Time to give Rebel county the stadium it deserves
As usual, they were ran off smoothly and our Cork hosts were as always models of courtesy. Yet, one couldn’t help noticing in reading the ‘Angry Fans’ column of late on these pages that many punters aren’t too enamoured by the stadium anymore.
The ‘modern’ stadium opened in 1976 involving the replayed Munster final between Cork and Kerry, with the late great referee John Moloney allowing a Kerry goal scored by then super sup, Sean Walsh and disallowing an excellent punched goal by Declan Barron. !
A lot of water has flown under the bridges of the Lee since, but the once great stadium is great no longer.
Granted, a marvellous job has been done on the surface, but the layout and infrastructure are more or less as they were in the halcyon days of ‘76.
In the meantime most other stadiums in the country have been redeveloped – from Croke Park to Semple Stadium. Fitzgerald Stadium was resplendent in its updated magnificence for the Cork v Kerry semi-final.
But Páirc Uí Chaoimh has stood still. Why? Are the Cork Co Board to blame? Well no, in fact far from it. The problem is that the Cork Co Board are snookered. Without the full co-operation, understanding, imagination and generosity of the Cork City Council, there is little the Cork Co Board can do to give the greatest GAA county in Ireland what it needs and deserves – a brand new stadium.
The Board has the wherewithal and the expertise to do a top-class job. But until legal intricacies are overcome and without the co-operation from all sides there isn’t much they can do. Now is the time to press the action button. With the local elections now over, it should be a priority for the city council and management to develop the new Showgrounds area during their term in office – until 2014.
A refurbished and modernised Páirc Uí Chaoimh would have to be central to all that development.
By so doing they will not only be helping to revitalise a somewhat dishevelled area but will be doing Cork itself a big favour. At a time when the building trade is in decline, here is a project to help that situation. All it needs is the green light. Cork needs it, the fans and players deserve it.
