GAA chiefs deem Páirc pitch ‘unacceptable’ as replacement looks likely

Yesterday’s news that Cork will play their next NHL Division 1A game in Páirc Uí Rinn rather than Páirc Uí Chaoimh is good news for players but it also raises many questions.

GAA chiefs deem Páirc pitch ‘unacceptable’ as replacement looks likely

Yesterday’s news that Cork will

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First things first. Yesterday afternoon the following statement was released on behalf of the Cork County Board and Pairc Ui Chaoimh: “The playing surface at Páirc Uí Chaoimh for last weekend’s Allianz Leagues games was unacceptable.

“The heavy pitch-side traffic, associated with the construction works for the new stadium build, has had a detrimental effect on the pitch.

“As was evident yesterday, in winter conditions, the surface is likely to cut up badly. However, as weather improves, the grass roots will develop and playability will improve dramatically.

“The stadium team have engaged the Sports Turf Research Institute, who are international pitch specialists, to advise on the best way forward. Their preliminary results suggest a pitch replacement, later this year, will be required.

“In the short-term, we will continue to use best endeavours to ensure the surface is kept to an acceptable standard.

"Our primary concern is player safety, and if an acceptable standard cannot be achieved we will not risk player-injury by fixing games in the stadium.

“The Cork v Clare Allianz Hurling League game scheduled for February 16 will now be played at Páirc Uí Rinn.

Thereafter, we will assess the pitch each Monday, in advance of the up-coming Allianz League games, and advise CCCC accordingly.

This is a welcome move given how bad the playing surface was in Páirc Uí Chaoimh last weekend.

It’s not overstating matters to suggest that a player could have suffered a serious injury; Clare footballer Dermot Coughlan suffered a severe leg injury last weekend in his side’s clash with Armagh which Banner manager Colm Collins blamed squarely on the frozen ground (“I would have an issue with the pitch,” said Collins after the game, “I thought it was frozen in places and I think the injury was as a result of the frozen pitch.”)

The issue in Páirc UÍ Chaoimh is very different, as acknowledged in the statement above. The Leeside pitch is prone to cutting up badly and therefore - per statement - “a pitch replacement, later this year, will be required”.

This contradicts another statement, however, issued following a December meeting of the board of directors of Staid Cois Laoi: “The meeting also confirmed that remedial work will take place on the playing surface to ensure that it will be capable of hosting games fixed for Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2019.

"This work will be completed ahead of the commencement of the Allianz Leagues and it is not expected that a replacement of the pitch will be needed in the short-term.”

Yesterday’s statement, however, endorses the comments by Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna to the Irish Examiner before Christmas, when he said the playing surface “ . . . will have to be replaced. The surface is very unstable, as you may have seen earlier in the year, so we’ll have to do some fairly aggressive remedial work there.

"I think it should have started earlier and we may not have time to get it done because of the winter weather.”

The question is a simple one: if Peter McKenna could point to the instability of the pitch being noticeable earlier in 2018, why were those issues not be rectified before the 2019 season?

Another question ties the financial travails of Páirc Uí Chaoimh directly to the games themselves.

What happens on February 16 to the premium ticket-holders who shelled out over €6,000 to see games in Páirc Uí Chaoimh?

It is understood that over one-third of the 2,000 tickets on offer have been taken up, but those tickets are not for Páirc Uí Rinn: those are for the new stadium where, according to the publicity, “premium level seat holders have exclusive access to four bars, a 400-seat restaurant and the best views in the stadium... You will be able to attend the match or concert at your leisure, have a meal and a drink in the comfort of the Premium restaurant before you move to your Premium seat for the event.”

While Páirc Uí Rinn has a far better surface than its big brother near the river, its facilities are not comparable with those of Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Are those 700-plus premium ticket holders now entitled to free admission for the Clare league game on February 16?

If they all turn up that leaves a serious hole in the gate receipts, but a more serious problem may arise if premium ticket-holders express their dissatisfaction with the uncertainty surrounding the venue for games they’re entitled to watch.

Another issue on the horizon is the Harty Cup final, which is down for decision between two Cork schools, Christian Brothers College and Midleton CBS, and the Munster Senior B hurling final, between Hamilton High School and Rochestown College.

Clearly those games cannot be played in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but given they were scheduled to be played in Cork on February 16, what venue can accommodate them?

Others, too, may be impacted: Cork are fixed to play Tipperary in the Ladies National Football League at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on February 23 as a curtain-raiser to the county’s Allianz League Division Two clash with Meath

It would be the first time that Cork have ever played a game at the famous Leeside stadium.

A wait that has stretched back decades may continue a while longer.

The acknowledgement that Cork’s showpiece stadium is unplayable has serious implications for fixture-planning, not just within the county, but on a national basis.

To reduce the huge debt on the stadium, the GAA will need to fix revenue-generating inter-county championship games for Páirc Ui Chaoimh, but managers of inter-county teams are sure to have noted the admission in yesterday’s statement that “if an acceptable standard cannot be achieved, we will not risk player-injury by fixing games in the stadium”.

Given the failure to reach an “acceptable standard” for the national leagues, there will be keen interest in the quality of the playing surface as the summer nears: will a manager refuse to endanger his players’ health and safety in Páirc Uí Chaoimh?

Finally, yesterday’s statement was released by Croke Park on behalf of the Cork County Board, an indication of Cork’s reduced status in the GAA’s wider ecosystem.

In the complex world of favours and back-scratching that make up GAA politics, that may be the most punishing revelation of the last few days.

The premium tickets for Páirc Uí Chaoimh were sold in part because they provide “certainty and comfort for the avid GAA fan”, according to the publicity.

Two concepts in short supply on Leeside at present.

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