Reader's Blog: Unfair press coverage for GAA over Miller affair
The GAA has been subjected to unfair press coverage over the Liam Miller fund raising event (Malachy Clerkin: ‘Why does GAA keep shooting itself in the foot?’, The Irish Times, July 22).
The hostility shown towards the GAA for not sanctioning, with immediate effect, approval for the charity match to be hosted in Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, despite being prohibited in rule from hosting such games, was, by any standards, regrettable. I noticed that the FAI, despite initiating the event, was not subject to the same level of scrutiny of their stewardship as the GAA was.
The FAI, which benefited to the tune €191 million of taxpayers money that was channelled into the FAI/IRFU Aviva Stadium, has no problem finding the money to pay its Chief Executive €430,000 per year.
Despite decades of attracting huge attendances at international football fixtures, which in turn generated massive revenue for the FAI, nothing was done to secure exclusive national and provincial stadiums for Irish soccer which could have been used for events like the Liam Miller fundraiser. This income was inflated further by the €5 million given by Sepp Blatter and FIFA officials to the FAI in order to stop any Irish legal action over the Thierry Henry handball incident.
The opening up of Croke Park by the GAA to both soccer and rugby was a positive step in sporting ecumenism and a magnanimous gesture to the FAI and the IRFU while Lansdowne Road was being re-developed.
By accommodating other sporting codes the GAA projected a positive and progressive image of the association which had in the past been portrayed as both narrow and insular. This ‘reaching out’ by the GAA to the disparate sporting strands in our society culminated in a warmly welcomed visit to Croke Park by Queen Elizabeth II in an act of Anglo-Irish reconciliation.
When can we expect the FAI to wear their own kit and stop using other organisations as a crutch?
