So it seems Waterford Co Board had sold off home advantage in the Munster Final to either Cork or Tipp in exchange for €50,000 :lol:
What’s this now?
11/06/2010 - 08:09:45
Waterford GAA chiefs have revealed that they sought “a substantial five-figure sum” to allow their potential Munster SHC final opponents have home advantage in the decider.
Waterford officials said the move was made due to the “precarious state” of their finances in these recessionary times and claimed they had received agreement on the plan from their counterparts in Cork and Tipperary, who were on the other side of the draw.
Sources close to the negotiations claim the proposed agreement was worth €50,000 to Waterford coffers.
The arrangement sparked an angry response from the Munster Council who insisted the deal was undertaken without their backing.
The proposal, revealed exclusively in the Irish Examiner newspaper last week, also provoked a massive backlash from Waterford players, management and supporters.
Last night Waterford County Board issued a lengthy statement outlining their actions and expressed regret for any embarrassment and inconvenience caused to the Munster Council and its officers and to the boards and officers of Cork and Tipperary.
However, the board insisted that they were acting in the best interest of the GAA in Waterford.
The statement said: "As has been reported at the last two county board meetings the financial position of Waterford County Board is in a very precarious state.
"Over the past few months, the executive of Waterford Co Board has put in place a number of initiatives to reduce costs/expenditure but it is also conscious of the need to raise additional income.
"With this in mind the executive entered into negations with both Cork and Tipperary County Boards as to the possibility of playing the 2010 Munster Hurling final in either Cork or Thurles should Waterford qualify to meet either in the final.
"A substantial five-figure sum, to be paid to Waterford County Board, was agreed with both counties on the understanding that Waterford would travel to either Cork or Thurles to play either in their “home” venue.
“With this understanding in place, Waterford’s Munster Council representative, acting with the unanimous support of the county executive, requested that the Munster Council fix the Munster Hurling final for Cork if it was a Waterford v Cork pairing and for Thurles in the event of a Waterford v Tipperary final.”
However, officials last night revealed a potential provincial final clash against Cork in Cork – and the public backlash to the suggestion – caused them to scrap their agreement and revert to the Munster Council’s original plan to stage the game at a neutral venue.
"When Cork were victorious over Tipperary and it subsequently became public that a Cork v Waterford final would be played in Cork, it rapidly became apparent in Waterford, that the team management, players, clubs and supporters were totally opposed to the idea. Such was the level of opposition from all quarters within the county that the executive felt that it had no choice but to ask the Munster Council to revert to the original plan to play the final at a neutral venue.
"It is important to point out that this was to be a ‘once-off’ arrangement solely for financial reasons and that there was no mention or negotiation of a “home and away” arrangement with either county.
"The statement made by the county board chairman referred only to the home and away arrangement which was reported in the media. Waterford does not have a stadium with a capacity large enough to enter into such an arrangement.
"The executive of Waterford County Board fully accept that the officers of the Munster Council acted properly at all times in this matter and in accordance with the wishes of the Waterford County Board executive.
“Waterford County Board regret any embarrassment and inconvenience caused to the Munster Council and its officers and to the boards and officers of Cork and Tipperary.”
Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/deise-chiefs-sought-50000-for-switch-461214.html#ixzz0qX6XvSgH
great news
GGA FOAD
Calling Cian and HangBlaa, wtf are your lot up to down there? We all know you have a few sponds to recoup following events in the not to distant past, but this is some piss take.
refresh me?
A few years back, money went missing from one of the regional divisions. I believe the poor unfortunate took his own life in the end.
Ah yes. That was a terrible case.
The players and fans must be seething below there at these revelations.
Davy was in the know according to something I read yesterday.
I believe Davy put the kibosh on it pretty quickly, wasn’t that how it fell through?
I heard he was consulted about it but wanted to wait till after the Clare match for it to come out to avoid giving unnessecary ammunition to the opposition. Which is fair enough.
Was fuming when it came out before it and thats why he came out against it.
I’m sure Davy is happy to play in Tipp or Cork to ensure his mileage gets paid.
If there not careful the Waterford hurlers will start to develop an “us against the world” mentality
All mind games folks… part of the grand plan for 2010.
Up the Déise.
That’s a frankly disgusting chain of events, the board should be forced to resign over that en masse. Bought and sold for Leeside gold. They then go out and apologise to everyone bar the players who would have had to go down to Cork. Echoes of 1993 in Limerick when the county board tossed for venue despite the express instructions of Phil Bennis not to do so. Fucking bean counters.
The Clare game? That must have been some sickener for ye that year, considering the progress of the year before.
A very very difficult place to win WTB, for me it’s a bigger fortress than Aughrim is. Again it was the bean counters in Limerick who thought it would be a good idea financially to enter a home/away arrangement that year forgetting that the game is about the team on the field. Bennis was furious about it and probably played too naive a team for that trip, you’d need wise old heads going in there.
I’m livid - are you telling me we spent 50k just so we can hammer these fuckers down here by even more then we would have hammered them by anyway?
Frank you gullible moron.
Could the Tipp board afford the 50k to get home advantage? That’s gas. I’m sure Cork would have seeing as they have millions in the bank. Is it worth 50k to buy home advantage though?
And in any case what’s the big deal playing in Cork or Thurles for Waterford, surely they’d get an equal allocation of tickets. Home or away shouldn’t really be an issue when you’re only travelling an hour or two down the road. These are hardened hurlers not association footballers.
Fair play to them, its better than selling tickets for a stupid draw. And it would’ve been of no extra cost to supporters as they would’ve had to travel anyway.
Not certain but think the county board of where the venue is get 20%(might be more might be less) of the gate receipts/ticket sales while the Munster council gets the rest, takes their cut and then distibutes the rest to the participating 2 counties…
Presume there will be around 45,000 at an average of 30 euro a ticket…that is 1.35 million meaning that around 275,000 on offer for the venues county board…Seeing as Waterford were only going to get their regular cut they probably saw it as a handy chance at an easy 50 k