The Impact of the Crowd

If anyone was watching American sports over the last few weeks, they would have seen the reintroduction of mass crowds to basketball and golf. Phil Mickelson was a fraction away from crowd-surfing his way down the 18th fairway of the USPGA Championship at the Ocean Course in South Carolina two weeks ago on his way to picking up his sixth major. NBA fans and players have been somewhat at loggerheads with regard to the ‘spirit’ in which home supporters have made their presence felt as the play-offs have commenced. Players have had popcorn rained down on their heads, a plastic bottle thrown at them, an unfortunate spitting incident, as well as one fan attempting to storm the court before being rugby-tackled by a robust security man. This is all slightly different to what we are used to in the GAA world, although many match-goers reading this were fortunate enough to have jumped the wires around Munster venues and Croke Park celebrating big Tipperary wins in recent years.

So how will the re-introduction of supporters impact hurling as we go forward?.......

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