Athleague defend facilities after Armagh’s stinging criticism

A Roscommon GAA club will lodge a complaint after the contents of a visiting team bus toilet were emptied outside their grounds following a weekend intercounty game.

The incident occurred following the county side’s Allianz Hurling League Division 2B clash with Armagh at Athleague on Sunday.

After the game, members of the Ulster side expressed fury at the standard of the dressing rooms, claiming the showers were cold and that there was no electricity.

The Athleague Hurling club then alleged that the contents of a visiting team bus toilet were deposited outside their grounds, a claim rejected by Armagh officials.

“Athleague Hurling pitch has been the designated county hurling grounds for County Roscommon for the last 30 years and also the Connacht Council favoured grounds outside of Galway,” a club statement read.

“We are also the designated hurling grounds for all Connacht Club Hurling Championship semi-finals and finals. When the draw for the National League games were announced we were aware that we would be hosting all home games for 2013.

“As per our high standards for which we received an accolade in being awarded club grounds of the year in 2010, we had a full check on our new dressing rooms which are used for every inter-county hurling game in the last 13 years since their construction in 2000. On Friday, March 8, a check was done on all facilities on the new dressing rooms, ie heating, water, showers, toilets and lighting and all were in perfect working order.

“This check on the new facilities was carried out as it has always been done as these are the designated dressing rooms for all inter-county games. On Sunday, March 10 at approximately 10am a request was made by the Roscommon County Hurling committee that they wanted to use the old dressing rooms.

“This last-minute change was not the fault of our club. No official from our club told Armagh to proceed to the old dressing rooms, and we are unaware as to why they did as the new facilities were available. No request, query or complaint from Armagh hurling team was made to any of our club officials on Sunday the 10th of March, they have played in our grounds previously and are fully aware of our fine facilities.

“We in Athleague hurling club feel that we needed to respond to coverage from the events of Sunday March 10 as we take great pride in our facilities and we hold our heads high in the hurling circles of our county and province.”

It is understood the matters will be discussed at a meeting of the Roscommon County Board tonight and Athleague officials have photographic evidence to back up their claims that the Armagh team dumped their toilet.

Liam Ross, Hurling Officer with the Armagh Hurling Board said: “The showers were very cold. It seems that there was no electricity in the dressing rooms. It wouldn’t be a level you’d expect nowadays.

“I’ve no doubt that the Roscommon footballers wouldn’t take it. It’s not what we’d be used to from the Athletic Grounds. I played there 30 years ago and nothing has changed.”

Roscommon GAA chiefs issued a statement on their website: “The Management Committee of Roscommon GAA are investigating allegations made on Twitter regarding the facilities at the Athleague GAA Grounds yesterday for the Allianz Hurling League Division 2B game between Roscommon and Armagh. The committee will contact the Armagh County Board and the Armagh Hurling Committee to discuss this and other matters and will not be making any further comment at this time.”