Borris-Ileigh's Brendan Maher gathers possession. PHOTO: ODHRAN DUCIE

Tipperary GAA go all ticket and cashless for Club Championships

Tipperary GAA have joined forces with Future Ticketing to provide a safety-first, cashless ticketing arrangement for this year’s FBD Insurance County Hurling & Football Championships.

All club matches will be pre-sold only with maximum attendances set in accordance with government guidelines of 200 for matches on 17-19 July and 500 from July 20th.

Participating clubs and season ticket holders will be given priority access to tickets with any unsold tickets going on public sale via the Tipperary GAA website every Thursday on a first come first serve basis. 

Every Monday, each participating club will receive an allocation of 40 complimentary tickets for the team and mentors, plus 110 tickets which will be available for club members to purchase both online or directly from the club secretary.

Holders of Croke Park Club Plus passes, Tipperary County Season pass and Tipperary Concession passes will be given a 24-hour online priority purchase window in advance of each game to claim their ticket. Using technology which was perfected by Future Ticketing for UEFA Champions League and ERPC Champions Cup Rugby matches, Tipperary season ticket holders will be able to use their card to claim their ticket for one game only per day. To ensure full correct contact tracing information is available, Tipperary county season ticket holders and Tipperary Concession pass holders will be asked to register in advance for this service. 

On match day, all tickets from either mobile phones or print outs will be scanned using hi-tech laser mobile scanners at each venue. This ensures that full contact tracing information for all attendees will be available to statutory authorities, if required.

All data is controlled by Tipperary GAA, managed in accordance with best practice GDPR regulations with data processing and storage supplied by Future Ticketing and Amazon Web Services.

Announcing the new ticketing process, Tipperary County Board secretary Tim Floyd said: "We are really looking forward to having championship matches and welcoming supporters to all the grounds within the county. 

"Limited capacity means we have to make difficult choices and our priority is to ensure we can create as safe an environment as possible for all our supporters and to minimise any risk factors. By removing cash, we are reducing the risk of contamination and also minimising the dangers for volunteers on the day and in advance."

John Devane, chairman of Tipperary County Board added: "Limited capacity means that some people will be disappointed, but our system is designed to, as much as possible, facilitate our committed supporters. 

"Tim and the County Board have been working tirelessly in the background to source the safest and most flexible system available. 

"I would like to thank Ronan Burns and all at Future Ticketing for giving us the benefit of their software and also their experience which stretches from Champions League matches to the National Ploughing Championships, including ticket sales in 140 countries.

"This system also allows us to get money flowing back into our hard-pressed clubs in a speedy and transparent manner."

Ronan Burns, Business Development Manager at Future Ticketing said: "It gives me great personal satisfaction to be able to partner with Tipperary GAA in these difficult times. As Ireland's leading ticketing software company, our focus is on helping all sports to return safely and I'm thrilled to see my home county leading the field on this. 

"The GAA is about community and we consider it a privilege to work with the county board to help communities get back to matches in a safe and secure way.