THE GAA yesterday confirmed the scale of the alarming dip in attendance figures from last year’s All-Ireland SFC, with the average figure per game down by 30 per cent.

The overall number of spectators that attended games across both codes fell by 18 per cent, but hurling largely held up its end of the bargain despite a reduction in the number of games at the latter end of the season.

While the total numbers attending hurling fell by 18 per cent, there were only 8 games compared to 12 the previous year, and the average attendance per game actually grew from 29,075 to 35,838.

Those numbers, allied to growth in the numbers at the Munster and Leinster hurling championships (which are not included in the central figures), reflect the outstanding summer hurling enjoyed.

By contrast, the predictable nature of the football series meant that even the introduction of the Super 8s at the quarter-final stage, which did create interest at provincial venues, couldn’t reverse the trend of falling supporter numbers.

Overall, it led to a 14 per cent reduction in gate receipts, which fell by just under €5m to a total of €29.6m.

The National Football League, surprisingly, also saw a small reduction of €200,000 in its income from gate receipts.

The GAA has recently come under fire for its decision to increase ticket prices for this year’s Allianz Leagues and All-Ireland championships.

Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna was the latest to defend the price hike yesterday, saying that the move was “all part of an inflation-driven economy”.

“I think the ticket prices are reasonable. The entrance prices for young adults and children are still very low. You compare them with any other activity, it’s still tremendous value.

“I don’t know if you’ll get a better value ticket on any other event. Cinema tickets have all gone up. Even the price of newspapers, TV licence, all of that has increased in the same period.”

Overall the GAA’s income for 2018 fell by 1 per cent from the previous year to €63.5m. The reduction in gate receipts was countered by an increased commercial income, which grew by 13 per cent, as well as a larger contribution by Croke Park stadium.

€41m was paid out to clubs, counties and provinces, although only 4 per cent of the GAA’s overall revenue was paid directly to clubs, split between 425 different units.

Of that, €9.6m was paid in Games Development Grant money, with Dublin’s controversial high levels of funding remaining virtually untouched at €1.3m.

That was more than the combined nine counties of Ulster, who received just under €100,000 less.

The All-Ireland champions’ Leinster neighbours Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Louth, Wexford and Laois are involved in the East Leinster Coaching Project and were all given more than €200,000 each, with only Derry and Cork from outside the province receiving a similar figure.

The GAA’s new finance director Ger Mulryan, who took over when his predecessor Tom Ryan moved into the director general’s chair, revealed that the 50-50 coaching model employed so successfully in Dublin would now become available to counties involved in the Leinster project.