Railway Cups: Who cares?

CONNACHT Council secretary John Prenty has questioned the future of the Railway Cups. In his report to next week’s convention, the Connacht chief wonders ‘does anybody care’ about retaining the interpro series.

Said Prenty: “Is there a best time of the year to play? Does anybody care?

“We are told that the players are anxious to have the series retained but there is no great evidence to show that if they want it retained they want to play in it,” he writes.

“2008 will again see the debate as to when it should be played. We have seen the paltry crowd that attended the finals when even the lure of free tickets could not encourage people to attend. It is time we took a final decision on its health or demise!”

Prenty also reports progress in relation to the establishment of a provincial centre of excellence, which will be located on 60 acres of land between Ballyhaunis and Knock. Among the facilities planned are six all-weather pitches, a gym, council offices and ancillary facilities.

“The kernel of the development will be the six all weather pitches which will lessen the burden of the non-availability of playing pitches for school and college games.”

While Pearse Stadium has been designated as the first round for the installation of floodlighting, he says that the delay in procuring planning permission may result in the funding being diverted to another project in the province ‘in the short term.’

However he issued a stark warning that the biggest drain on funds under the public liability scheme has been in meeting claims arising from non-GAA activities.

And, he also sounds a note of warning in relation to the Players Injury Scheme, pointing out that income has remained relatively static over the past four years while expenditure has increased by €5m to €9.2m.

This, in turn, reflects the jump in claims from €5,500 to €8,000, with the average cost increasing from €500 to €1,600.

Saying all units must ‘maintain the integrity’ of the scheme, he raises a number of issues for administrators such as a rise in out-of-competition and training injuries. It prompts him to ask: “Is everybody happy that all claims arise out of our games?”

Unauthorised challenge games are another issue and in general he says that there are areas ‘of deep concern’ for the Insurance Work Group.

“The question is, are we as an Association concerned that we must raise €10m in 2008 just to keep the scheme afloat? It is inevitable that if we are to continue as we are going that substantial increases in team registrations will be to be made in 2009.”