Accommodation for soccer and rugby won't be part of any deal to redevelop Pairc Ui Chaoimh

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Ultimately, this is going to be another public relations disaster for the GAA, and will push non-GAA and GAA fans alike away from Gaelic Games, just like the Tallaght Stadium fiasco, that nonsense in Kerry, Nemo Rangers etc. Who is right and who is wrong is the small picture - the bigger picture is hearts and minds, and such things as goodwill and community spirit are increasingly going out of the GAA bureacracies vocabulary as the organisation again and again looks petty and out of touch (which it is). Rule 42 should be long gone, and in any decent organisation it would have been.

I love Gaelic Hurling, but f**k me it is run by horrible little men. Nonsense like this and Rule 42 simply makes me ashamed and makes me doubt the worth in supporting the sports as a whole when they come attached to a pack of gombeens with miniscule minds. One has to try and seperate the sport from the bureaucrats, but it isn’t easy.

Accommodation for soccer and rugby won’t be part of any deal to redevelop Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

That was the firm message from Cork County Board after a local councillor who backed plans to sell off city lands to the GAA for the ‘Pairc’ redevelopment indicated he would like to see a deal similar to Croke Park operate in Cork.

With Cork County Board tying in a centre of excellence into the redevelopment of Pairc Ui Chaoimh down at the marina, the purchase of extra land is vital to their plans.

And that hurdle was cleared last week when councillors voted 17-11 to sell the lands. Negotiations with City Hall are to begin soon and the Cork Board have said that their plans can come to fruition within three years.

But Fianna Fail councillor Sean Martin, a brother of Minister Micheal Martin, has thrown a spanner in the works with a suggestion that the new ground could be opened for soccer and rugby.

“I would love to see soccer or rugby played down there some time. We saw with Croke Park that there will have to be a business plan to meet the ongoing costs and it would be great if that meant soccer or rugby could be played there,” he said.

Councillor Martin is a member of the Nemo Rangers club and his views are understood to be supported by a number of other councillors who were favourable to the GAA securing the extra acreage despite the opposition of the county manager Joe Gavin.

However, Cork chairman Jerry O’Sullivan has firmly indicated that opening Pairc Ui Chaoimh won’t be on any agenda now or in the future.

  • Colm Keys

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/no-to-soccer-and-rugby-in-the-pairc-2229495.html

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No one gives a fuck

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How is this a story? In what capacity does this Martin fla want soccer and rugby to be played in parky?
Internationals? Munster games? Fair enough if the price is right and the ccb need the funds badly enough but I imagine with the arriba bedpan up and running and lovely shiny thomond in Limerick, there won’t be much call for the swamp to be accommodating either sport.
Jerry might have worded his response better, but this is basically kite-flying populist bullshit from a county councillor relation of a sitting FF td. I imagine he’s looking for a ticket to Europe or Kildare Street

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It will be some white elephant. They need to run the stadium as a business bit like Croke Park, Thomond Park or even Tallaght. GAA might fill the ground once a year and bring in a crowd more than breakeven 4 times a year max.

Why do they need a training centre next to a river and in the middle of town anyway? It will be hard to get to and prone to flooding I imagine. Surely there is some NAMA plot of land easily accessible just out of town that would be a hell of a lot cheaper to develop?

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Your ignorance to Cork GAA grows. The Pairc has never been run like a business, this is unlikely to change bar a few concerts. Cork doesn’t need the money nor the constant revenue for it in that sense. It would be a white elephant if they were building a new building and were trying to make it a business. They are just redeveloping.

Its not really prone to flooding at all. Tipp have their training center beside Semple, don’t think its a major issue. Its actually a great thing to have it where it is. Cork already has regional centers in Mallow and Clonakilty, so if a team wants to give travelling players a break and go to them then they head to one of those facilities.

The lads are right, this is a non story. By the time it is done many of the old fogies will be gone. Secondly, as long as they build it big enough to hold hurling and football there is always, always the possibility of Soccer and Rugby being played there. So it is not like the Tallaght thing at all really.

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tallaght stadium has been a massive success- football,bogball,rogbee & ammerican football have all been played there- concerts will be held there soon -

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Tiesto?

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tallaght has held a bigger variety of sport in 2 years than that hold in cork will ever have - the tax payer should not fund these bigots though

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Are there any architect’s drawings of this? I hear the plan is to knock the two stands and keep the terraces? Would it not just be simpler to knock the whole thing and build from scratch?

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I think Croke Park and some of the county boards around the country are living in their own little bubble and the ‘investigation’ into Nemo Rangers allowing the rugby footballers use of their facilities was petty in the extreme. There’s no understanding or acknowledgement that plenty of clubs are struggling financially with sponsors falling by the way side in the current climate, lower numbers buying weekly draw tickets and all that shite. I imagine clubs all around the country are renting out indoor arenas, all weather pitches etc to other sporting organisations and it’s actually using a bit of initiative that should be welcomed rather than them getting castigated for it.

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100% correct. I have talked to Nemo people about this though, it was a witch hunt. From certain Senior members of the CB and National delegates i believe. People who would never have liked Nemo, or a certain excellent coach from Turners Cross.

I heard a rumour that one cheeky club wrote to the CB, told them the revenue they were pulling in from “outside” clubs and societies and told them if they ever even got a letter about it they would never offer their facilities again to the CB. Many winter finals, Cork training sessions etc etc would happen in these facilities. I think they detailed how the money was keeping their own club going. Don’t think they got any response.

Clubs in Cork are in a fairly strong position these days. There was a hint of everyone supporting Nemo on this but it didn’t happen. But the Club forum has scared the CB.

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Clowns like you need to open your minds - a proper stadium in Cork has the potential to be a serious money spinner. Dont give me the Cork doesnt need the money bullshit. Every organisation could do with more. Think of the business it would generate for the city if utilised properly not small minded insular GAA bullshit.

Great that all stakeholders in Cork are given a backseat so travelling players are given a break :rolleyes:

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What are you on about opening our minds? This is a non story. Nothing whatsoevr has been decided, and won’t be for a while. I’d be all for a big conference center and a business run facility if it made sense, but i doubt Cork is big enough for it. Unless we get through some of the planning to get the deep docks sorted and the cargo ships can come in. The pricks up in Dublin kick up a stink every time it goes anywhere near planning.

You must realise that its a small area down there, serviced by a small amount of amenities. Now i’d like it to grow, but already the Marquee events more than put a penny in the pockets of the local businesses. A business center down the Pairc won’t do very much for the city, at least not in its present guise.

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Won’t be ready for either final.

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I flagged this yesterday mate

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The locals are seething…

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More seething they won Saturday night I’d say - meant they had to own up to this today

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Tomás Mulcahy’s hair on the Six One News. :eek:

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Footballers are seething, absolutely seething.

CB ignored emails from managemw t looking for postpinments on lub games were they to win and on PIC being ready.

Absokutely anyone within a sniff of a builder down there knew it wouldn’t happen. Contractos not happy at all.

Stupid fucking cunts the Cork CB. He is not up to it but i do feel sorry for Peadar Healy.

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Way now open for PUC to be used for a Heineken Cup semi final