North-south relations took another blow at the weekend after disturbing reports from Navan. A broken ticket scanner was all it took to bring the simmering tensions into sharp relief.
Meath steward Ciaran Kearney told the Irish Examiner that he subjected to 'more than colourful and threatening' abuse as he tried manfully to process the season tickets while the technology was acting up.
He was forced to type the 15 digit card number on every season ticket into the scanner, a process which naturally took more time. This caused restlessness in the queue, to put it euphemistically. The crowd were not understanding about his dilemma.
A couple of sentences from Ciaran's testimony really stood out.
However there were up to eight fans in their 50s who gave us dog’s abuse, even coming in on top of us in the small style area. I have to say while there were Meath fans involved, the majority who hurled the abuse had northern accents.
Damning to say the least. The season ticket holders of Armagh had traveled down to Navan and didn't take kindly to being held up.
In mitigation, our own northern correspondent has informed us that Armagh people are known for being 'near militant in their demand for efficiency.'
