Cooney rejects ‘Rock’ criticism

GAA President Christy Cooney, pictured right, hit back at comments made by Diarmuid O’Sullivan (left) who called on the GAA to market itself better.

GAA President Christy Cooney has dismissed claims the Association isn’t doing enough to market and promote their games at a time of increasing competition from other sports.

Cooney, was responding to comments made by retiring Cork hurler Diarmuid O’Sullivan in yesterday’s Irish Examiner who claimed Croke Park bosses were not doing enough to ‘glamourise’ their competitions.

Cooney insisted: “we continue to look at how we present our games and we will do that on a continuous basis.

“It’s important we would do that and of course we can learn from other sports.

“That’s only natural. We’d be foolish to say otherwise and we’d always observe what’s going on in other sports – whatever sport it is. And, if it’s something we can use, we will use it. I believe that the presentation of our games generally is very good and if we can add something to it we will.

“We’ll always have to compete with other sports, whether it is rugby or soccer or basketball or golf. It’s our job to put our best foot forward to make sure we get our fair share of the marketplace and we’ll do that and continue to do that. That will always be a challenge.’’

To reinforce his point, Cooney noted that in addition to yesterday’s formal launch of the GAA All-Ireland senior football championship in Croke Park, various functions had been held around the provinces over the past week. And, in Lismore Castle last Thursday he re-iterated the view that ‘the Munster GAA brand’ had been very successful over the past 125 years.

“If anyone would question that we need to re-brand Cork and Tipperary in the first round of the Munster hurling, they are in cuckoo-land because the brand is very strong.

“If Cork beat Waterford in the senior football championship I’m sure that people won’t have any difficulty travelling to Killarney for a wonderful weekend and a nice game of football. Munster Council have put in place some very good ticketing initiatives to attract people.’’

Cooney added that while the ideal situation would be to start the championships in the way they launched the National Football League, it was dependant on how the draws worked out.

“Of course you’d love to have a plum tie at the start of the championship but that’s not always possible.’’

Though New York suffered another crushing first round defeat on Sunday, Cooney insisted that as long as they wanted to play in the football championship and ‘were up to competing’, they would be made welcome.

“We have a lot more people emigrating and we want to give them the opportunity of being part of our organisation and a major event like the one we had last Sunday in Gaelic Park when Mayo played New York in the Connacht championship.’’

Meanwhile, the GAA boss said that it would be up to the Central Competitions Control Committee to decide at a later stage whether or not the All-Ireland football quarter-finals should be played in Croke Park.

This week Ulster Secretary Danny Murphy claimed the games would attract bigger crowds if they were played at regional venues. But Cooney said that a move from Croke Park would fall under the CCCC remit.

“That’s something the CCCC will give consideration to in due course, depending on pairings, and they will make their decisions on the most suitable venues. We have no policy decision and we are not going to make a policy decision on it. I’m not going to pre-judge what’s going to happen. It’s down to CCCC. They will make decisions in the best interests of the teams that are playing and the best venues that are available at the time.

“But, I would say that the more games we can play in Croke Park probably the better for everybody because we have the capacity and we have a responsibility to our patrons.’’ He also ruled out any suggestion of the GAA building a second, smaller stadium in the Dublin region, saying it was not ‘on the agenda’ and that there would be no government funding available for such a project.