Cricket club ready to fight brewers over grounds deal

CORK County Cricket Club are preparing to take legal action against Beamish and Crawford to secure the use of their cricket ground.

The most civilised of sports will be dragged into the circuit court later this month if an agreement cannot be reached.

The origins of the dispute date back over 20 years. The cricket club, based at the Mardyke, ran into financial difficulties and Beamish and Crawford agreed to help out.

The brewing giant provided a long-term loan to the club and secured the freehold on the Richard Beamish Cricket Ground. The club negotiated an escape clause, giving it the option to buy back the freehold every five years.

In November 1996, the club forgot to renew the escape clause and consequently lost the buy-back option.

Despite several approaches, Beamish and Crawford have refused to renew it.

Cricket club secretary Donal Donovan said, “In fairness to them, they’ve assured us in the past that there will still be cricket in the club. We’ve got the lease until 2016 but then we’d have to renew it on their terms. So we’d like a bit more security.”

The Cork County Cricket Club was founded in 1874 and currently has more than 50 members. It has two competitive teams and also a schoolboys team drawn from the nearby Presentation Brothers College.

The club is holding an extraordinary general meeting tonight to pass a resolution on the issue.

Beamish and Crawford are in a strong position legally but Mr Donovan said: “We feel we’ve a good case in terms of natural justice.”

A Beamish and Crawford spokesperson said the issue was in the hands of solicitors from both parties and refused to comment further on the case.

However, she said: “We can confirm that the company has no development plans whatsoever for the Richard Beamish Cricket Grounds.”