game and you have another three or four weeks to save up and target going to the next game but you don’t even have that now.

“And that’s why we’re seeing empty seats around stadiums, which was highlighted with the Dubs in the football in Croke Park against Roscommon where there was only 12,000 there.

“The Dubs are no different than us culchies down the road, they had the game against Louth and a couple of other games in the Leinster championship and they were probably feeling it in the pocket.”

Mullane, a five-time All-Star during his playing days, cannot understand the GAA’s “more, more, more” approach and he reckons that they need to take a leaf out of the FAI’s book.

“Why do we keep going back to it? It’s more, more, more. Increase, increase, increase, why is there never a decrease? I can never understand that. There’s never ‘give something back to the normal GAA fan’,” he said.

“You look at the FAI Cup final, that’s €20 for a ticket and that’s semi-professional and some of the teams are professional. We’ve an amateur body and we’re going charging an astronomical amount of money, €100.

“My fear is that we’re going to price a certain class of people out of going to these games and I fear that going forward. I would never, ever like to see that happening within the GAA.”

Similarly, Kilkenny icon Eddie Brennan is adamant that Croke Park must start enforcing different prices for different vantage points at GAA HQ while he feels families are missing out most in this latest ticket hike.

“If you look at the Aviva [Stadium], I think there’s three categories of tickets and the GAA has to look at it that way. If you’re bringing two of your kids with you to an All-Ireland final, that’s 300 bucks,” Brennan said.

“If you’ve five or six in the family, that’s a lot of twine before you even put a drop of diesel in the car, before you decide you’re going to stay over, before you get a bit of food, match programmes, any of the trimmings.

“To go to an All-Ireland final now is almost out of reach for a lot of families and you want kids to experience that, but I definitely have a huge thing about categorising the prices.

“If you’re caught on the front row down in line with the sideline in the Davin End and you have lads that are up in the double letters in 332 or 333 and they have a beautiful view of the pitch, there’s no way you should be paying the same price.

“The price needs to be categorised and at least then you can make your decision and if the rich man gets the better ticket then so be it, but at least you’re making it accessible for everybody.

“I would also fear OK it’s gone to the ton now, when is it going to go up another little bit? At a time when we’re all cribbing about GAAGO, they turn around and slap a hike on the tickets and that’s frustrating people.

“I guarantee you there’s a lot of people that if their county get to the All-Ireland this year that there’s going to be a lot of disappointed kids at home.”