Tipperary GAA

Tipperary GAA is third most successful team in senior hurling with the county winning 28 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships, including winning three consecutive titles twice, in addition to 19 National Hurling League titles, 42 Munster Senior Hurling Championships, and dozens of titles at under-age and junior levels.

In football, the county has won the All-Ireland Senior Football championship four times. Tipperary Ladies have won the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championships on four occasions.

Known as the Premier County or the Home of Hurling, Tipperary GAA plays its county games at Semple Stadium in Thurles, one of the country’s largest GAA stadiums with a ground capacity of 45,690 of which 24,000 are seated.

Challenge

Tipperary GAA partnered with Future Ticketing in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic when sports grounds were restricted for capacities on a game by game basis. Stadiums had to grant access to customers limited to 300 people but split by 150 customers per club minus 40 for players and management. The capacity was further restricted as a customer could only attend one event over the duration of a weekend. The immediate challenge was how to cater for these complex restrictions and in a timely manner.

Solution

These complex ticketing requirements were comfortably met by the in-built flexibility of Future Ticketing’s core software which was originally designed for horseracing, an industry which has some of the most complex ticketing requirements of any sport.

Inclusivity is a key value of the GAA where everyone should have access to buy a ticket. This focus on accessibility was delivered by Future Ticketing through its simple and easy customer journey in a few simple steps where supporters click their event, then their ticket type and finally make payment. In addition, fans could purchase tickets without a requirement to log in.

Value-added

The success of the partnership with the county team attracted the attention more widely across Tipperary GAA including North, Mid, South and West, who partner with Future Ticketing to host club games and regional finals. Future Ticketing has also fulfilled ticketing and membership requirements for Tipperary Camogie. This enabled the Camogie administrators to collect data on their players including clothing sizes for ordering for their county teams.

Future Ticketing also enabled the County Board to sell tickets for their Camogie semi-finals and finals, and other events such as the Dylan Quirke fundraiser match, the Meet and Greet with Santa, and the Santa dash.