GAA DIRECTOR-GENERAL Tom Ryan has revealed he is ‘still very uncomfortable’ with the process which saw the association finding a way around their own rules last summer to stage the Liam Miller Tribute match in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Controversy erupted last July when it was initially ruled that a charity game between a Celtic-Ireland Legends team and a Manchester United Legends side could not be played at the Cork GAA headquarters.
The decision was subsequently altered with an announcement made on Saturday 28 July that the game would be held in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and it took place in late September with a huge crowd present.
In reference to another major stadium row last summer – the staging of the qualifier between Kildare and Mayo at St Conleth’s Park – Ryan described the Newbridge furore as ‘a GAA plan which was within our gift to fix and always felt capable of resolution’ but believes the Páirc Uí Chaoimh controversy was ‘quite different’.
Writing in his annual report which was launched this morning, he was keen to first point out the charitable nature of the event and the importance that the Miller family benefitted from the event.
Later at today’s press launch, Ryan spoke about his pleasure at how successful the game was and that it did take place.
“I should preface my remarks with a reminder that the purpose of the game was charitable; all involved were doing things for the best of reasons and the main thing is that the Miller family benefitted from the event Everything else is secondary and any reservations I have about the episode should be seen in that light.”
Ryan outlined how he had an issue with ‘the blatant disregard’ shown to the governance of the GAA.
“My problem with how events unfolded concerns not the playing of any particular match (or sport) in any GAA venue, but the blatant disregard that shown for the Association’s governance.
“Much of the clamour that arose amounted to demands for us to just ignore our own standards and indeed our decision markers. To ignore the rule or find a loophole and host the game.
“As a governing body charged with trying to uphold standards we should not be in the business of finding ways around our own rules. I personally should certainly not be. Nonetheless as the days progressed it became evident that to not ‘find a way’ would only do the Association more reputational damage, however unjustified. So that is what we did – we found a way around our own rules. That is something I am still very uncomfortable with.
“The mechanics involved identifying a legal route, establishing independently is validity, and convening at two days notice our voluntary Central Council from all around the country and overseas to a difficult meeting. I don’t think any of us were enthusiastic about the outcome we reached.
“The overwhelming sentiment being that we felt we had been bullied into a course of action that we might well have taken anyway if given the chance.”
Ryan argued that pressure on pitches is a problem facing the GAA and believes they ‘were badly served’ by comments made at the time.
“Yes, the GAA has a rule restricting use of our pitches for other sports but that is a necessity borne not out of prejudice but practicality. The single biggest resource constraint we face all over the country is pitches. We don’t have enough capacity to cater for our own needs, (including camogie and ladies football) let alone other sports.”
“In hindsight we might have handled matters differently but I do believe that the GAA was very badly served by much of the comment at the time. It consumed so much time and energy, and yet was not an issue of our making. Frustratingly I still don’t quite know how things got to where they did.
“I know that the Liam Miller organising committee were certainly not making things difficult for us. Quite the opposite in fact. Events just seemed to take on a momentum of their own, with ever more influential people expressing ever more unhelpful and unsolicited views.
“There was an inference at the time that the GAA should be under some moral, if not legal, compulsion to allow the use of our pitches for other sports because the association, or the specific pitch, had received public funding. This not factually correct and is not morally defensible.
“Any funding we receive is, and should continue to be, predicated solely on the intrinsic value of Gaelic Games. I am not aware of any other sporting organisation being assessed on the degree to which it promotes rival sports.
“And nor should they be.”
Ryan explained that the process undertaken involved conceding there was an ambiguity in the property rules and they intend to put forward a motion to ask GAA Congress to address ‘that perceived ambiguity’.
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Saying that there’s not enough pitches as it is so GAA should take priority is fair enough for club and council pitches, but most of the county stadia in the country are severely underused and should be exempt to that rule. How often has Pairc Ui Chaoimh or Walsh Park in Waterford(given they can’t play home Hurling Champ games there) for example been used in the last year? A dozen times maybe including club games? Could definitely host other events there in the meantime if the capacity was needed
@samstheman:
What about the RWC bid? Wasn’t there GAA stadiums involved in that? When there probably would have been big dollars involved, it’s fine then. Zero sympathy I have for the GAA. They are 100% a money making business. You’d be naive to think otherwise. They’ll be grand.
@Nollaig Elliot: Absolutely they’ll be grand It wasn’t the GAA that went looking to use someone else’s pitch. The GAA have a good infrastructure of grounds around the country and if they need additional capacity they generally develop it
@Nollaig Elliot: usual shite anti Gah money is all that matters tripe. Change the record FFS
@samstheman: Because they get Tax payers money granted to them for the stadiums, And not all tax payers are GAA fans so they get no befefit from their input otherwise.
@Rob Cahill: Looks like you’re another one who needs reminding that the IRFU and FAI got more than twice as much in government funding for Lansdowne Road (€191 million) than the GAA did for Croke Park (€90 million). And even if you throw in the government money that went to Pairc Ui Chaoimh as well, you’re still nowhere near that Lansdowne Road figure. Got anything to say about that?
@COYBIG: It may not add up to much but primary and secondary schools play finals in county stadiums,secondary then go on to play provincial and all Ireland finals in similar county venues.I can speak personnally for Parnell park,I woudnt be surprised if there was 100 matches there a year.
@samstheman: because sometimes the right thing to do is the right thing to do. To be honest I think its very unfair on the family to have this all dragged up again.
@samstheman: did he have to mention it? I don’t think he did. If he felt he had to he could have done so without the self pitying tone. He prefaced it with niceties of course, but it really does turn into a big moan and whinge from then on.
The vast majority were not asking him to open up stadiums to other sports on an ongoing basis. Most were not against the GAA getting funding from the taxpayer. Most people see the value of the GAA in their communities.
This was an exceptional circumstance and should have been treated as such from the outset.
@Ado Smith:
I’m by no means anti GAA Ado. I’m only pointing out that there seems to be double standards going on here. Would you not agree?
@samstheman:
John Delaney should be in jail and not governing an international association. The tone taken in this report sounds begging for sympathy and also reeks of double standards.
@samstheman: ok maybe he did have to address it but I think he has handled it very poorly………..again
@Rob Cahill: not all of us have children but our taxes still pay their schooling. your argument doesn’t really hold any water
@samstheman: Basic economic business sense?
@samstheman: they got funding to do so
The Gahliban are bigots I’m afraid.
Do they still have rules about crushing foreign sports
@samstheman: the cork county board did refuse permission to hold the match in PUC so you are wrong on that. Without the outcry it’s hard to believe it would have gone ahead there.
@Jane: they did refuse and then turned around on the decision and dragged it out.
@samstheman: yrs they did say No – and we’re rightly pilloried for it.
Want a private, closed-doors club ? That’s fine: but not with tax-payers money which you then lose complete control of when it comes to budgeting. ….
What a dinosaur.
They have no capacity issues when it’s for a concert, or 5 concerts or American football.
@Bungee Aky: The dinosaur with a network of stadia around the country most of which exceed 20000 capacity and clubs with facilities which far exceed any other sporting code. Dinosaurs indeed
@Eamonn O Connell: I said he’s a dinosaur not the organization, but plenty of them are. a match was played in a stadium that was not being used for anything else (and hasn’t been used since either) at the time and he’s complaining it shouldn’t happen because of capacity issues. If they had any cop on they would have offered the ground and got a decent bit of rent to cover the spiraling costs that they have not been able to cover in Cork and had to go cap in hand to Croke Park for. For all that is good and great about GAA it’s still stuck in some feral semi republican catholic church 1916 anti English time-warp. The country has changed, its people have changed and they would be better off embracing that instead of fighting it.
@Bungee Aky: “If they had any cop on they would have offered the ground and got a decent bit of rent” – really??? And then really be accused of being the Grab All Association, by demanding money that would otherwise have gone to the Miller family? Instead, they took nothing from it – https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2018/0728/981658-gaa-wont-take-any-charity-money-from-liam-miller-match/ Whatever else you might say or think, at least give them some credit for that.
@Jumperoo: nobody would have begrudged them charging a fair rental to cover costs etc. The difference in capacity from turners cross would have made it worthwhile.
@Bungee Aky: Oh, I think they would. But for the sake of the discussion, let’s say you’re right, and nobody – yourself included – would have minded if they took a cut of the money. So why aren’t you actually on here to praise the GAA then for not taking anything, instead of finding ways to give out about them? As I said above, if nothing else, at least give them some credit for that.
@Bungee Aky: Hang on a minute. Just recently a rugby commentator said that Munster HC matches should be held at Pairc Ui Caoimh. The first thought that came to my mind was, have they asked Cork GAA for the use of their ground or are they just going to bully them into giving the Pairc to them.
How long will it be before Leinster stars demanding Croke Park for their use.
@Bungee Aky: Jesus, just how stupid are you? No organization can run at a loss.
It’s alright for every other organization to make a profit but not the GAA.
Take your fingers from your ass and put them in your mouth.
Actually you’re talking about yourself.
@Teresa Ryan: do you even read comments?
@Jumperoo: because they gave a bullocks reason for it. The availability of PUC for other events has nothing to do with the amount of matches that are played there because it is completely under utilized, and to use the lack of resources as a justification for the anti Liam miller match is completely disengenous . With a little planning plenty of grounds around the world are shared by two
Sports.
@Teresa Ryan: Famously Cork obsessed Corkman Donal Lenihan saying that matches should be played in PUC is not the same as Munster Rugby saying it. In fact outside a Euro semi final they’ll play every Euro match in Thomond Park. A semi final would be played in Dublin, cause there’s not a hope of the IRFU not using their own stadium. Time to take off the tin foil hat.
@Bungee Aky: you’re gone completely off the point now. Care to return to it at all?
@Jumperoo: the point is simple. Outgoing dinosaur takes parting shot at event where every major stakeholder was happy with it, corkpeople, Liam Miller supporters, families of other charities etc etc except for some admin of the GAA and they cite capacity issues as the reason for being unhappy, capacity issues for a ground that was never full before or since the event and hasn’t been used since.
@Eamonn O Connell: Typical reponse from the GAA head. Does he fail to realise that many people out there would identify as being GAA, RuGby and Football supporters.. And I don’t believe for one minute that if they had more time they would have allowed it to go ahead. Cannot stand this GAA double speak.
@Bungee Aky: Okay, beat that drum again. Before I go – can you at least say fair play to them for not taking any money from it, considering you claim yourself that nobody would have begrudged it to them if they did?
@davey boy: I answered a point about the GAA being dinosaurs by pointing out that their infrastructure is super for such a backward organization. I’m a soccer and rugby supporter too but am fed up of people looking for any reason to run down an organization which is pretty self sufficient and doesn’t go looking to use other sports grounds
@Jumperoo: if your willing to acknowledge that it shouldn’t have lead to a public outcry for them to change their mind…
They wouldn’t have everyone knows that it took a lot of harassing to get them to agree
@samstheman: there was no policy changes made.
@samstheman: no it didn’t, for the GAA to change rules it requires a vote at congress the same way they voted for opening Croke Park for Irish rugby and soccer when the aviva was bring build. The Liam Miller match was facilitated as it was a charity event, The same way the popes visit was facilitated at Croke Park, as a charity event.
I’ m a big GAA fan but to say that it was a decision that the GAA may have reached for themselves is baloney. They were shamed into the u-turn and proper order.
I was at a conference at the Pairc last week. Very underwhelming. Moss residue on the terraces and the toilet in the premium level smelled like the Hogan Stand in the 90s.
There should be a statue of Christy Ring or JBM and a massive banner of Pa Horgan similar to Bernard Brogan’s tayto one on the Dart bridge on Jones Road. Not even a bit of red in sight. Very disappointing.
@Ned Flanders: apart from the statues of Christy ring or JBM every other part of this statement is bull
@Ned Flanders: your lucky you had WIFI there, the place is a joke
@Lad: it’s my opinion that was shared with colleagues. You have to admit the stadium lacks character. You’d have to be told that your in Cork if you landed in it. Cork is one of the most tribal parts of the island with a great GAA tradition. The stadium speaks nothing of those two traits.
@Bungee Aky: there was decent 4G to be fair :)
You were bullied? No, you were not. Bullying is a terrible thing but this is not an example of it.
@Earth Traveller: where they not just reminded of the conditions of taking tax payers money to do up the stadium .
@bmul: is it not the case that the IRFU & FAI also receive tax payers money amongst others , Mr Miller was a soccer player aswell as a GAA player and was a soccer player at the time he passed as far as im aware so why was it the GAA’s issue to resolve , thats what i dont understand , im not to familiar with the FAI or IRFU but surely the Aviva could have done something and raised more funding for the family or Thomond park .
@Sean Beinead: because he was from Cork. How has that not sank in? It was originally arranged to be played in Turners Cross where he played for a season two years before his death. The venue was fine but the demand for tickets was so great that a bugger venue was sought. The GAA were keen to stay out of it. But everyone, at least in Cork, knew where the game should have been played. The GAA had plenty of time to volunteer to do the right thing. They didn’t. They had to be fm dragged kicking and screaming.
@Dave O’Keeffe: yes exactly , so it wasnt the gaa’s issue to resolve , turners cross thats FAI ,? Would that be right ? So because the the FAI stadium in cork didnt have capacity that then became a GAA issue ,would that be the crooks of it ?
@Sean Beinead: that would have been a match in Dublin for a corkman who played in Cork. It made more sense to have it in the city where he was raised and finished his life among his fellow people. It should have been a non-issue to free the stadium up for the game. They dragged their heels until they were shamed into it.
@Sean Beinead: yes but you do realise the idea of a charity march is to try and raise as much money as possible for the charity? I’m sure you realise the massive difference between the capacities of the stadiums?
Many thanks to the Miller family and organisers for donating amounts from this event to several prominent Cork charities..
@Gary Heslin: one of which is a very worthy GAA player who had a terrible accidentS
@Gary Heslin: and to other charities such as dwarfism
The GAA had no intention of allowing the game to be played in their ground. He’s being very disingenuous saying they might well have if they hadn’t been pressurised. And the reason for it was simple. No money in it for the grab all association.
An organisation or person shouldn’t have to be “bullied” into doing the right thing and allowing the match to go ahead was absolutely the right thing..
More fuss about nothing, thats there rules and they bent them to accommodate the game end of , people getting there knickers in a twist , why didnt the FAi Accommodate them then , he was playing soccer at that time in his life before he passed wasnt he.
@Sean Beinead: Maybe because the Aviva is in Dublin and the organisers wanted to play it in Cork? Mad idea I know, but there ya go.
@Mark Wallace: oh thats right , no soccer stadiums in cork isnt that right mark , thanks for the reminder.
@Sean Beinead: Well they were originally playing the game in the biggest one in Cork, so you know, you’re point doesn’t make much sense.
@Sean Beinead: that’s right. There is no soccer stadium in Cork that holds 45,000.
@Mark Wallace: explain why it was up to the GAA to sort out an FAI issue then? , capacity at turners cross is a GAA problem now is it or is it a case that no matter what the GAA would have done they still wouldnt have got credit for it , after all the game was played in a GAA stadium and not an FAI stadium.
@Jane: I believe Cork only needs one large, underused and rarely filled to capacity stadium, without having another one.
@nick conroy: I agree but Sean seemed to be of the opinion they could have used a soccer stadium of similar size
@Jane: nah never said that at all , try again.
“Might”
What a pr!ck! Sorry, not sorry!
Double standards by the GAA, held up progress on Tallaght Stadium for years because they wanted it altered for their use, but it’s ok not to share when it’s their own????
@Tony Harris: and was Tallaght altered to allow Gaelic games ??? Was public money used to build it ??? Double standards indeed
@Eamonn O Connell: planned as a football ground, building commenced as a football ground, then tied up in the courts for years because the GAA didnt want another code to have a decent facility. Nobody, absolutley nobody can dress it up as anything other than pure bigitory on behalf of the GAA. Always were bigots, always will be. As our nation drags intself out of its shamfull past, its one of the last bastions of intolerance standing. They will be next to either change or fall.
@Tony Harris: And GAA grounds are built for GAA games so where’s your problem. If soccer grounds can not accommodate GAA matches then why should the GAA be forced to accommodate soccer or rugby in their grounds It’s called looking after your own business. I have no problem with soccer rugby and other sports not accommodating the GAA at all but don’t be hypocrites about it when it happens the other way around. I think the GAA went and built a centre of excellence somewhere in west Dublin to look after teams in that area after so some good came out of it
A bunch of old farts being overly pedantic about the loan of a field for a few hours!
Great lads for the PR
It’d be great if they could allow the use of county grounds on request to other sports. I also think that instead of Dublin building a new stadium as has been suggested, they should make the first few rows of each stand in the aviva retractable (they have this in other sports grounds) to meet the dimensions of a GAA pitch. This would Allow the playing of gaelic games, it would reduce the capacity, maybe by 10-20 thousand, but 30-40,000 would be a perfect size stadium for the likes of dublin to play league games in. It’d be like an NFL game where the first few rows are higher up than pitch level. You could also then move very high demand Rugby and soccer matches to Croker, or the Rugby Provinces could play one home game in a different county ground around their province each year. A Leinster game in O’Connor Park, or even a Ulster game in Breffni or Clones! All of this would be amazing make perfect sense, save a load of money and be to the betterment of all, so will never happen.
Bash bash bash the GAA. The easiest sport in the world for the self-loathing begrudging keyboard warriors
Bash bash bash the GAA. The easiest sport in the world for the self-loathing begrudging keyboard warriors
So you’re saying Munster can’t use it then should we get a home semi? Sound!
PATHETIC !