Michael Moynihan: Tentacles of Páirc Uí Chaoimh debt now infiltrate every part of the GAA in Cork

The ripple effect of the Páirc debt

Sun, 03 Apr, 2022 - 20:31

EVERYTHING is connected. We all knew that was flagging as a cliché even when EM Forster was flogging it as an aphorism. And it was never truer than in dealing with developments in Cork, Páirc Uí Rinn and associated matters.

1. The crux? On last Wednesday morning, the Cork County Board issued a statement to Red FM which referred to the capacity of Páirc Uí Rinn, an issue central to the vexed question of the Munster semi-final on May 7.

Part of the statement read: “We are confident that the necessary works can be completed in time for the fixture once the venue is confirmed in the next few days,” referring to Páirc Uí Rinn.

That evening, the Munster Council confirmed the game was fixed for Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, which would allow a far greater crowd to see the game than Páirc Uí Rinn.

In passing, the statement referred to the Cork venue’s reduced capacity: “Even if all of the required works are completed on time, the maximum capacity that can be achieved at the venue is 11,000.”

In its own polite way, this comment shredded belief in the Cork County Board’s ability to get these works completed in time. The obvious question — why the work wasn’t completed long before time even became an issue — doesn’t need to be asked.

Then again, silence isn’t always golden…

2. The Munster Council’s quietness apart from this statement is eloquent, as is the lack of noise emanating from Kerry. Those in green and gold will remember what happened when fixture scheduling became a live issue in last year’s championship regarding the Tyrone game, of course, and govern themselves accordingly.

At the other end of the
decibel level, the vocal lack of support for Cork from pundits and players — past and present — is hardly surprising given the urgent, eternal search for attention, but GAA Kremlinologists will detect even less sympathy among officers, county boards, and other organisations who are part of the GAA’s decision-making process. Call it a silent disapproval.

More than one such observer pointed out to this columnist last week that while Cork might be described as cheeky in looking for a windfall from a concert and a home championship game, the reason the windfall is needed — the Páirc Uí Chaoimh overrun — has nothing to do with other
counties, though those other counties are feeling the squeeze from that also. They’re not the only stratum in the GAA ecosystem fidgeting uncomfortably either…

3. Sticky wickets? The GPA, obviously enough. It’s a difficult situation if they’re to support one squad — Cork — in their endeavours, as the other squad would surely see that as working against their interests. Tricky balancing act ahead. The Cork County Board, for another. Coming after missteps as various as the Youghal Beach training controversy, the audit and risk committee threatening to resign, the ‘Corkness’ press conference, the multiple launches of the Páirc Uí Chaoimh premium tickets — take your pick — this latest imbroglio has done little for its reputation.

Which counts because…

4. The debt on Páirc Uí Chaoimh is now so familiar to readers that a weary wail of ‘no more’ could be forgiven, but its tentacles now infiltrate every part of the GAA in Cork. To service the debt, the concerts must be accommodated, the teams must be discommoded, the supporters must be inconvenienced. But that’s just within Cork. As noted above, the colossal overrun on Leeside has implications for every county unit in the GAA seeking funds from Croke Park. Those implications are not forgotten in the political push-pull of decision-making at all levels in the GAA, which is not to Cork’s advantage.
Creating headaches for other county boards is no way to win friends and influence people. The opposite, in fact. And who’s to say this is the last of those headaches?

Knowing the place of sport

Last week I was on the radio, just giving my opinion about Questlove’s documentary, Summer of Soul, when I was ambushed — I’m kidding, obviously. It was the Páirc Ui Rinn thing. Consider my opening gambit a late April Fool’s.

Anyway, someone texted in to the programme saying that given all that was going on in the world, war and climate change and so forth, the problems of a sports team wanting to play in a different venue and so on were inconsequential.

Which they are. Absolutely they are.

And that’s the point, surely?

Every day there are stories which range from heart-breaking to enraging, which are so serious they give you pause about the future of the planet and so dismaying you fear for the entire species.

But the minor squabbles and problems in a minor key which you find in sport — and art, and music, whatever you fancy — are the kind of diversions that fill in the spaces between our weighty considerations. There has to be room for both: Nobody is making a special case for a passing sports controversy to be taken more seriously than world-changing events, but we can certainly accommodate both sides if the correct proportion is maintained.

That’s the key element. When the reaction to the result of a sports event becomes disproportionate, it grates with everyone, though I long ago gave up pointing out to people that the possessive pronoun about some multinational works team-

Anyway, I felt that point should be made.

And I also felt that using the word ‘quotidian’ on the national airwaves, which I did last Thursday, shouldn’t be forgotten either. So there’s that as well.

A good advert for fitness business

Not content with helping to put Cork to the sword on Saturday evening, I note that Waterford senior hurling selector Stephen Frampton has a new business venture up and running.

In a long and successful career with Ballygunner and Waterford — he was captain for that seminal 1998 NHL final which yours truly wrote about last week — Frampton was a terrific wing-back who would have thrived in today’s game with its focus on strength and conditioning.

His new venture, Stephen Frampton Health and Fitness, is available to work with individuals and groups and can be contacted at sframpton5@gmail.com and 087-2073066.

No wonder he looked so trim in Semple Stadium.

A hefty masterpiece worth the expense

For the art lover in your life, only one book can be considered, particularly in the last couple of weeks. John Richardson’s A Life of Picasso Volume IV: The Minotaur Years 1933-43, is hefty and expensive but, as the volume number suggests, it’s not the first and completists will want to get their hands on it.

The years concerned cover the Second World War and Richardson, who knew Picasso well, points out the artist’s starkly unheroic behaviour during the conflict from carefully stowing away paintings for later sale to living lavishly on the hospitality of pretty dubious characters.

Unfortunately there won’t be a volume V — Richardson died in 2019 at the age of 95.

This book — this series — is some achievement.

Contact: michael.moynihan@
examiner.ie