Jury's

[OnTheForty]

Anyne down in Jury's on Sun night? Bit of a fiasco from what I heard. Tickets had sold out for the main hall, but at around 10pm the place was empty as everyone was watching the Sunday Game so the hotel opened it up to everyone. Then hundreds of people with tickets arrived and were told it was full and not let in. As Jack O'Connor would say, there was a bit of skelping, the Gardai were called, and they even had the helicopter overhead. Any eye witness accounts? Heard it was crap anyway, too packed to get a drink, team only arrived at 1am.

[scout]

I was there ! was in the door for 10 o clock had ticket before i went .they were selling the tickets at the door at that time , one of the security gaurds told me at the end of the night that i would read in the paper what happened ...people with tickets could'nt get in there was about 2500 thousand people in there it was mental the riot police were called over the people outside the door ..que for the bar was mental never seen the likes of it ..team game at 1 o clock about 9 members of the team went on stage with the sam a bit disapointing when your waiting all night for them to see them with the sam ..was still a good night thou

[Jo90]

scout said:

people with tickets could'nt get in there was about 2500 thousand people in there it was mental the riot police were called over the people outside the door ..

2500 thousand people = 2.5 million people.
How many kegs of guinness did they go through!

[kerryman]

jo90 said:

scout said:

people with tickets could'nt get in there was about 2500 thousand people in there it was mental the riot police were called over the people outside the door ..

2500 thousand people = 2.5 million people.
How many kegs of guinness did they go through!

;D The bandwagon was bursting at the seams. If thats Jury's imagine the Inny Tavern!! If anyone comes up with a few photos of Sam Maguire in Dromid could they post them here?

[scout]

very smart this morning jojo 2 1/2 thousand people why bother posting with smart posts !!

[homerj]

i bought my tickets on friday and was going win loose or draw.i arrived at 12.30 and was there was 10-15 guards there at the front and side door. after standing there listening to people moan for about half hour, 4 of us went in the side door. IT WAS NOT PACKED inside. we got all our drinks at the main hotel bar with no trouble what so ever, which could have fitted another couple of hundred, there was plenty of room to move about. i saw about half the players and jack o connor was well merry, he was in flying form! from talking to the guards, they let people in at the door for cash without tickets(the glory hunting fans) and then when the people who had paid for their tickets days before(the real fans who would have turned up win, loose or draw) turned up later on, there was no way off being let in, they offered refunds, which was not good enough. it was bad management from the hotel and greed from the county baord, all they had to do was ut up a barrier at the gate. sean walsh spoke about it in todays indo, he said that they had sold 2500 tickets and fire officer only let in 2000, was there 2000 inside, i certainly dont think so. bad bad scenario all around.

[scout]

there was no problem getting a drink in the dubliner bar the main bar in jurys but the other bar was crazy , good few people left over the crowd ..county board made the best of 50k with them tickets..

[anciarraiodh]

Was just inside the door of the Dubliner bar and there was one very small and very light bouncer manning the door, not letting anyone in even those with tickets. He wouldn't let people in or out. Eventually they got a push on and about 30 got in. Then he got control again for about 5 mins until an auld fella decided he was going out for a cigarette. He didn't take any notice of the young fella and just pulled in the nearest two fellas at the door creating another rush. He opened the other half of the double door and a good few got in before the bouncers and about 4 guards arrived. There was no trouble and people were very well restrained considering that the debacle was none of their doing.

[passerby]

I was among the people outside Jury's on Sunday night. Two of us arrived at about 11 p.m. with tickets that had been bought earlier in the day, to find that nobody was being let in, with tickets or without. Things were quiet enough at that stage (I'd say they had just closed the doors) but as more people with tickets arrived and found that they were not getting in, they began to express their dissatisfaction to the hotel security people. The hotel staff said that the capacity of the venue was 2,000 people per fire safety cert, that the selling of tickets and taking of money at the door was all being done by the Kerry County Board and nothing to do with the hotel, and that their only role was the count (with a "clicker") the people going in, and when the number reached 2,000 not to let any more in. They blamed the County Board for having taken money from more than 2,000 people (they said the Co. Board was clearly informed of the limit) between people who paid at the door and people who bought tickets in advance. The people standing outside asked for someone from the County Board to come out and explain the situation, but nobody appeared - I don't know if they were aware of the situation at that stage, but they definitely were later on and still no senior official appeared to explain how it had happened or apologise to the supporters who had bought their tickets and found that they could not get in.

Crush barriers were loosely set up across the entrance and bouncers were keeping people out. As more and more people with tickets arrived, the crowd started becoming noisy, shaking the barriers etc - one or two attempted to get through. One guard who was on duty outside the hotel came in, other guards appeared later in cars. The crowd was told that a refund was being organised for anyone who had tickets. Eventually some Kerry fellow (about 30, I'd say) came out with a bundle of notes, and anyone who had a ticket and wanted a refund got their 20 euros back. People by then understood that they had no chance of getting in and began to disperse. By 12.30 or so there were very few there and we went away. I don't know what happened after that. There was a journalist there, who said she was from the Independent - I presume that is where today's story comes from.

A couple of points of interest:
1. Contrary to what is written above, no riot police were present, while I was there anyway (and by the time I left there was practically nobody remaining outside). It was ordinary guards, nine or ten at most, only about three big strong fellows that would pose any challenge to a person determined to get in. The number included several female personnel and student gardai.

2. The guards did their best to calm the situation and explain to people what had happened, and that the best thing they could do was to take their refund and go off and try to enjoy the rest of the night somewhere else. The bouncers, in contrast, made little or no effort to explain, taking the attitude "it's not our problem, talk to the County Board" but making no effort that we could see to find any County Board officials to explain the situation. It was only after the Gardai appeared that talk of a refund began - I imagine it was they who suggested it. When the crowd started getting noisy and rattling the barriers, and the one guard who was on duty outside the hotel came over, one of the bouncers made a completely false allegation to the guard that one of the Kerry supporters had hit him - the man had done no more than shake the barrier, neither he nor the barrier had connected with the bouncer. Luckily for the individual involved, the guard took no notice of this (all the other supporters around had immediately stood up for the man). Another bouncer had taken the ticket from one young fellow, balled it up and thrown it on the ground - he was forced by a guard to apologise to the young fellow and to let him in to the function by a side door. So, if the situation had become violent, a large part of the blame would have to be placed on the bouncers, who were doing nothing whatsoever to keep it calm and were actually undermining the efforts of the gardai to do so.

3. I have no way of knowing whether the fire safety cert gives the capacity as 2,000 or 2,500. However, the evening was fine, and many people who had gone in had come out the side door and were standing around in a fenced off area, talking, smoking and so on - several hundred people at one stage, more than those who were standing outside with tickets. This overflow does not seem to have been taken into account at all in deciding how many people to allow in. Still though, some people who came out said that it was mobbed inside, that you could not get near the bar and so on, so maybe we were better off not to get in...

4. The Kerry crowd was extremely well-behaved, considering that they were well entitled to be annoyed. Maybe it is a good job that it happened to Kerry supporters, in that most people who were there could expect to have a chance soon enough again to be present on the night a Kerry team has won the Sam Maguire cup - if Mayo had won and the same had happened at the Mayo hotel, there could have been war!

[FatTom]

thats a disgrace, great post by the way.

[kerrygold]

it seems that dublin bouncers have had a new demention implemented to their training to help them combat unrulely crowds.

apparently the gates of croker are thrown open every day at lunch time where large numbers of dublin bouncers gather,it seems they break up into bundles of thirty and march in huddels towards the empty hill 16 chanting and raving. They claim it builds up courage and helps them to focus.

[homerj]

admin, is there any comment from the county board on this scandle? do they realise that once again the real fans have been totally mistreated?

[tabbyie]

Was there but left at around half twelve. Just missed team. It was a good night there. Atmosphere was brilliant. Saw no guard outside even though crowd outside were very anxious to get in.

[JOAN]

I was there watched the sunday game and had a few. By 11.30 it was crazy. 30 mins at the bar but the hall itself was not packed. The bar was crazy. I went to the residents lounge where the team arrived soon after. Had a great night there

[passerby]

By the way, I have just noticed the advice given by Co. Board PRO Willie O'Connor in thw "Weekly Update" for 14 September 2006 on this site. He said "It is advisable to purchase tickets in advance to avoid disappointment on Sunday night." Well, many people who heeded this advice were still disappointed on the night. Since we have not heard any explanation to the contrary we must presume that this was due to nothing but greed - the approach being take in as much money as possible without any consideration of the consequences for the many genuine Kerry supporters left outside.

[isfearliomstar]

I was there also with ticket in hand that i had bought during the week in Tralee. Was looking forward to it very much and it was so dissapointing to be standing outside like cattle looking over a ditch. What kept me going though was the young cop with the big jaw. think he was jimmy hill is disguise. gave him a bit of a going over pat short style but it was in good taste and they took it well. And he was so far up the sargents you know what i reckon he could tickle his tonsills. Anyway the county board should get a rap on the knuckels for treating loyal supporters in such a manner. but sure somthings never change anyway