|
|
 |
You are > Home > Should Croke Park become the Harvey Norman stadium?
|
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Should Croke Park become the Harvey Norman stadium?
By Fr Brendan Hoban
IN THE glory days of the Celtic Tiger, everything seemed possible.
Money was no obstacle, imaginations were encouraged to run riot and, as is the universal wisdom now, we proceeded to lose the run of ourselves.We dreamed dreams that never were, as the cliché has it, and asked why not? Unfortunately.
Individuals, institutions, politicians, bankers and the rest of us had the opportunity to air our fantasies, to propose some vanity project that seemed out of the question a few years earlier and to indulge the delicious prospect of leaving our mark on the world. It was as if everyone had won the lotto.
So if you or I deluded ourselves into imagining that our limited incomes could stretch to an apartment in Bulgaria, was it any wonder that Bertie Ahern dreamt dreams on a vaster scale? And thus the Bertie Bowl was born.
The project, Bertie’s dream, and with his fingerprints all over it, sought to marry two great Irish compulsions: spending money and enjoying sport.
The plan was to build a vast sporting complex on a greenfield site that would be the envy of the developed world. All it needed was imagination, money and someone to drive it. The wonder is that it never happened.
Eventually, wiser heads succeeded in convincing Bertie and those with vested interests in the project that for a population the size of Yorkshire, the project was, well, insane. In the shuffle, however, another vanity project slipped through under the radar and the Aviva Stadium project was born. Now, just opened, it is the home of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), and paid for mainly by the taxpayer.
An impressive structure, though dwarfing the surrounding area, it is already part of the Dublin skyline and all those involved with its achievement are rightly congratulating themselves on its successful delivery.
It might be raining on the parade, but the question is: do we really need it? And, even in the excitement of the moment, it’s difficult to avoid the obvious answer: Not really.
Can anyone seriously argue that a city the size of Dublin and a country with our population need both an Aviva Stadium and a Croke Park? The phrase ‘surplus to requirement’ hovers distressingly around the edges of this discussion.
The truth is that both stadia were effectively bankrolled by the taxpayer and that, for the last few years, it suited everyone – sporting organisations like the IRFU, the FAI, and not least the taxpayer – to use Croke Park for the limited number of sporting occasions that secured a 50,000plus attendance. While sporting ecumenism – like the other version – has long been a delicate plant in Ireland, the truth is that in the unlikely event of non-cooperation, the government had the financial muscle to force through a workable partnership in Irish sport by flexing its financial muscle.
It’s obvious that Croke Park and Aviva would not be the impressive stadia that they are without Government funds. Millions have been poured into Croke Park over the years and something of the order of €190m has been contributed by the taxpayer to Aviva. What it needed was the determination and the resilience to face down the dreamers, the egos and the fanatics and insist on value for public money. But that sensible prospect was defeated by the Celtic Tiger philosophy: can I have an apple, please / why not have two?
Now, as if to thumb their noses at the taxpayer, the IRFU seem determined to exclude most of those who contributed to the building of their stadium from watching the main rugby matches on television. Minister Eamon Ryan has proposed the very sensible and democratic policy of ensuring that international and Heineken Cup matches should be ‘free-to-air’, in other words available on Irish television channels rather than on ‘pay-per-view’ as on Sky. It’s sensible and democratic because, one, it respects the rights of the vast percentage of taxpayers who paid the €190m and, two, it brings the game of rugby to a wider audience in Ireland. And, if you want a third compelling reason it allows people to watch significant matches on the telly at home rather than being drawn into the pub scene.
But the IRFU are having none of it. Chief executive, Philip Browne, described the minister’s proposal as ‘cracked’ and wondered aloud why the minister wanted to bring down Irish rugby ‘on the back of a hunch’. The IRFU problem is that ‘pay-per-view’ generates substantial income whereas ‘free-to-air’ does not.
While Mr Browne has a credible, financial argument, what is unacceptable is the extraordinary arrogance with which he expressed it – effectively savaging a Government minister, who represents on our behalf almost half what the new stadium cost, as well as the €34m in capital funding for rugby clubs across the country over the past 12 years. The disrespect the IRFU has for the Irish public, after bankrolling their activities to such a degree, has handed a compelling argument to the minister. It is clear that while the IRFU had no problem taking our money, they have a good bit of the road to go before they respect those who gave it to them.
It’s not about sport anymore, of course, it’s about business. And the pull of money throws every other consideration out the window. The new stadium will be called ‘Aviva’ because the IRFU have received €40m over a ten-year period from an insurance company. After that it could be the Guinness stadium of the Hunky Dory stadium or whoever comes up with the most money.
You can see the temptation: €4m a year. It’s buttons, of course, in comparison to what the taxpayers have contributed and it’s hard not to blame the IRFU for maximising their earning potential. But biting the hand that feeds you?
I don’t suppose there are plans by the GAA to re-name Croke Park as the Harvey Norman stadium. But who knows? Go, Harvey, go!
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
Facebook
