GAA sign 5-year park deal with Manhattan College

By Pierce O’Reilly

New York Gaelic Athletic Association officials and Manhattan College have apparently ironed their differences and have agreed to a new five-year contact for use of Gaelic Park.

The president of Manhattan College, Br. Thomas Scanlan, said he was confident the new deal, which will be reviewed annually, would benefit both organizations.

"We had our disagreements, but the lines of communication remained open and that’s the most important thing," Scanlan said last week. "We’re both looking forward now to getting on with the business at hand."

Gaelic Park is owned by the city and administered by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Manhattan College holds the lease for the park’s playing field and the GAA rents the field from the college.

Speaking at last week’s GAA meeting in the Landsdowne, New York GAA President Monty Moloney said he was delighted that things had worked out.

"If it wasn’t for Br. Scanlan, we wouldn’t have such a good deal at present," he said. "It’s time now to mend the broken bridges of the past and progress together hand in hand."

The signing of the contract followed an incident the previous Friday, April 27, when college officials removed GAA players from the park prior to a scheduled challenge game. The college noted that under the contract that existed at the time, the pitch could be used only for training sessions, not games involving 30 players.

After that incident, the GAA sounded a conciliatory note, with the GAA’s public relations officer, John Moore, calling it a "misunderstanding and vowing to "rectify the situation."

The new contract, which was signed and sealed last Thursday, includes, among many changes, eight extra Saturday playing dates for the GAA. It also includes the provision of four new weekdays that can be used in June and July. Manhattan College have agreed to install a sprinkler system for the pitch surface during the summer and the infamous softball diamond will be resod until the end of the GAA playing season. The dressing room issue has being postponed for the time being while draft plans are being drawn up. Manhattan College has stated that they feel there is inadequate space on their property for further development.

Manhattan College will receive $75,000 per annum for the next five years instead of 50 percent of all gate receipts, as was the agreement in the previous eight-year contract, which was due to expire at the end of the year.

"The payment is used to cover our expenses, since we redeveloped the ground in 1993," Scanlan said. "We spent in the region of $1.4 million on the bleachers, the field, the dressing rooms and general maintenance that year, so we need to recoup some of that money."