Should Replays Mean Reduced Admission Charges?

Wednesday 21.09.2011

Club

With four underage finals and the senior and intermediate replays planned for the weekend there is no shortage of club action for supporters to get their teeth into. The big games of the weekend of course are the three senior replays and there is sure to be lots of interest in those both within Tyrone and further afield. We intend to carry live updates on all four of these matches so if you are unable to make the fixtures for whatever reason don’t worry because as long as you have internet access you will be able to follow the games score by score and blow by blow on www.teamtalkmag.com.

Considering that these games are of course replays and the present difficult economic conditions being experienced by many followers of Gaelic games throughout the county, would it be too much to ask for a reduced admission charge to each of the double headers? Both venues will probably attract quite a large crowd but wouldn’t it be a magnanimous gesture for those in charge of organising the fixtures to say to the Tyrone public that the games at the weekend will have a reduced admission fee of four or five pounds. The precedent has already been set earlier in the year when the Ulster Council reduced admission charges for some of their games realising that many of their patrons were finding times quite difficult. Those games of course were not even replays so in these particular circumstances a small discount would be seen as a huge gesture and would be the right thing to do.

I realise the county committee needs a steady income stream and is heavily dependent on club championship matches for their income. However these games are a bonus to the treasurer and if such a decision was taken, and properly publicised it could prove to be a very popular and might even result in a much larger attendance than hoped for. Higher attendance= more money, so everybody wins.