Former GAA president Sean Kelly has said there is “no necessity” to play All-Ireland football quarter-finals at Croke Park.
The GAA has attracted criticism for fixing a pair of round two football qualifiers and all four quarter-finals for headquarters for a variety of reasons, among them the cost of living crisis with fuel prices soaring and eye-watering hotel rates in Dublin.
A dismal 16,000 or so turned out for last Saturday’s Kildare-Mayo and Clare-Roscommon double header at Croke Park but the Central Competitions Control Committee resisted calls for at least some of the quarter-finals to be moved out of the capital.
It means that Derry-Clare and Dublin-Cork will take place at Croke Park on Saturday week with Galway-Armagh and Kerry-Mayo the following day.
Kelly, who served as GAA president from 2003-06, told Newstalk’s Lunchtime Live : “I think there should be the option for counties to play in Croke Park if they wish but, if not, a quarter-final to be played preferably home and away.
“I think the semi-finals and the final obviously should be played in Croke Park. The hurling quarter-finals are not played in Croke Park because, particularly now with the difficulty in travelling and the cost of accommodation, the cost of petrol, it’s not the same as it might have been before.
“Every player wants to play in Croke Park, I don’t think the players will complain too much, but the fans, it’s a difficulty for them.
“For instance, if you had a toss between Castlebar and Killarney, either place, whoever would win the toss, would be full and the same would apply to the other games.”
He added: “Travelling to Dublin is very difficult with the traffic, etcetera and then trying to get accommodation if you want to stay overnight, that’s very, very costly.
“It’s almost impossible to get it as we saw recently with the Kerry hurlers so things have changed dramatically in the last few months and I think, particularly in relation to quarter-finals, there is no necessity to play them in Croke Park, especially if counties express a desire to have them elsewhere.”
The Fine Gael MEP also pointed to the boost that taking quarter-finals out of Croke Park would give to provincial towns.
“Local businesses support their county teams. They sponsor local clubs, they sponsor county teams.
“In every game that’s played home and away, it’s benefiting local businesses in their particular county whereas any games played in Croke Park is only benefiting the business community around Dublin and I don’t think they really know or care too much because they’re going to be choc a bloc or full nearly every weekend anyway, regardless of whether those games are going to be there.”
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