Munster Council chairman Jimmy O'Gorman has expressed his disappointment at the attendance for last Sunday's Munster SHC semi-final between Clare and Limerick. The 28,603 attendance was about 7,000 less than what the Council had anticipated, and was in keeping with the trend of falling attendances nationwide. O'Gorman has now called on Croke Park to consider ways to tackle falling attendances in the provincial championships which he says have been caused by a combination of the economic downturn, increased TV coverage, poor weather and the All-Ireland qualifier system. "When we had the fixture fixed for Thurles we were looking at 33-35,000 people attending the game. But coming into the weekend we knew that was not going to be the case. We had sold about 16,000 tickets in Limerick but the sales in Clare weren't so strong," the Waterford man said. "So on Saturday our expectations were down to about 30,000. Maybe weather conditions didn't help with the walk-up crowd on the day of the game, but we were disappointed with the crowd. However, I was more disappointed with the attendance at the first round game between Clare and Waterford which was 17,500. "It is a worry because the Council has serious financial commitments to coaching and between part-time and full-time staff, we have 30 people to look after. We have to monitor this very closely." He added: "The challenges are there for the GAA. There are so many other counter attractions now, like concerts, like the Euro 2008 finals. But the GAA must promote their product and ensure that they have the best facilities. We need to get the people back - not alone in Munster but nationwide." Tweet

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