All-Ireland Final Sunday: By the Numbers

By Ryan Murphy

There’s a lot that goes into pulling off an All-Ireland final. Months before the sliotar is thrown in, a numbers game plays out behind the scenes, covering everything from crisps to cameras.

While the numbers on the scoreboard at five to five on Sunday will ultimately be the ones that matter most, there’s an alternative story behind the numbers of All-Ireland Sunday.

As the sun rises on Croke Park on matchday, the pitch team will already be hard at work, putting the final touches on a week of measuring and mowing.

6am – that’s the time Stuart Wilson and his team will begin cutting on All-Ireland Sunday, completing the ninth and 10th cuts this week alone.

The pitch is cut once a day and double cut on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the week of the final. It takes a team of four mowers approximately six hours to double cut the grass.

All throughout the team is measuring the perfecting. They look at numbers that detail the surface’s firmness, moisture, and traction – among other things – to tailor the lawn to GAA playing conditions, and studded boots in particular.

They will also lay down 30 litres of paint to line the field. It’s a double coat for the special occasion.

By 11am, most of the approximately 400 stewards expected to work the match have arrived. They’re all part of 3,000 total staff working the match day, split between catering, cleaning, security, and more.

There’s also a whole host of workers preparing to bring the action to those unable to be in attendance. Two TV trucks in the depths of Croke Park will bring the action to an expected peak audience of 1.2 million on RTE platforms alone. They’ll utilise 25 cameras, 30 microphones, and 6 kilometres of fibre-optic cable to pull off a roughly 2.5-hour broadcast.

And that’s not even including the Warm-Up Show, which will also be streamed globally via GAA.ie/thewarmup on Facebook Live, YouTube and on the @OfficialGAA channels beginning at 2pm.

By that time, stiles will be open, and a capacity crowd of 82,300 will be flowing through the gates. The full house would make Croke Park the seventh-largest municipality in Ireland, with a larger population than eight counties.

Programmes in hand, the crowd will also be sure to grab a snack. They’ll pick up 25,000 soft drinks and bottles of water, 18,000 portions of chips, 10,000 chocolate bars, and 3,500 packets of Tayto crisps from 78 public concessions units and 4 public bars.

The number of seagulls hoping to get a bite will be impossible to count.

The crowd will also go for a burger – or 10,000, to be exact, all part of the 2.5 tonnes of Irish beef expected to be consumed over the course of the hurling and football finals. 1,000 catering staff will ensure the process goes smoothly – and tastily.

All that activity will surely create a lot of waste. Sunday expects to generate 20 tonnes of waste at Croke Park, all of which will be recycled, reused, or recovered. For instance, the 140kg of coffee grounds used across both finals will be kept and utilised as compost at the Croke Park turf farm.

Some of the 500m3 of water used will be sustainably sourced, too. Croke Park collects 1.5 million litres of rainwater from its massive roof, storing it in tanks installed by the GAA this year behind Cusack Stand. The water will help hydrate the pitch and flush toilets in parts of the stadium.

The action will also surely generate revenue. For every euro spent, 82 cents is reinvested by the GAA into the development of the Association across clubs, schools, counties, and provinces.

When the 32 members of the Artane Band strike up the tune, all these figures will fade to the background. The only numbers that will matter then are the 70 minutes on the clock -- and the 26, 1.8mm thick gold medals that await the winners when time runs out.