THE SAM MAGUIRE and Liam MacCarthy Cups will not leave Croke Park after the football and hurling All-Ireland finals, GAA President John Horan has announced.
Horan says that the decision was taken in light of the ongoing threat of Covid-19 in Ireland and the possibility of crowds forming with “extra social activity going on around the cups.”
He also stressed that the cups will be brought to schools and clubs in time, but that celebrations must be delayed in the interest of everyone’s safety.
“The cups will not be leaving Croke Park, they will be retained in Croke Park,” Horan explained on the Late Late Show.
“It’s our concern that the cups will be a focus of crowds gathering and extra social activity going on around the cups.
“We feel we have to be responsible about this.
The clubs will get to see them and the schools will get to see them in time, but we just feel that the way the country is and the way the pandemic is resting at the moment that it would be better that we retain them. There’ll be no homecoming for the winning teams either.”
Horan’s announcement comes as the All-Ireland SFC reaches the semi-final stage, with Dublin taking on Cavan while Tipperary square off with Mayo this weekend. Waterford and Limerick will contest the All-Ireland SHC final on 13 December.
There were calls in recent weeks for all panel members to be allowed attend the remaining games in the All-Ireland championships. The Government have since given the green light to that request, but Horan says that the GAA must remain vigilant as the championships come to an end.
“The county boards are aware of that and the players are aware of that and they’ve bought into it. We appreciate what we’ve got out of this. We got a championship. We got great entertainment.
I think it would tarnish anybody winning an All-Ireland if a big outbreak came within a particular area. We should learn from the experiences in England where Liverpool and Leeds had success and crowds gathered in big squares and [it] just wasn’t acceptable.
“We appreciate the privilege we’ve been given by the country to run these competitions and we have to take our guidance. You have to play ball with the authorities.”
“I understand where teams were coming from with the extra players coming in, but we got that issue resolved, the players will get to the semi-finals this week and the finals if they come up.”
