Former Dublin All-Ireland winner Charlie Redmond has said that every county in the GAA will stand to benefit from Dublin playing two games at Croke Park during this summer’s inaugural Super 8 series.
The Donegal county board asked for a meeting with the GAA on Tuesday to seek clarification on how any county may use a ground as both a ‘neutral’ and ‘home’ venue with the first round of Super 8 games set to be played at Croke Park later this month.
In this summer’s Super 8s the two provincial champions meet and the two qualifiers meet in Croke Park in the first round. In phase two the round four qualifier teams have home advantage and the provincial winners are at home in phase three of the series.
The GAA acknowledged Donegal’s challenge on how a team, namely their opening round opponents Dublin, could play two games at Croke Park but the association also insisted that there was ‘nothing in Rule’ to prohibit a team from playing two games at headquarters.
Redmond, who won an All-Ireland title with Dublin in 1995, dismissed the notion that Dublin should not play two games at Croke Park and added that every county in the GAA stands to benefit from Dublin playing at Croke Park.
“Dublin will be the team in the Super 8s without a home game,” Redmond wrote in his Sunday World column.
“Your home ground is the one where the county board maintains the pitch, tries to improve the facilities for players and supporters, where all the county’s inter-county teams can train if they want to.
“None of that applies to Croke Park. All of the above applies to Parnell Park. Dublin choose to play their league matches in Croke Park to get extra money for everyone. The Allianz League receipts are divided by 32.”
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To Redmond’s point, the revenue generated from the extra tickets is not always divided up evenly between the 32 counties.
Dublin GAA have received €15,427,560 more than any other county in coaching and games development grants over the last decade.
The Jacks have not lost a championship game at headquarters since the 2014 championship and Gaa Hour host Colm Parkinson wrote in his SportsJOE column on Tuesday that it’s not fair that Dublin can play at Croke Park twice while every other team in the championship is permitted to just one home match.
“The decision to give Dublin, the best team in the country, two home games in the Super 8’s is shocking,” wrote Parkinson.
“It’s a decision based on money and could not have been made in the interest of fairness to players, which all governing bodies should ensure for their competitions.
“Since Dublin started playing their home league games in Croke Park it’s just impossible to argue that it’s not their home ground. It’s their home ground for the league after all. Are we supposed to believe it’s not for the championship?
“They play in Croke Park more than any other county plays in their own home ground. It’s home advantage. That’s a fact.”
