Cooney says congress will act on use of Croke Park

GAVIN CUMMISKEYin Buenos Aires talks to GAA president Christy Cooney as the All Stars visit to Argentina comes to an end

STICKING LARGELY to the theme of his first year as GAA president Christy Cooney refused to provide a personal opinion on whether Croke Park will remain open to other sports once construction is completed on the Aviva Stadium.

Cooney does, however, believe congress will grant central council the power to make this decision so a rapid call can be made, say, in the event of last season’s Leinster versus Munster Heineken Cup semi-final was to reoccur.

Cooney was forthcoming on ruling out the use of other GAA grounds for other sports. He would not though explain why this is his stance except to to say demands on the pitches are already an issue.

“I’m going to restate this. I’m absolutely opposed to our club or county grounds being used for other sports.

“The demands on our own county grounds are absolutely unbelievable, we just couldn’t cope with our grounds being made available to rugby and soccer throughout the winter. It just wouldn’t be on.”

This stance is easily refuted when using the Gaelic grounds in Limerick as an example.

“The other associations have their own responsibilities to provide their own facilities anyway. With regard to Croke Park, I don’t believe that’s an issue, number one the Aviva Stadium is contracted to so many matches that they have to play, they won’t be in a position to play any (international) games in Croke Park over the next few years in either soccer or rugby.”

GAA director general Padraic Duffy has already stated his desire to keep Croke Park open in the future. There are the obvious and substantial financial implications.

So, if another non-scheduled rugby or soccer match that exceeds the demands of the 50,000 Aviva stadium, and Croke Park is not an option, will this not reflect badly upon the association?

“No, that’s not fair. You’re aware of a political debate that took place in the Dáil recently on that issue, the pressure rugby and soccer came under in regards to using Croke Park, and they outlined their position clearly, their contract situation they have commitments themselves. If congress makes that decision and I expect it will, to be honest that Croke Park will be available to other sports as it’s requested, and that central council will make that decision, central council will make the right decision, I’m sure.

“What’s happened over the last five years hasn’t been bad for the association, and there’s no point in saying otherwise, financially it’s been very good, and it’s given a very good broad image of the association.”

Also on this page Waterford hurler Eoin Kelly states the GAA’s lack of consultation with the players over rule alterations is the equivalent to treating them like children. The president was provided an opportunity to respond.

“That doesn’t deserve an answer,” said Cooney. “We don’t treat anybody like children. That’s why we have a medical work group (on mandatory helmet use) and they do enormous work on this situation and they take the best possible medical advice for the sake of all our players. Research has show, due to the injuries we have had, you can see there is no young player going out and playing any game without a helmet is right and proper. We would be wrong as an association not to ensure the health and safety of all our players. That’s what we are doing.”

On rules changes Cooney continued: “We had a few players involved in this. Anthony Rainbow is a current player, Oisín McConville is a current player at club level, Jamesie O’Connor is a former player, we have had player involvement in the process. So we did get the views of some of those involved of their views on the situation.

“I have absolutely no difficulty in players being involved in areas like this, or being involved in any sub-groups on various issues into the future.

“And that is something we will do as we go down through the process finalising the agreement with the GPA before next October. It will be very welcome.”

Finally, Cooney commented further on the payment of managers situation, admitting it had reached frightening proportions, particularly at club level, but when pressed on a way of tackling it, he was less clear about creating a deterrent.

“There was somebody recently who made a recommendation, not a formal recommendation, that maybe we should look at putting a motion to congress to say to clubs and counties that they would have to appoint managers from within their own counties and from within their own clubs and that you couldn’t go outside of that.

“Maybe that is something that might be given consideration, but look, we need to look at a number of options of how we are going to move it forward. But, at the end of the day, if clubs and counties are not true to themselves there’s very great difficulty in us doing anything about it.

“We know actually that the funding is not coming directly out of county boards, but the answer I would give to that is that if that funding is available to support the development of games I think that it would be used to greater advantage in the county.”