Meath fans have taken to social media to express their disquiet at safety issues in Croke Park at yesterdays Tailteann Cup semi final against Antrim.
The website, hoganstand.com , saw posters list a number of issues including the fact that there was only one toilet unit open on the Hogan Stand and that seating was unreserved.
One wrote, ‘What went on yesterday was nothing short of reckless from the GAA & Croke Park officials. I actually felt sorry for the stewards trying to manage the situation.
‘Unreserved seating for a double header is a non runner when people move around & go to toilets or convenience stalls between games.
Then to close some of the toilets just pushed more crowds onto already full pressure points.
‘As someone there with small kids it was very dangerous at the time between both games.’
Another said, ‘I was there yesterday and it was a mess.
‘The unreserved seating was a shambles. As soon as the first match was over you had lots of the Meath/Antrim crowd leaving, you had people only coming in at that stage for the second match and you had people who were stuck in the Canal who were trying to get around to the vacated seats in the lower Hogan for a better seat.
‘They all converged on the one concourse at the same team all trying to move in different directions, and then you had people queuing for toilets and food/drink blocking the way for thousands of people.
‘A mess, and as you say, lucky people weren’t hurt.’
GAA president Larry McCarthy has said the association will investigate the issues.
“No I wasn’t witness to anything,” McCarthy told RTE Radio. “You’re right I was there, one brilliant game, one not so great game. But I mean there was 17,500 people there in an 82,000 seat stadium so its difficult to see how there was congestion.’
