Roscommon GAA’s explanation for €10 charge on ‘free’ buses unlikely to appease angry Dublin fans

Let's call this the Shaggy defence: "It Wasn't Me".

Roscommon GAA found themselves in a world of bother on Sunday morning when their plans to host Dublin in Dr Hyde Park came unstuck (in the mud). Due to throw in at 2pm, the Allianz Football League match was moved 60 kilometres north to to Carrick-on-Shannon after a ground inspection at 9am found the home pitch of Roscommon Gaels to be unplayable. Cue panic among Dublin fans who were on the one train bound for Roscommon town from the capital. It seemed as if hundreds of fans would be stuck with no way to Leitrim, until Roscommon GAA announced that they would be running complimentary buses to Leitrim for fans. Note the word complimentary. https://twitter.com/RoscommonGAA/status/716575946980139008 However reports then filtered through that some Dublin fans may have been charged up to €10 for buses to the game. https://twitter.com/dubsoulrebel/status/716604633901305858 https://twitter.com/Ultaigh78/status/716692002654568449 https://twitter.com/TheRealAmz/status/716637245432836096 Roscommon GAA was made aware of the allegations and promised to investigate how fans could have been charged on what was meant to be a free bus service. And late last night they issued a short statement that seemed to pin the blame on greedy private bus operators, and not the county board, who they say did provide a free bus service to some fans. https://twitter.com/RoscommonGAA/status/716730492696018944

"Following a full investigation Roscommon GAA can categorically state that no person was charged to travel on the complimentary bus service provided by Roscommon GAA," reads the statement. "Roscommon GAA has however discovered that other people hired buses from Roscommon to Carrick on Shannon. "We hope the matter is now closed."

We doubt the 49-word statement is going to do much to appease the Dublin supporters discommoded by yesterday's farcical situation. However at least one GAA fan saw the business opportunity. https://twitter.com/brucearva/status/716554418276143105 Besides, at this stage we should all know what a Roscommon GAA bus looks like.