Clare may be forced to leave Cusack Park
Warning about the dangers of professionalism and expressing his opposition to the proposed extension of the Limerick boundary, he suggested it would be in the County Board’s interest to make an early decision on whether to redevelop Cusack Park or relocate to a different part of town.
If they were to purchase a large tract of land they might be able to develop a new stadium ‘at a fraction of the cost,’ which would offer better access and improved parking facilities.
Recognising that Cusack Park remained ‘a valuable asset,’ Mr McDonagh pointed out that Ennis had changed a lot since the stadium was developed. His fear was that with the amount of business transacted and the volume of people using the area, they could be ‘told’ to limit the number of games played there.
Talking about paying players was ‘a nonsense,’ he said, warning that the foundations of the GAA would be eroded if their games were ever to go professional. “Our Association was founded on the back of volunteers and I believe on the whole this cannot change,’’ he said.
Inter-county players were making a lot of sacrifices in terms of their careers and personal lives and they had to look after them with their expenses and their gear and ‘with whatever else that’s needed at that given time.
“I believe if this had been done years ago and Croke Park looked at the situation, we wouldn’t have a GPA today and there wouldn’t be a need for them. I would hope that in the future counties and Croke Park can work together because I don’t believe that inter-county players should have to go out and look for something that can be provided,” he added.
“There should be no pay for people representing their county. They should be proud to represent their county. I do not believe they should get a wage.
“I think we will look after them. This nonsense has to go out the window.’’
The boundary issue arose from a letter from the Parteen club expressing concern about the proposed extension of the Limerick boundary.
Responding, he said: “you cannot split our clubs in south-east Clare and bring them into Limerick. What we are basically saying to the politicians is, leave Clare alone.
“Limerick people are more than welcome to come out here and play their games in Clare, but we will stand full square behind Clonlara and Parteen because we value their contribution to the GAA.”
While the board recorded a profit on the year’s activities, the chairman pointed out that in the early months of the year they didn’t have ‘a bob’ coming into the coffers.
They had to depend on the months of June-August to make money.
“At any given time we could be up to €700,000 overdrawn and be called in by the banks. Two years ago we owed the guts of €1m.
“Now, it’s down to about €600,000, but we still owe money for Clare Abbey and we have other debts.’’
The county was ‘badly in need’ of training facilities and to this end they had purchased 70 acres in Tulla.
Depending on getting planning permission, they would hope to develop the facility in a few years. In the meantime, they had agreed a deal with Clarecastle and it was planned to provided two or three pitches on an eight-acre site there.
Dublin-based businessman Pat O’Donnell is back as Clare sponsor - taking over from Vodafone - and this time having responsibility for both hurling and football teams in all grades. The deal is worth €1.5m ‘over a period of time.’
The newly-launched Clare People newspaper disclosed that they had offered a €1m deal over five years.
Income for the year was €1,548,916 and expenditure €1,407,424, resulting in a surplus of €141,492.
: President - T Malone; Chairman - M McDonagh; Vice-chairman - M O’Neill; Secretary - P Fitzgerald; Asst Secretary - J Keane; Treasurer - B Keane; Asst Treasurer - PJ Kelly; Development Officer - J Lee; Youth Officer - S O’Connor; Irish Officer - P McMahon; PRO - D Crowe; Coaching Officer - N O’Driscoll; Munster Council - R Frost; Central Council delegate - T Downes.
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