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You are > Home > Let rugby use Croker to help finance our own McHale Park
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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Let rugby use Croker to help finance our own McHale Park
By: John O'Mahony
As the emphasis moves from the playing of games on the pitches, the focus last week switched to their use – in the case of Croke Park, and to their funding – in the case of Mayo’s new GAA headquarters, McHale Park.
Firstly, when the Leinster Council met to fix venues for next years provincial games, they reduced the amount of games to be played in Croker. This was due primarily to the fact that the crowd for Croke Park needs to be up on forty thousand in order to make it profitable/viable. In addition to financial considerations, an attendance of anything less than forty thousand creates a poor atmosphere for the teams whereas the same attendance at a smaller venue is both intimate and inspiring.
The only Leinster hurling championship game that will take place at headquarters will be the final. There are also more of the football games down the country, the most notable being the Longford/Dublin fixture in Pearse Park. The upshot of all this will be that the biggest stadium in the land will be used for GAA games less than in previous years. The last match played there was the Ladies All-Ireland final and it won’t be used again until All-Ireland club final day, the latter taking place there more for its tradition, rather than the potential size of the crowd. The next major games of note will perhaps be the League finals, if the teams involved are big crowd pullers. Therefore, it may be said that there are only three significant fixtures from the beginning of October until early June.
This issue was brought into the spotlight the weekend before last when a fire at Lansdowne Road reduced the capacity for the All-Blacks match by seven and a half thousand. When it emerged that much remedial work needs to be carried out to make the damaged terrace safe for upcoming matches, the possibility has been mooted of using Croke Park for the home six nations rugby internationals in the Spring.
The motion passed at last year’s congress restricted the use of Croke Park for rugby and soccer internationals to the period of redevelopment at Lansdowne. However the substantial costs facing the IRFU for remedial work on the stadium in the short term, as well as the lost revenue (E500,000) resulting from the reduced capacity for the All-Blacks, Australia and Romania games, leaves both the IRFU and the GAA with a more sensible and financially astute choice, namely the negotiation of the use of Croke Park for the home six nation fixtures. This would mean increased revenue for both organisations as well as greater use for our national GAA stadium. Technically it could also be argued that the re-development of Lansdowne Road has already begun with damage done to the North Terrace. It would seem ludicrous to spend thousands repairing the affected area only to demolish it within the year.
All of this came to mind when I attended my local club meeting on Thursday night and was greeted with a document effectively telling the club that it is being levied with a bill of €6000 per annum for the foreseeable future to help pay for the re-development of McHale Park Castlebar, which was acquired by the county board earlier in the summer. The process for a club raising the money is by selling ‘prize draw’ tickets to supporters with all of the proceeds, up to a certain amount, going to the county board. This came as a major shock to club members as it was clearly stated by those in authority when McHale Park was purchased that it would have no fundraising implications for the clubs.
There is of course a link between events in Croke Park and McHale Park. There is now an ideal opportunity for additional funding to be earned by the GAA which, were it to be added to the normal grants from headquarters, would lessen the burden, firstly, on the county board who would then have to extract much less from the club units who find it a constant struggle to meet their own increased costs. This is a classic case of the need and opportunity for movement of finance from the top down, rather than the constant demands for money from the grassroots up, who are constantly being hit.
This was one of the major selling points by those in favour of the abolishment of Rule 42 in advance of last year’s congress. We are now getting close to a situation where there needs to be delivery on the promises. The alternative for Mayo is the plan that was passed by the delegates last week which, as it stands, will see clubs contributing E250,000 per annum. If that were to last for ten years, for example, it would mean E2.5 million. Mickey Moran has a big challenge trying to restore the county’s fortunes on the field but the challenge facing Paddy Naughton and his executive, together with the clubs, is arguably just as great.
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The 2005 All-Star football team will be announced at the annual Gala banquet in City West Hotel on Friday night. In this column I had a stab at picking the team a few weeks before the All-Ireland final was played. Two factors need to be taken into consideration since then – namely, Tyrone are All-Ireland champions and two of the players that I chose, namely David Heaney of Mayo and Padraic Clancy of Laois were not nominated.
I will have another attempt now, to compare later with the official All-Star team of 2005. For the record, the team I chose in early September was Paul Hearty, Ryan McMenamin, David Heaney, Aiden O’Mahony, Tomás O Sé, Anthony Lynch, Conor Gormley, Padraic Clancy, Sean Cavanagh, Ross Munnelly, Brian McGuigan, Stephen O’Neill, Stephen McDonnell, Paddy Bradley, Colm Cooper.
Taking the nominations and the All Ireland into the equation I think they will line up something like this: Paul Hearty (Armagh), Ryan Mc Menamin (Tyrone), Mick McCarthy (Kerry), Andy Mallon (Armagh), Anthony Lynch (Cork), Conor Gormley (Tyrone), Phillip Jordan (Tyrone), Darragh O Sé (Kerry), Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone), Brian Dooher (Tyrone), Brian McGuigan (Tyrone), Ross Munnelly (Laois), Stephen McDonnell (Armagh), Stephen O’Neill (Tyrone), Colm Cooper (Kerry).
From my original team, Aiden O’Mahony and Tomas O Sé lose out because of below par performances in the All-Ireland, and Brian Dooher had to be accommodated after his super performance against Kerry – so Paddy Bradley of Derry loses out again. We will compare with the journalists’ choice next week.
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