MUNSTER SHC SEMI-FINAL:SATURDAY'S MUNSTER hurling semi-final replay between Waterford and Limerick in Thurles will not be broadcast on television (though it will be streamed on www.rte.ie/live) because of fixture congestion and the Munster Council's unwillingness to move the match to the mid afternoon.
The five o’clock start means that the hurling will clash with the Connacht football semi-final between Mayo and Roscommon, which is being televised live on RTÉ.
“The match is scheduled for five o’clock,” according to the provincial council’s press officer, Jim Forbes, “and couldn’t be shown on television unless it was brought forward to around three o’clock.
“We weren’t prepared to do that, as we don’t believe that’s a suitable time to start a match with all of the extra traffic around on Saturdays.”
Just last Saturday congestion around Páirc Uí Chaoimh caused the Garda to request the start of the Cork-Kerry replay throw-in be delayed for 20 minutes.
According to Forbes, the problem was the familiar one of latecomers to the stadium as well as an attendance that exceeded by 50 per cent the anticipated crowd.
“The problem was that people arrived late,” he said. “To give you an idea, if you’re putting people with tickets through a turnstile it takes an hour to admit 750. If you’re taking cash that number goes down to 500. We had 39 stiles open on Saturday from about 3.45, an hour-and-a-quarter before the start.
“That would mean roughly 20,000 in an hour, which was roughly the number we were expecting, so even allowing for ticket holders we needed a far better spread of people arriving. Instead, people came late and the reason was traffic congestion.
“One man bought four tickets from one of the vans at 5.25, which would have meant he’d have missed virtually the entire first half had it not been put back.
“Cork was very busy on Saturday. In addition to normal traffic there was a mid-summer festival. We looked at the idea of staging a curtain-raiser, but the only fixture we could have put on would have been a local championship game, which wouldn’t have attracted very many.”
Forbes also spoke about the incident complained about by Waterford manager David Fitzgerald, who alleged his son was prevented from accompanying his father into the match in Thurles with the team.
“Davy spoke to me on the way into the media interview room. It was a grand, amicable discussion and he made his points.
“I said to him: ‘Davy, I have your side of it, we’ll get the other and we’ll try and sort it out to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Asked was it customary for children to be part of team entourages, Forbes said that it was unusual.
“As far as I’d be concerned it’s the first time that I’d seen a youngster on a senior bus.”
He also believed the matter would be resolved before the replay.
“Well, we’ll have to look at it and come to a solution. Hopefully, we’ll come up with something before Saturday.”
