WEXFORD’S GLORIOUS hurling summer has been soured with the news that the vast majority of its much celebrated supporters are going to be shut out of the senior team’s massive All-Ireland championship quarter-final on Sunday.
And those supporters have been warned to disregard the invitation to get to Wexford Park to buy tickets for the Semple Stadium showdown with Limerick – as the County Board simply won’t have any tickets to sell.
Wexford has been allocated just a paltry 2,000 Stand tickets for quarter-final duel – and that is despite the Tipperary venue holding a capacity of 53,500.
The problem for ordinary supporters is that the meager allocation from Croke Park must be distributed amongst the 49 clubs of the county.
And yet the board had orders from clubs for almost treble the number of tickets which have been actually been sent Wexford’s way.
Even before Wexford played Waterford last Saturday, there were fears circulating that much of the tickets for the Semple Stadium double-header – which also involves the clash of Tipperary and Dublin – had been sold.
But those concerns were initially allayed by Wexford GAA officials on Sunday evening, when they reassured The Echo that a more than satisfactory number of tickets would be coming Wexford’s way.
However, it emerged on Monday evening that Wexford GAA has only been sent less than 4% of the tickets distributed for the games.
Centra and Supervalu, the sponsorship partners of the GAA, are ticket agents for GAA matches, and they are understood to have moved a considerable amount of the tickets for Semple Stadium last week – well before Wexford or even Waterford supporters knew whether their dreams would extend beyond last Saturday.
But most of Wexford’s magnificent supporters, whose loyalty is often trumpeted by the Croke Park hierarchy, are now going to be turned away from getting their voices behind their heroes as Liam Dunne’s men seek to break further ground in championship 2014.