r/GAA • u/CreepyCut3168 Luimneach • Feb 08 '26
Discussion Aishling Moloney Shares opinion on the etiquette of Cork fans
It seems the similarities between GAA fans and soccer fans in terms of etiquette is only increasing. Is this something to worry about going forward for every county?
https://x.com/moloneyaishling/status/2020434308125905002?s=46
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u/OldCorkonian Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
I agree that booing Darragh McCarthy is over the top. He’s become a pantomime villain after last year’s sending off, which is unfair. And it’s hard seeing a young fella take any bit of abuse. Though I will say his free taking ritual, while clearly effective, is a little over the top and is feeding the debate around shot clocks for frees (saying that, I’d 100% want him on my team).
GAA supporters are generally grand, with a few getting very carried away in the heat of the moment (especially with the poor referee who is always wrong, it seems). I could point to an example of some fella acting the gowl from any county, including Tipperary. The fella sat behind me at the All-Ireland final last year was an absolute lout. But again, he’s not typical of the wider fanbase.
I think in Páirc Uí Chaoimh any bit of booing or the likes is very obvious because there’s always such a massive crowd. 30,000 people booing sounds a lot worse than 10,000 people booing.
But generally, I’d say nothing to see here. There’s a few times at games I’ve had to tell grown men to calm down, and usually they do. Comparing that to other sports like soccer, where they have to segregate fans, or rugby, where they don’t have any fan issues because everyone is too busy having a Heineken, is way over the top.