It was announced last week that the GAA would raise the ticket prices for this year's All-Ireland Gaelic football and hurling finals, with tickets now set to cost up to €100 for each game.
The price hike was the first since 2019, with stand tickets rising in price from €90 to €100. Terrace tickets are set to go from €50 to €55.
The move has been criticised in many quarters, with some feeling this puts an added pressure on GAA fans in the midst of a cost of living crisis.
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GAA: John Mullane spoke sense on All-Ireland final ticket price hike
While many GAA supporters will be able to justify a one off payment for an All-Ireland final, this is the latest added expense for fans to go along with added fixtures in the Gaelic football championship. Those Sam Maguire round robin games have registered largely disappointing attendance figures, understandable when you consider the lack of jeopardy in many matches.
Speaking on Irish Independent's The Throw-In podcast, former Waterford star John Mullane said that he fears this move from the GAA will only serve to price many supporters out of the sport.
My only fear is and I hope we don't go down this route because GAA is for everyone.
It doesn't matter what class of people you are, the GAA is inclusive for everybody and I just hope that we're not going down the road of pricing a certain class of people out of going to games and a certain class can go to games.
The Munster final at the weekend is €45 and I think that's great value considering what type of match we're going to get. The Leinster final and Joe McDonagh Cup final is €40 and that's very good value...
On the off chance that Clare and Limerick are to meet again in the [All-Ireland] final, how can you justify having the price where you have to pay an extra €55 to watch the same amateur sportsmen run around the field and play the exact same match?
And probably, we mightn't get as good of a match as we will this weekend. I'm just scratching my head and they're going to have to look at it with this condensed season because there's only a certain amount of income that comes into a household per month.
An increased number of fixtures and a hike in ticket prices is certainly putting quite a bit of pressure on GAA supporters, many of whom are opting to stay away from certain games as a result.
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