By Barry O'Donnell
HUNDREDS of Tyrone fans fell victim to an administrative error on the ticket front at last Sunday's All-Ireland Semi-Finals in Croke Park, with several contacting the UlsterHerald to demand a refund from the GAA.
Red Hands supporters, who had paid for seats in the lower deck of the Cusack Stand, arrived at the turnstiles to find that their tickets had been duplicated, with stewards and officials at the ground hurriedly forced to accommodate them in others parts of the stadium.
The irate Tyrone followers were told on the day by Croke Park staff that the finger of blame should be pointed at their own county board, yet the Tyrone GAA authorities have hit back stating that it was the GAA headquarters in Dublin which should shoulder responsibility for the gaffe.
One supporter, who obtained his tickets through the Drumquin Wolf Tones club, explained what happened.
"We arrived at the ground with tickets for the Lower Cusack and when we went through the turnstiles the electric hand-held scanner picked up that it wasn't an authentic ticket. We found out then that about 200 or so tickets from Tyrone had been duplicated and the seats had already allocated to other supporters.
"Apparently it came to light when people with the ticket for the same seat both got in and had to call a steward over. It was then they realised they were both allocated the same number in the same row.
"A group of fans were told to assemble outside the GAA Museum at the ground where we would be issued with tickets for other parts of the ground. We were told that the problem lay with the Tyrone County Board who had evidently duplicated tickets by mistake.
"Eventually we got tickets for seats in the Davin Stand, right at the corner. They were nowhere near as good in terms of view as the tickets we originally obtained though obviously we still enjoyed the day with Tyrone winning their two matches."
The annoyed fan continued, " What I want to know is the Tyrone County Board going to compensate those people who bought tickets out of good faith for Sunday's matches only to be stuck up in the corner. And can they give guarantees the same problem won't be repeated for the All-Ireland Final.
" We were fortunate enough on Sunday that the match wasn't a sell-out so room could be found for the supporters elsewhere. But that won't be the case in the final."
However Damien Harvey, PRO for the Tyrone County Board, revealed that it had been a widespread problem on the day with other county supporters also affected.
"There were problems in all sections of the ground affecting Tyrone and Wexford supporters in the main. We applied for tickets, they came through the system and were printed out as is the normal procedure. It was an administration error in the Croke Park ticket office which caused the confusion, not ourselves. People unfortunately wouldn't have been aware they had duplicates until they arrived at the ground and tried to get to their seats.
"It wasn't just in the Cusack. It happened in the Ard Comhairle section as well, believe it or not; so it was everywhere. A few of the top brass were also shifted around apparently. It's definitely something they will have to look out for whenever they are administrating their ticket allocation next time around."
While Mr Harvey sympathised with those Tyrone supporters who were inconvenienced by the cock-up he didn't hold out much hope of them being recompensed for their problems.
"We wouldn't be printing tickets that are already out because they just wouldn't be on the computer system. They obviously administered tickets from the same section twice to different counties.
"All adult tickets in seated areas were ¤45 last Sunday, so there was no price difference in terms of seats for different parts of the ground. The fact that alternative seating was found means it's highly unlikely supporters will be compensated unfortunately."
