Volume 1 (1999/2000)
Issue 1 (March 1999)
Issue 2 (Nov. 1999)
Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
Issue 5 (March 2000)
Issue 6 (April 2000)
Issue 7 (May 2000)

Volume 2 (2000/2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2000)
Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
Issue 3 (Jan. 2001)
Issue 4 (March 2001)
Issue 5 (April 2001)
Issue 6 (May 2001)

Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)

Categories
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Review: 1 2 3
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Event: 1 2 3

Ours Is Not To Reason Why

Brendan Coffey
Maynooth P.P. School

Now that another proposal has been put forward to alter the structure of the football championship, perhaps the GAA will see the light and deal with the state of pitches across the country. While millions of pounds are being pumped in to Croke Park, why are all the other stadiums not being redeveloped? Why does the GAA play ALL the big matches in Croke Park when the pitch cannot cope with the number and other venues could draw larger crowds?

Let me explain. If one of the numerous games in the All-Ireland series played in Croke Park were played in neutral grounds closer to the participants it would draw a crowd of over 50,000. For example if the game between Galway and Kildare were played in O'Moore Park, Laois, more supporters from Galway would travel as they wouldn't have to leave at 10am to get to Dublin and then arrive home at 10pm after the game. Then the obvious question arises: Can O'Moore Park hold more than 50,000 people? Of course not! That is my point entirely, Instead of investing every iota of money in one stadium, why not spread it around?

What if the refurbished Croke Park becomes a white elephant? At the moment, and because of the way the championship is run, there isn't much chance of this. For most of the final pairings Croke Park will be a neutral venue. But if the new proposals for the championship are implemented, it could very well lose vast amounts of money. There are many final pairings, which could result from the new Championship format. For example we could have an All Ireland Final between Cork and Kerry, Derry and Armagh or Galway and Mayo. Wouldn't it be very silly to have the All Ireland final in the middle of Dublin when more fans are likely to go to a venue closer to them? Conceivably two sets of fans may have to travel over a hundred miles to watch two neighbouring counties play.

That is not the only fundamental flaw in the restructuring of Croke Park. The pitch dimensions have come in for a barrage of criticism over the recent weeks, as has the state of the sod itself. The dimensions have been of particular nuisance to the hurlers, who have produced some poor games at the All-Ireland level. If they were showing their worldly goods on a super pitch like Thurles we could well be seeing a classic 'Shakespeare type' drama, year after year. The evidence for this point of view exists. We're always hearing about the superiority of Munster hurling. And they do manage to produce the best games of the season in the province. Yet, this year, when Tipp and Cork came to Croke Park, they couldn't produce any great sparks. Over the last three years, it has been the Leinster sides that have consistently produced the goods in HQ. And coincidentally, it has been the Leinster sides that have been playing in Croke Park all year. Surely that isn't an advantage!

Apart from field dimensions, the pitch itself is often in poor shape. In the month of August, the annual month when most of the big games are played, the pitch must cope with nine big games - these are not just run of the mill club matches, they are senior and minor inter-county championship games!! If you played all the hurling games in Thurles, Croke Park would have a better pitch, the hurlers wouldn't have any grievances about the pitch dimensions, and there would probably be bigger crowds for the hurling games. Perhaps some of the money should be invested in making Semple Stadium (birthplace of the GAA) capable of holding 80,000 people. It would have been the ideal venue for Kilkenny and Galway, Cork and Offaly, and maybe even the final between Kilkenny and Offaly.

But "Ours is not to reason why", now is it?

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