Alan Hunter on Liveline now

[reder]

In relation to the ticket prices in Croke park, i think €50 (the cheapest ticket albeit) is a fair price to be paying for a seat in a world class stadium with world class facilities. I had a seat in the south bucket - which are €30 - of that dump lansdowne for 10 years and I'm over the moon to be moving to Croker. You'll find that all other decent European teams charge at least €50 a ticket for matches so i don't see why this should be a problem - especially with our roaring tiger

This is typical GAA nonsense. I am not a GAA fan in anyway shape or form but given the fact that we were going to be playing there and I got offered free tickets for the game I decided to pay it a visit this Sept for the All-Ireland football game.

I am lucky to have visited stadia all over europe and found nothing world class about Croke Park. It an ordinary modern-day stadium. The terrace at the end is completely out of place and the atmosphere was very poor for 80,000+ people. I was sitting at the back of the centre of the Hogan stand lower tier and the view was ok but nothing special. If it rains at any of our games plenty of people will be getting very very wet. If Croke Park was truely world class they would have taken the irish weather into account and roofed the whole ground.

You cannot compare Croke Park to Cadiff, Cardiff is light years ahead in terms of look, feel and atmosphere and when the roof is closed Cardiff goes to a completely different level. The new emirates (another corporate wonderland), city of manchester, old trafford, stade de france and all of the german WC stadia are all well ahead of it.

Dont get me wrong Croke Park is miles ahead of lansdowne at the moment but im very sure Lansdowne will be well ahead when it is re-built.

As for the ticket prices, we (the fans) were always going to have to absorb the costs. I wasnt shocked when I opened the letter last week. The rates are in keeping with PL costs but are well above european standards. There will be plenty of spares flying about though, hopefully there will be a nasty atmosphere at the Wales game and the gaa-crossover type will run home with their tails between their legs and not come back again.

Also the tiger has roared for the middle and upper classes in the country, lionelhutz. Football is and ,(pray to god), will always be a working class game. I know 2 pensioners who have to put money aside each month to be able to go to ireland home games.

[lopez]

Does his group exist at all or is it just small and unrepresentative?

My first experience of this clown was Sky news in the nineties following the 1995 Tans game. He rang up saying that he was from the Irish Football Supporters Association (somehting like that and a take off the FSA). My ears pr*cked up as I'd never heard of this organisation, even though I was on the committee of the London RISSC at the time and been going to games for 14 years then. He suggested that England should be disallowed from hosting the following year's EC. Fair enough I thought. Then he said the tournament should be given to Ireland to host. It was then that the alarm bells started going off. Fair play to him I thought, but this was obviously some bloke taking the p*ss out of the English media.

Since then I saw him on the show mentioned by Owlsfan with Dunphy. He looked seriously scary and so deranged that I thought he was going to chin La Dunf. The photograph kindly suggests he's a danger if he's not topped up regularly with alcohol.

[bennocelt]

I am lucky to have visited stadia all over europe and found nothing world class about Croke Park. It an ordinary modern-day stadium. The terrace at the end is completely out of place and the atmosphere was very poor for 80,000+ people. I was sitting at the back of the centre of the Hogan stand lower tier and the view was ok but nothing special. If it rains at any of our games plenty of people will be getting very very wet. If Croke Park was truely world class they would have taken the irish weather into account and roofed the whole ground.

to be honest the Ga crowd are always mostly quite in croker, only really the Dubs that bring it to life

[Jerry The Saint]

given the fact that we were going to be playing there and I got offered free tickets for the game I decided to pay it a visit this Sept for the All-Ireland football game.

the atmosphere was very poor for 80,000+ people.

Maybe the atmosphere was poor because, as with all showpiece events in Ireland, it was full of people going for the first time on freebies with no interest in the game (like it could well be for the Wales game unfortunately...)

I agree the roof is woeful and unsuited for the Irish climate (probably due to some compromise with the local residents but one they shouldn't have given in to). Keeping the Hill as a modern terrace is a major plus point in my view and elevates the ground above other major stadiums around Europe (something that the GAA stood firm on when the residents tried to make it all-seater).

[Dazzy]

Keeping the Hill as a modern terrace is a major plus point in my view and elevates the ground above other major stadiums around Europe (something that the GAA stood firm on when the residents tried to make it all-seater).

Does Dortmund not have a giant terrace?

[The Swordsman]

Because of the historic nature of foreign games being played at Croke Park, there will a bigger demand for tickets than if the games were at Lansdowne and the FAI are trying to exploit that.

A lot of people I know who have never been to Lansdowne or only rarely go have expressed an interest in going to the Wales game.

If these people want to go, let them pay for the privilege. However, the people who have supported all along eg current block bookers should be given a better deal.

I've no problem with the FAI maximising their revenue from these games but they should remember those fans who will still be around when the glamour goes out of playing in Croker/Lansdowne.

When LR reopens, we can expect another huge demand for tickets and possibly more price hikes.

[John83]

Does Dortmund not have a giant terrace?

Yeah, it does. The stadium is only about 30 years old, so it's not some crumbling old relic either.

[Schumi]

Dortmund's terrace is roofed and an integrated part of the stadium whereas the hill in Croke Park is neither and looks like an afterthought to the rest of the stadium.

[Stuttgart88]

Dortmund is the football ground I most want to visit. I've formed the opinion it's probably the best football ground in the world from what I've seen on TV and from an aeroplane window on the way from Prague to London (bit trainspotterish I know).

I agree about Croker being over-hyped, but it is a fine stadium nonetheless. I haven't been to Cardiff but my mate says it's the ''Bang & Olufsen of football grounds''.

I think some people (Bertie included) confuse size with quality. Give me an Anfield sized and shaped ground any day of the week. The 2 WC grounds I was at during the summer, Cologne & Kaiserslautern, were both of that style. Dortmund the same, just on a different scale.

[Jerry The Saint]

my mate says it's the ''Bang & Olufsen of football grounds''.

Is this your mate?

[gspain]

If these people want to go, let them pay for the privilege. However, the people who have supported all along eg current block bookers should be given a better deal.

I've no problem with the FAI maximising their revenue from these games but they should remember those fans who will still be around when the glamour goes out of playing in Croker/Lansdowne.

.

Selling tickets in blocks of 4 does reward current block bookers. You've got a guaranteed ticket for the Wales game and th eother games. I believe the waiting list is sorted also.

There is no equivalent system in rugby or the GAA AFAIK. The odd rugby club or GAA county board may do a season ticket of sorts but no central one that I'm aware of.

There will be far more real Ireland rugby fans or real Cork hurling fans left outside the big games at Croke Park than real Irish football fans watching the Wales game on tv.

[The Swordsman]

Selling tickets in blocks of 4 does reward current block bookers. You've got a guaranteed ticket for the Wales game and th eother games. I believe the waiting list is sorted also.

There is no equivalent system in rugby or the GAA AFAIK. The odd rugby club or GAA county board may do a season ticket of sorts but no central one that I'm aware of.

There will be far more real Ireland rugby fans or real Cork hurling fans left outside the big games at Croke Park than real Irish football fans watching the Wales game on tv.

That may be true, but the real Irish football fans (ie block bookers) are facing a hefty price hike for the privilege. And if you think about it, it should be easier for the FAI, under their block booking system, to look after their most loyal customers.

[soccerc]

That may be true, but the real Irish football fans (ie block bookers) are facing a hefty price hike for the privilege. And if you think about it, it should be easier for the FAI, under their block booking system, to look after their most loyal customers.

So the most loyal customers are the real fans who block book?

Give me a break1

[Mento]

That may be true, but the real Irish football fans (ie block bookers) are facing a hefty price hike for the privilege. And if you think about it, it should be easier for the FAI, under their block booking system, to look after their most loyal customers.

soccerc already beat me to it, but what kind of pathetic statement is that??

[hoops1]

Dortmund is the football ground I most want to visit. I've formed the opinion it's probably the best football ground in the world from what I've seen on TV and from an aeroplane window on the way from Prague to London (bit trainspotterish I know).

I agree about Croker being over-hyped, but it is a fine stadium nonetheless. I haven't been to Cardiff but my mate says it's the ''Bang & Olufsen of football grounds''.

I dont know what to say
Except its like English but doesnt make a blind bit of ****ing sense.

[The Swordsman]

So the most loyal customers are the real fans who block book?

Give me a break1

Yes, they are the ones who shell out the money to go to every game.

Who would you suggest are the most loyal customers?

Mento - why pathetic? Please back up your statement.

[lionelhutz]

This is typical GAA nonsense. I am not a GAA fan in anyway shape or form but given the fact that we were going to be playing there and I got offered free tickets for the game I decided to pay it a visit this Sept for the All-Ireland football game.

I am lucky to have visited stadia all over europe and found nothing world class about Croke Park. It an ordinary modern-day stadium. The terrace at the end is completely out of place and the atmosphere was very poor for 80,000+ people. I was sitting at the back of the centre of the Hogan stand lower tier and the view was ok but nothing special. If it rains at any of our games plenty of people will be getting very very wet. If Croke Park was truely world class they would have taken the irish weather into account and roofed the whole ground.

You cannot compare Croke Park to Cadiff, Cardiff is light years ahead in terms of look, feel and atmosphere and when the roof is closed Cardiff goes to a completely different level. The new emirates (another corporate wonderland), city of manchester, old trafford, stade de france and all of the german WC stadia are all well ahead of it.

Dont get me wrong Croke Park is miles ahead of lansdowne at the moment but im very sure Lansdowne will be well ahead when it is re-built.

As for the ticket prices, we (the fans) were always going to have to absorb the costs. I wasnt shocked when I opened the letter last week. The rates are in keeping with PL costs but are well above european standards. There will be plenty of spares flying about though, hopefully there will be a nasty atmosphere at the Wales game and the gaa-crossover type will run home with their tails between their legs and not come back again.

Also the tiger has roared for the middle and upper classes in the country, lionelhutz. Football is and ,(pray to god), will always be a working class game. I know 2 pensioners who have to put money aside each month to be able to go to ireland home games.

i must say the level of sh**e written above amazes me. I'm way more involved in soccer than GAA so to disregard my opinion as GAA nonsense is idiotic.

And just to let you know, I'm earning minimum wage and scraping by so your tear jerking story about the two pensioners doesnt really move me. Its my choice as well as theirs to save money to go Ireland matches, and we do it cause we love supporting them so for you to make it out to be such a chore is bsh*t

[lopez]

Alan Hunter says: 'Get back to talking about me. My ego is on a life support machine now ya bunch a bowsies.'

[dfx-]

seriouslly though does he have any backing? did he self appoint himself? how did he get recognised by everyone else in the media?

I could swear that the first time I saw/heard of him was when RTÉ or tv3 went to the FAI HQ during Saipan to get a comment from the FAI to no avail and there was Alan just outside, draped in an Irish flag and so got interviewed..

[Mento]

Yes, they are the ones who shell out the money to go to every game.

Who would you suggest are the most loyal customers?

Mento - why pathetic? Please back up your statement.

no problem backing up my statement at all mate.

because you are a block booker does not make you anymore of a fan than anyone else.
Simple reasons - The block booking scheme has been going on for years, many a fan has missed the boat and has to get tickets elsewhere.
I have my own seats in lansdowne and so do some of the ejits who haven't a clue whats going on on the pitch (block bookers, true fans!!!)
the block booking scheme is a closed door with many people already guaranteed them tickets.
I am 28 and the only reason i have my own set seats is through someone i know. Without him, i AM, As you say, not a real fan.
What about the younger people who have missed that boat and dont have the luxury of a set seat. does that make them less of a fan than you?

Please dont be so condecending to the people who have to search high and low for a ticket for lansdowne raod.