Offaly Under 20s hurling 2024

[Lone Shark]

This problem began when it was decided to permit Nowlan Park to host the U20 final without knowing who would make the final. As soon as it became clear that Offaly would be in the final it should have been switched to either the Gaelic Grounds or Croke Park.

Not pushing for an allocation of tickets was a mistake, if that was the case, but I feel like somewhere along the line the wool has been pulled over our eyes. Thankfully I still believe that we’ll outnumber Tipperary fans, but the factor of that advantage will have been reduced.

I don’t buy this nonsense about the ticket demand being unprecedented. The dog on the street would have know that this year in particular, the demand for tickets from Offaly alone could have reached in excess of 25,000 without any other fans or neutrals wishing to attend.

Today has left a sour taste in the mouth of Offaly fans. Then again All Ireland Senior finals leave a sour taste in my mouth every year, when fans or, in their own minds, celebrities get tickets to the biggest games of the season despite having never attended a game previously.

The GAA has consistently mistreated it’s fans, especially hurling fans of late. They care more about immediate profiteering than the long term development of the game. In my opinion hurling is the greatest game in the world, but it’s being disregarded and undervalued by the organisation designated to promote it.

A people’s led GAA would immediately abandon Ticketmaster as a ticketing platform, with the GAA establishing its own platform. Fans would then receive points for every ticket they book throughout the year, allowing fans to build up points which gives them preference for tickets for finals. As things stand loyal fans are being disregarded and it’s simply inequitable.

Impossible to disagree with any of this. Very well put.

[private joker]

There be a lot more than 5k from Tipperary in attendance.

[JimBwobb]

The net effect of not seeking an allocation means the proportion of Offaly to Tipp fans will likely be around 20,000:7,000 in a worst case scenario.

What's your rationale for the 20,000:7,000 ratio even though Tipp clubs have about 5k alone?

Massive fuck up by County Board here, more than likely 50/50, Tipp looking for underage success given poor Senior run.

[joe bloggs]

There be a lot more than 5k from Tipperary in attendance.

I'd be in agreement with you.
This is their last big hurling day of the year. A bank holiday Saturday evening and just a stones throw away for many, there will be plenty from Tipp there. The chance to walk out of Kilkenny of all places with an All Ireland in their back pocket would be very appealing to die hard Tipperary hurling fans

No one has any idea how many of the ticketmaster tickets were bought in Offaly or Tipperary today, but we do know that the clubs in Tipperary got a sizeable chunk of tickets.

[allstar2010]

The net effect of not seeking an allocation means the proportion of Offaly to Tipp fans will likely be around 20,000:7,000 in a worst case scenario.

What's your rationale for the 20,000:7,000 ratio even though Tipp clubs have about 5k alone?

Massive fuck up by County Board here, more than likely 50/50, Tipp looking for underage success given poor Senior run.

Exactly, you’d imagine it’ll be much closer to 50:50 now. Tipp have 5k more than us without taking Ticketmaster into account. Major f up by county board, a lot of disappointed supporters it seems. These rumours are going around a few hours now of not accepting an allocation of tickets, if it wasn’t true they would have surely sent out a statement of sorts. Instead we got “unprecedented” and more tickets might come available! How?

[Anonymous1]

The net effect of not seeking an allocation means the proportion of Offaly to Tipp fans will likely be around 20,000:7,000 in a worst case scenario.

What's your rationale for the 20,000:7,000 ratio even though Tipp clubs have about 5k alone?

Massive fuck up by County Board here, more than likely 50/50, Tipp looking for underage success given poor Senior run.

My rationale is Tipp will do well to get rid of the 5,000 allocation so I can’t imagine there was anymore than 1-2k logged online and snapping up tickets earlier today whereas Offaly fans will have been logged on in their droves.

Two years ago when the tickets were sold on general sale only the proportion was probably 22,000:5,000.

[Anonymous1]

There be a lot more than 5k from Tipperary in attendance.

I'd be in agreement with you.
This is their last big hurling day of the year. A bank holiday Saturday evening and just a stones throw away for many, there will be plenty from Tipp there. The chance to walk out of Kilkenny of all places with an All Ireland in their back pocket would be very appealing to die hard Tipperary hurling fans

No one has any idea how many of the ticketmaster tickets were bought in Offaly or Tipperary today, but we do know that the clubs in Tipperary got a sizeable chunk of tickets.

There were 3,500 fans in attendance at Cork-Tipp Munster final last Friday night in Limerick and the majority of those were Cork fans.

There were no more than 1,000 Tipp fans in attendance.

[Anonymous1]

The net effect of not seeking an allocation means the proportion of Offaly to Tipp fans will likely be around 20,000:7,000 in a worst case scenario.

What's your rationale for the 20,000:7,000 ratio even though Tipp clubs have about 5k alone?

Massive fuck up by County Board here, more than likely 50/50, Tipp looking for underage success given poor Senior run.

Exactly, you’d imagine it’ll be much closer to 50:50 now. Tipp have 5k more than us without taking Ticketmaster into account. Major f up by county board, a lot of disappointed supporters it seems. These rumours are going around a few hours now of not accepting an allocation of tickets, if it wasn’t true they would have surely sent out a statement of sorts. Instead we got “unprecedented” and more tickets might come available! How?

There’s no way in hell Tipp are bringing anything remotely close to 13,500 to an U20 final in Kilkenny.

There was hardly a solitary Tipp fan in Thurles a week ago for a must win Senior game vs Cork.

[allstar2010]

What's your rationale for the 20,000:7,000 ratio even though Tipp clubs have about 5k alone?

Massive fuck up by County Board here, more than likely 50/50, Tipp looking for underage success given poor Senior run.

Exactly, you’d imagine it’ll be much closer to 50:50 now. Tipp have 5k more than us without taking Ticketmaster into account. Major f up by county board, a lot of disappointed supporters it seems. These rumours are going around a few hours now of not accepting an allocation of tickets, if it wasn’t true they would have surely sent out a statement of sorts. Instead we got “unprecedented” and more tickets might come available! How?

There’s no way in hell Tipp are bringing anything remotely close to 13,500 to an U20 final in Kilkenny.

There was hardly a solitary Tipp fan in Thurles a week ago for a must win Senior game vs Cork.

They were able to travel to OCP last June!!

[private joker]

There won't be 13500 tipp fans, I'd say closer to 7-8 k at least. Maybe more. Also I'd imagine there be 1500 tickets sold to neutrals etc. Alot of interest in this game .
The must win game in the senior? The dogs on the street knew cork were going to beat Tipperary. This is different. Tipperary are going into this to win.

[faithfulfanatic]

Exactly, you’d imagine it’ll be much closer to 50:50 now. Tipp have 5k more than us without taking Ticketmaster into account. Major f up by county board, a lot of disappointed supporters it seems. These rumours are going around a few hours now of not accepting an allocation of tickets, if it wasn’t true they would have surely sent out a statement of sorts. Instead we got “unprecedented” and more tickets might come available! How?

There’s no way in hell Tipp are bringing anything remotely close to 13,500 to an U20 final in Kilkenny.

There was hardly a solitary Tipp fan in Thurles a week ago for a must win Senior game vs Cork.

They were able to travel to OCP last June!!

One of the worst beatings Offaly have ever received, accompanied by an even more embarrassing feeling when Tipp fans would gleefully ask where all the Offaly crowd that had been following the 20s were.
We were well outnumbered in Tullamore that day.

[Anonymous1]

There won't be 13500 tipp fans, I'd say closer to 7-8 k at least. Maybe more. Also I'd imagine there be 1500 tickets sold to neutrals etc. Alot of interest in this game .
The must win game in the senior? The dogs on the street knew cork were going to beat Tipperary. This is different. Tipperary are going into this to win.

I suppose my point was hurling is on the floor in Tipp at the minute.

Now whether that ultimately aids the attendance on Saturday as Tipp fans want something to cheer or hampers it is anybody’s guess.

[Glendassaun]

It’s difficult to try and second guess the intentions of another counties supporters, but let’s take a look at some of the facts and try to reassure ourselves a little regarding the figures of Offaly v Tipperary fans.

On Wednesday last I again witnessed the entire county of Offaly, well close on 20,000, attend the Leinster final in Portlaoise. On the Friday evening I attended the Munster final in Limerick with a friend of mine, a good GAA man at that from Tipperary, where between them both they managed 3,400 fans.

What’s more, my friend wasn’t really aware or overly pushed about attending the game and could hardly fathom my investment in the game. In short, the Offaly public have a special connection to this team and this competition right now, so emotions for us are heightened. Tipperary don’t have that connection, because they haven’t needed it as much as we have. They’ve had very recent success at senior level.

Even with the allocation of 60 tickets to each club in Tipperary, close in on 5,000, I really struggle to see each of those tickets being sold. I don’t think there’s that level of demand amongst Tipperary fans to attend en masse as we do. Certainly not 13,500 of them. The higher ticket price, cost of such days out and perhaps a general poor feeling towards their hurlers at the moment is likely to add further to that.

Regarding the allocation, it’s likely that Tipperary county board knew that Offaly would sell this fixture out in a minute. We seem to be the only county capable of crashing the ticketmaster site for one. So they gambled, hoping this would lure the Tipp faithful into going along. My thinking is they will do well to sell 2,500 to 3,000 of them. Which could result in more tickets becoming available (best case scenario).

Also, if I were interested in marketing and taking random samples using social media to judge the interest in a product or event, then it’s blatantly obvious that the vast majority of interest in this game is coming from the Offaly side. Check the comment section under the ticket posts between Tipperary and Offaly.

Even if Tipperary fill their allocation of assigned tickets, which I doubt very much they will, and assuming they snapped up a further 2,000 online, that would still only amount to 7,000 out of 27,000. Offaly would therefore expect to still have over 70-75% of the crowd. Still more than capable of influencing a referee for those 50/50 or even 60/40 calls, which we have managed to do on occasions in the last two games.

I could very well be wrong, but I feel our desire to support this team will ensure that we again arrive en masse. We need this much more than Tipperary do and there’s no way that the Tipperary’s bond to their team is anywhere as strong as ours is to our U20’s. This doesn’t take away from the fact that the venue should ideally have been in the Gaelic Grounds and some questions need answered regarding Offaly’s lack of an allocation for clubs.

But I still believe we’ll be the ones with the numerical advantage in Nowlan Park. We’re resourceful, a little like the supporters of the Irish football teams of the early 90’s! Let’s hope we have our Giants Stadium moment in Nowlan Park at 7:15 on Saturday.

[Anonymous1]

It’s difficult to try and second guess the intentions of another counties supporters, but let’s take a look at some of the facts and try to reassure ourselves a little regarding the figures of Offaly v Tipperary fans.

On Wednesday last I again witnessed the entire county of Offaly, well close on 20,000, attend the Leinster final in Portlaoise. On the Friday evening I attended the Munster final in Limerick with a friend of mine, a good GAA man at that from Tipperary, where between them both they managed 3,400 fans.

What’s more, my friend wasn’t really aware or overly pushed about attending the game and could hardly fathom my investment in the game. In short, the Offaly public have a special connection to this team and this competition right now, so emotions for us are heightened. Tipperary don’t have that connection, because they haven’t needed it as much as we have. They’ve had very recent success at senior level.

Even with the allocation of 60 tickets to each club in Tipperary, close in on 5,000, I really struggle to see each of those tickets being sold. I don’t think there’s that level of demand amongst Tipperary fans to attend en masse as we do. Certainly not 13,500 of them. The higher ticket price, cost of such days out and perhaps a general poor feeling towards their hurlers at the moment is likely to add further to that.

Regarding the allocation, it’s likely that Tipperary county board knew that Offaly would sell this fixture out in a minute. We seem to be the only county capable of crashing the ticketmaster site for one. So they gambled, hoping this would lure the Tipp faithful into going along. My thinking is they will do well to sell 2,500 to 3,000 of them. Which could result in more tickets becoming available (best case scenario).

Also, if I were interested in marketing and taking random samples using social media to judge the interest in a product or event, then it’s blatantly obvious that the vast majority of interest in this game is coming from the Offaly side. Check the comment section under the ticket posts between Tipperary and Offaly.

Even if Tipperary fill their allocation of assigned tickets, which I doubt very much they will, and assuming they snapped up a further 2,000 online, that would still only amount to 7,000 out of 27,000. Offaly would therefore expect to still have over 70-75% of the crowd. Still more than capable of influencing a referee for those 50/50 or even 60/40 calls, which we have managed to do on occasions in the last two games.

I could very well be wrong, but I feel our desire to support this team will ensure that we again arrive en masse. We need this much more than Tipperary do and there’s no way that the Tipperary’s bond to their team is anywhere as strong as ours is to our U20’s. This doesn’t take away from the fact that the venue should ideally have been in the Gaelic Grounds and some questions need answered regarding Offaly’s lack of an allocation for clubs.

But I still believe we’ll be the ones with the numerical advantage in Nowlan Park. We’re resourceful, a little like the supporters of the Irish football teams of the early 90’s! Let’s hope we have our Giants Stadium moment in Nowlan Park at 7:15 on Saturday.

Fully agreed, I made similar points above.

Worst case scenario = 20,000:7,000 split.

Best case scenario = 22,000:5,000 split.

[Doon Exile]

A bit of communication would help. If Tipp clubs got 5k and supposedly TM only sold 14k then where is the other 7k tickets. Or did TM sell 22k?