GAA Tickets and Touting

The GAA Football All-Ireland Finals take place this Sunday September 19 in Croke Park.

The GAA would like to take this opportunity to remind all those hoping to attend the match that tickets should only be purchased from GAA Clubs or County boards. In addition to single match tickets there are a number of ways to legitimately obtain GAA All-Ireland Final tickets including qualifying as a GAA Season Ticket holder or by purchasing 'Príomh' membership. Full details on these schemes can be found on www.gaa.ie. Any tickets known to be purchased from unofficial sources will not be honoured.

Participation in the sale or attempted sale of a ticket at a price above the face value is touting. Touting undermines the right of all GAA members to purchase tickets at face value.

In September every year a number of tickets end up in the hands of touts, both the traditional 'street touts' and in more recent years with 'online touts'. The provision of tickets to these touts is contrary to the GAA ticket rules. Any person or group who is found to have supplied a ticket tout is immediately barred from purchasing tickets from the GAA for future fixtures.

Tickets reported as stolen or misplaced to the GAA are immediately cancelled and replaced. Any ticket identified as being in the hands of a tout, online or otherwise is immediately cancelled and replaced.

Any person wishing to attend a GAA match should always avoid purchasing from a tout as the GAA will not honour any ticket identified as being sold by a tout. All online tout websites selling GAA tickets are illegitimate and many are entirely fraudulent. Any person who purchases a ticket from a tout or tout website runs a high risk of not gaining entry to the fixture and will also be substantially out of pocket.

The GAA Ticket Office works to identify tickets in the hands of touts. There is also significant support provided by the wider GAA membership in identifying tickets in the hands of touts. Once a ticket is identified as being held by a tout it is immediately cancelled. If any contravention of the casual trading laws is identified, the Gardaí are advised and appropriate action is taken.

In summary:

• The GAA is resolutely opposed to ticket touting.- Any involvement in ticket touting will lead to a ban on purchasing from the GAA.- A ticket purchased from a tout is likely to be refused at the stile and the purchaser will be substantially out of pocket.