I've waiting until Wednesday to comment on a very serious incident(s) on Sunday. I believe there was serious crowd congestion on Sunday in Clones, added to the heat we were very lucky that nobody was serious injured. At the conclusion of the the Ulster Final the crowd started to leave the O'Duffy Terrace and the Hill, ( luckily there were thousands on the pitch). But there was no movement, instead people got caught in a bottle-neck- the crowd getting bigger and bigger on the road, but no movement. There was panic and it was frightening if you had small children. Some 20 minutes later when eventually we started to move - we realised that cars were permitted to drive up the hill towards the ground, thereby decreasing the capacity for the crowd/supporters to move through.....
In addition on leaving Clones cars were permitted to drive up the Hill/Main street of Clones which was packed thronged with people... My question is do we the GAA pay the Guards for attending these fixtures in the same way that soccer pay a contribution for Guards stewarding.....

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1676 - 20/07/2016 13:08:23    1886944

SamandLiamSoon (Galway) - Posts: 600 - 20/07/2016 13:14:10    1886948

I had exited the ground in the other direction, so wasn't aware of the crush until I was told about this yesterday. The person who told me had waited until after the presentation, so you would've thought that congestion may have eased by then. She said that it was an extremely serious scene, and that people around her were fainting. She was genuinely frightened.

Disgraceful that this should happen.

Thomas Clarke (Tyrone) - Posts: 1002 - 20/07/2016 13:29:42    1886966

No need for them. We don't have police in any grounds in the north and ive never had an issue. Always thought it was strange seeing guards on the hill dealing with trouble and wondering would there be any if they weren't there.

I find stadiums without police like the one in the north and Derry in the LOI get next to no trouble as they are marshaled by locals who know the crowd. Shouldn't that be the way of the GAA?????? Every Derry game in celtic park requires clubs in the county to put members forward for security. Proper order

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 20/07/2016 21:42:51    1887288

I wasn't there but have experienced similar before and usually the police are not to blame. Its the layout of the ground and exits. They don't have issues in stadiums that hold 100k plus so clones should have no excuses

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 20/07/2016 21:44:48    1887290

extranjero (Wexford) - Posts: 375 - 20/07/2016 22:00:30    1887297

Torcaill (Australia) - Posts: 204 - 20/07/2016 22:28:12    1887313

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5020 - 20/07/2016 23:21:19    1887344

I was on the hill terrace on " far side 21"
It was incredibly hot as any breeze was coming from town end so we were sheltered from any cooling breeze / shops were sold out of water before Half time

Entered the ground at 13.10 and were refused access to areas near 21 / 45/midfield/far 45 as these
Were full which was fair and controlled
I moved towards exit once gap was 2 points and watched final minutes over the wall near exit gate - but based on many years experience and rationale of stay And celebrate or leave quick and console

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 20/07/2016 23:58:13    1887352

We left from the hill straight after the match to walk towards supervalue. When passing the church quite of few cars pulled out to go down the road which I thought was madness considering the road was jammed packed with people.
No traffic should b allowed on the road especially after a match.

Donegal_Man (Donegal) - Posts: 37 - 21/07/2016 11:05:18    1887468

Won't happen at Casement ;-)

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 21/07/2016 11:21:14    1887482

s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5518 - 21/07/2016 11:31:11    1887489