February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Several contributions from the floor in Cork contained personal attacks on Kelly, who has made no secret of his support for his relaxation of Rule 42.
“Until such times as the president espouses the rules as laid down by our association, he [Sean Kelly] does not deserve the respect of the ordinary Gaels,” said John Corcoran.
Said Munster council treasurer Dan Hoare, “I would not let anybody into the car park, not to mention into Croke Park.”
While former Cork dual star Jimmy Barry-Murphy later responded by saying that the mood of the convention did not reflect the majority of opinions in the county.
“The president was showing leadership by giving his personal views and he should not have been criticized for that,” Murphy said. “I wouldn’t say that the feelings that were expressed at the Cork convention would represent all of the people in the county. If I was given a choice of seeing Michael Jackson, or Roy Keane, Denis Irwin or Ronan O’Gara playing in Croke Park, I know who I would chose. I would definitely rather see other Irish sports people in the stadium rather than rock or pop concerts.”
Kelly, meanwhile, said he wouldn’t be taking much notice of the criticism and denied he abused his position by articulating his view on the issue, which will be the main topic at next April’s annual congress in Killarney.
“Whenever I have given my views, I have made it clear that congress will decide and I haven’t tried to influence that decision,” Kelly said. “I believe I haven’t dishonored or disrespected the association. I haven’t engaged in any negotiations on the matter but have always encouraged everyone to look at all the issues and put them forward for debate.”
If Kelly’s stance is now predicated on the GAA’s financial need to profit from the rent of a stadium that lies idle for six months of the year, he claimed he has been consistent in his view for the last 10 years.
“This wasn’t something I did by stealth,” he said. “I have expressed the same views for 10 years and before the presidential election when asked, each and every candidate said the same thing: that they agreed with the opening up of Croke Park. I was quite obviously elected on that basis, and I’ve no apologies to offer about making my position clear.”
Other senior GAA figures, such as Peter Quinn, have also stressed the need to open up the stadium in order to ease the association’s debt, and while congress looms, there is also added pressure that might come from the Irish government if a proposal to develop Lansdowne Road into a 45,000 all-seater ground goes ahead.
If the government, the IRFU and the FAI were to put their financial weight behind the project, then clearly neither rugby nor soccer would have a home while the new stadium was being built. If Croke Park was to open its doors in a gesture to facilitate rugby and soccer and to prevent “home” games from being played in Britain, it is likely that the government would respond with further financial aid for the upkeep of Croke Park.
Meanwhile, the GAA has agreed to out-of-competition drug testing for its leading players in 2004. The tests will be confined to periods between national league and championship games and, critically, will be carried out at designated training venues.
It had been feared that the controls, which come under the jurisdiction of the Irish Sports Council, could have been carried out in either the homes of the workplaces, which would be intolerable for amateur players.
Drug testing has been in force following championship matches for three seasons with a total of 92 tests carried out to date none of which has resulted in a positive finding. GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell said he didn’t envision any problems with the new measures. “Intercounty players have become familiar with drug-testing procedures over the last few seasons, and I don’t anticipate any problems,” Farrell said.