I see the GAA will spend €500,000 on fireworks for the opening game of the nfl in croke park.
Is it me or is this a scandalous waste of money to be spending in this economic climate
For jasus sake what message does this send to the grassroots of the GAA who are being denied grants etc because of lack of funding etc.
They should have just got some of the little scangers who live in the streets around Croke Park to source some illegal bangers left over from Halloween and get them to set them off. Much cheaper IMHO.
I was at this on Saturday night and I have to say that despite being against the notion of it initiaially I was really impressed with the whole thing. I left Croker entertained, uplifted and proud of our country and our association as did everyone that I was with. I know with the times the way they are it seems wrong to spend that money on one show but feck it, we can't go around keeping our hands in our pockets. Well done to all involved.
TheManFromFerbane wrote:I was at this on Saturday night and I have to say that despite being against the notion of it initiaially I was really impressed with the whole thing. I left Croker entertained, uplifted and proud of our country and our association as did everyone that I was with. I know with the times the way they are it seems wrong to spend that money on one show but feck it, we can't go around keeping our hands in our pockets. Well done to all involved.
I was at it too and I'm delighted I went. A good match and a really impressive lighting/fireworks show. Watching the clips of Offaly on the big screens really made me long for the good old days!
I was there too - great match.
Watching Tyrone's use of the ball and the movement of their players was a joy.
The way their forwards were ghosting from one position to another, showing for the ball, ducking back again if they didn't get the pass and dragging Dublin defenders all over the place.
It was depressing to from an Offaly point of view, as it just further highlighted that Offaly simply aren't on the same footballing planet at the moment. Dublin to be fair to them stuck to their task and managed to grind their way back when Tyrone left the door open for them.
The fireworks and lights were a great show. However if you were in the Hogan stand you wouldn't have got a great view of the ones coming from Clonliffe College as they were from almost behind the Hogan.
I would say that some of it looked better on television than in the stadium. It wasn't as obvious what lighting scheme was being projected onto the stadium when you in the middle of it.
I suppose the costs might be criticised, but on the other hand you need to show people that the GAA are top dog too. The GAA has always acted as a lightening rod for career whingers to moan about. It is no harm to remind volunteers of what a truly great organisation we have here. It is something to be proud of and to hell with the begrudgers.
I must say I enjoyed the clips. Darby's goal and the two goals vs. Limerick in '94. We also had Mundy providing some musical entertainment too.
They stuck an extra E5 on the admission price which covered the bulk of the cost. All other league games nationally were E5 cheaper than Dublin Tyrone. If they had not had the fireworks they couldnt have upped the ticket price as all GAA tickets are a set standard price in the NFL. The GAA going public voted with their feet and attended ensuring that this was the best sports event globally last weekend. The level of free PR generated by the whole thing also reflected very positively on the organisation.
The message it sends to grass roots GAA members of which Im one is that we have an association thats well organised (except for Cork!!) and able to celebrate positively our heritage.
