Do children get free with adult into Croker ?

Santa Claus

Just wondering.
My nephew is 4 and I have stand tickets for the home games, so was going to bring him along but not sure what the procedure is in Croker, i.e. whether he needs a ticket or not to sit on my knee.
No point in wasting a ticket for him if I can bring my brother along aswell.

I know in Lansdowne you simply lifted small kids across the turnstile and no ticket was needed provided they were sitting on your knee.

Amz

You'd probably need to ring Croke Park to find out. I'd imagine they're more strict about it than they were at Lansdowne given the greater crowd capacity, insurance costs etc.

Scootay

I believe children need tickets.

prendy

they deffinatly do need tickets...check the back of yours for terms+conditions...i thinks its on there somewhere.

Stealdo

Here's the thing...if you phone them up and ask - they will absolutely tell you that he needs a ticket. Capacities are much more strictly controlled these days. However if you were to bring him along it would be down to the individual on that gate as to whether they let you in or not. I've seen people turned away from half empty GAA games with infants of less than 6 months and I've seen 5 year olds go through the turnstyles with parents.
There's no lifting anyone over the turnstyles in Croke Park because they go from ground to ceiling in the little booths.

juvenal

Hi Santa Claus,

I've stewarded in Croke Park for all events, GAA/IRFU/FAI/concerts, and under no circumstances does anyone get in without a ticket, especially on a day like Saturday where it will be close to a sell out.

As mentioned above, the turnstiles are from ceiling to floor, not like the old days where children (including myself!), were lifted over a single bar to get into the ground.

In this day health & safety dictates that everyone must have a ticket, so my advice would be to leave the nipper at home and bring the brother. The child won't have a seat, and in my experience isn't old enough for the game to keep him interested for the best part of two hours.

I've seen situations where there's been aggro between adults over a child who somehow got in without a ticket and the parent wants them to have their own seat, so it's not worth the hassle IMO. (I'm not suggesting this is what will happen with you)

Santa Claus

Cheers for that info Juvenal.
To be honest, my 4 year old nephew knows more about rugby than the brother so i'll bring him. He comes to a lot of club games with me and really gets into it, plus it's his birthday on friday so think he'll get a kick out of it.

juvenal

Santa Claus wrote: »

Cheers for that info Juvenal.
To be honest, my 4 year old nephew knows more about rugby than the brother so i'll bring him. He comes to a lot of club games with me and really gets into it, plus it's his birthday on friday so think he'll get a kick out of it.

No problem. I wasn't saying that he would cause a problem specifically, but I can't count the number of times people bring in children who have no interest in what's going on in front of them.

One of my earliest memories is of being in Lansdowne on 30th March 1985 for Ireland-England as a three year old, and it was great! So it depends on the child, you know yourself. And as you said, what a great birthday present!

Zzippy

Some of my best childhood memories are my dad bringing me into Croke Park and lifting me over the turnstile. Saw some great matches there, he really instilled a love of sport in me from those days.
Different story now though, not a chance of getting a kid in without a ticket for a sold-out game

Goodluck2me

Funny how times are changing, I used to be able to get lifted over the turnstiles at Selhurst Park watching Crystal Palace and at Old Trafford, but the only ground where a huge fuss was caused was Highbury where they eventually relented and we got in. I was about 16 though , no about 3/4 and I loved it.