Typical GAA Hypocrisy

EoimarMuppet

They give out about the GPA looking for a few well earned sheets for the IC players and then I read this........

Leinster counties make room for Celine
15 November 2007


A scheduled Leinster SFC double-header next June at Croke Park has been re-arranged to allow for the staging of a concert by international singer Celine Dion.

Dion is due to play a concert at headquarters on Friday May 30th which has ruled out any championship matches there that weekend.

Two Leinster football quarter-finals, due to be held, will be switched to provincial venues on Sunday, June 1st. The pairings involved Laois v Kildare or Wicklow and Wexford v Meath or Carlow.

If it’s Laois v Kildare, the match will be played in Tullamore and if it’s Wicklow v Laois, the match will be staged in Carlow. A Carlow v Wexford tie will go ahead in Nowlan Park.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

HYPOCRITES!

MGrah

LiamWalkinstown wrote: »

They give out about the GPA looking for a few well earned sheets for the IC players and then I read this........

Leinster counties make room for Celine
15 November 2007


A scheduled Leinster SFC double-header next June at Croke Park has been re-arranged to allow for the staging of a concert by international singer Celine Dion.

Dion is due to play a concert at headquarters on Friday May 30th which has ruled out any championship matches there that weekend.

Two Leinster football quarter-finals, due to be held, will be switched to provincial venues on Sunday, June 1st. The pairings involved Laois v Kildare or Wicklow and Wexford v Meath or Carlow.

If it’s Laois v Kildare, the match will be played in Tullamore and if it’s Wicklow v Laois, the match will be staged in Carlow. A Carlow v Wexford tie will go ahead in Nowlan Park.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

HYPOCRITES!

Where's the hypocrisy in this?

I'd love to meet this "GAA" person who everyone seems to think makes a fortune every time Croke Park is rented out for an event. Renting Croke Park out for concerts helps to pay for all the facilities we have to use throughout the country, there's no big bank account that's just sitting their getting bigger like people seem to think.
The GAA renting out Croke Park for this or any other event is totally unrelated to the GPA or players being paid. In fact if the players were to be paid out of GAA coffers Croke Park would have to be rented out a hell of a lot more often.

An Citeog

I have to agree with MGrah here. The provincial venues can easily cater for these matches and Croke park would be fairly empty if it went ahead there. I'm sure it'd be nice for the players to get their big day out in Croke Park but calling it typical GAA hypocrisy is a bit strong imho.

holymolyHS

Thats fair enough AnCiteog and McGrah but the decision to let Celine Dion play in Croke Park was based on money and profit. I'm not having a go or getting on the high horse - it makes financial sense. They weighed it up, which one would make more money - a double header at Croke Park of Leinster quarter finalists or Celine Dion. Survey says Celine Dion.
So often you hear the argument that the GPA are not real GAA men or they're betraying the grassroots or they don't have anything to do with the notion of a young man aspiring to play in Croke Park some day when this is what GAA life is all about. Yet here we have a perfect example of the GAA making a choice based on what they can make out of a deal instead of pushing the development of our gaelic games.

yahoo_moe

i really don't see much GPA relevance here tbh... and actually, croke park being used for matches that are never going to sell out is one of my pet peeves - I think it's a disgrace that the GAA don't try for a really good atmosphere at a jammed regional ground more often

blackbelt

I'm actually going to be "controversial" here and say that the aforementioned counties should feel a sense of injustice here.

Not that I mind Celine Dion or the GAA making money but I feel that these counties do deserve their day in Croker.Kildare-Laois matches are special as its a derby.The last time they played in Croker it was the undercard for the Dublin-Wexford match.I'd like to Kildare v Laois and Meath v Wexford as a double header in Croker to see what a showing this double header can provide.

I'd say a Wexford v Meath match on a hot sunny day in Croker would be a real treat.I'd be interested in going to those matches so I'm fairly peeved that Celine Dion takes centre stage given that I'm not a fan of hers either.:)

cruiserweight

Any news no where the Wexford vs Meath game might be? I was planning on coming back to Ireland that weekend just for the game, don't know if I will now

jackbhoy

MGrah wrote: »

Where's the hypocrisy in this?

I'd love to meet this "GAA" person who everyone seems to think makes a fortune every time Croke Park is rented out for an event. Renting Croke Park out for concerts helps to pay for all the facilities we have to use throughout the country, there's no big bank account that's just sitting their getting bigger like people seem to think.
The GAA renting out Croke Park for this or any other event is totally unrelated to the GPA or players being paid. In fact if the players were to be paid out of GAA coffers Croke Park would have to be rented out a hell of a lot more often.

Totally agree. People many of whom know fook all about the game and support some American owned English football team during the winter) always come up with this BS. The money all goes back to clubs/counties and improving facilities at the end of the day. If somebody wants to pay €70-120 to listen to that bag of cats then take the money and put it to good use. The lads will get their outing in Croker anyway.

blackbelt

Celine (sealion) Dion is deafening.Radio automatically goes off if she's on.I hope the sound engineers don't have trouble with the frequency and pitch of her voice and that Croke Park is still left in one piece after her performance.:D:p

aidan24326

Ok fine, let them have Celine Dion and make a few quid out of the old squealer, sure why not.

The problem is that making money seems to be the primary goal of the GAA these days, they're turning into a business and it's little wonder that county players might be looking for a small piece of the pie since they're the ones generating most of the revenue.

Take the decision of the Wicklow county board not to have extra time in their county final. This denied their county champions a place in the Leinster Championship and can only have been motivated by the extra money a replay would bring in.

An Citeog

aidan24326 wrote: »

Ok fine, let them have Celine Dion and make a few quid out of the old squealer, sure why not.

The problem is that making money seems to be the primary goal of the GAA these days, they're turning into a business and it's little wonder that county players might be looking for a small piece of the pie since they're the ones generating most of the revenue.

Take the decision of the Wicklow county board not to have extra time in their county final. This denied their county champions a place in the Leinster Championship and can only have been motivated by the extra money a replay would bring in.

I somehow doubt the Wicklow county final is much of a cash cow.

The GAA is becomming more like a business because it has to. The cost of maintaining the facilities in Croke Park and throughout the country is astronomical. It simply can't be sustained by the few times a year when Croke Park is actually full.

aidan24326

An Citeog wrote: »

I somehow doubt the Wicklow county final is much of a cash cow.

The GAA is becomming more like a business because it has to. The cost of maintaining the facilities in Croke Park and throughout the country is astronomical. It simply can't be sustained by the few times a year when Croke Park is actually full.

A crowd of 3,000 paying 15 euros per head is 45 grand, a significant lump of money. If it wasn't the money then why didn't they play extra-time? I can't think of any other reason.

And if so much money is being pumped back into the grassroots of the association why is that most clubs haven't a pot to piss in unless they raise their own funds?

MGrah

aidan24326 wrote: »

A crowd of 3,000 paying 15 euros per head is 45 grand, a significant lump of money. If it wasn't the money then why didn't they play extra-time? I can't think of any other reason.

And if so much money is being pumped back into the grassroots of the association why is that most clubs haven't a pot to piss in unless they raise their own funds?

Aidan - your figures do show a nice windfall for Wicklow there, but the most likely reason was that extra time is never played after the first draw in a championship match (not any that I ever played in anyway).

You see comments like this about clubs not having a pot if they don't raise their own funds and it's somewhat true, but having been on the executive of a large Dublin club I also know for a fact the types of support received from the Leinster Council when it comes to infrastructure developments and I also know that it wouldn't be possible for this to happen if every Leinster Championship match was played in Croke Park at the expense of outside money spinners. In another thread I suggested that the Cork players interfering with administration was a dangerous road and this is the kind of thing that I'd be worried about. What if the Wexford and Meath players decided to strike unless Celine was barred from CP? It would be another step down the road of sacrifising the life blood of the GAA (i.e. the clubs) for the sake of the 'entitlements' of a few elite players. The GPA has a place in looking after player welfare - but not in interfering with the process of running the GAA, their members have an equal say to every other member of the association and long may it stay that way.

My personal view is maybe biased due to the fact that I have more interest in the club game being around and well facilitated for my son than in the intercounty superstars and their rights or otherwise but I would much rather that Celine Dion have a concert in Croke Park and Meath play Wexford in Carlow or the like and some club get a set of flood lights or a new changing room down in down in west Kerry than the alternative of the lads getting their big day out and everyone else getting nothing.

thirdmantackle

only 'big' games should be hosted in Croker in my opinion. provincial semi finals, finals, AI quarter finals

The GAA can make far more money from a concert than a half full stadium.

Nalced_irl

I agree, let poor auld Celine have her big day out in Croker and let GAA clubs reap the benifits of some folk having **** taste in music. As said already, the GAA do have to think like a business these days and so this decision doesnt surprise me in the slightest. I dont really buy into this "team being denied their day out". If they want their day in Croker, work hard and earn it. I know people mightnt like that but its the way i see it. Look at the FA Cup in England. Nobody has a divine right to play their match in Wembley, if they want to play there they have to work for it, and when a team does finally make it to Wembley its a much bigger event for them. Before anyone points out, i know this is a view from a Dublin fan and i know we do get to play in croker more often due to the crowd and know also that it may be viewed as unfair to other counties but the crowd is a legitimate reason to have Dub games there. I cant see any legitimate reason to say no to the €1.8m euro or whatever it is that Dion would bring in here.

Mushy

Turns out there is another gig on there that weekend aswell as the Celine Dion one. Not sure if its an unmentionable one(Westlife). Think the GAA may be getting all the gigs out of the way in one weekend, thankfully enough.

I wont mind the better atmosphere down in Carlow for the Wicklow match:p. Micko against his two old counties in two matches, I'll enjoy it.

Flukey

I too would have to go along with it being a fair decision. May and June championship matches don't come close to filling Croke Park - unless it is Dublin v Meath - and are better played in one of the venues in the competing counties. Croke Park only begins to come into its own when you get well into July. In the early stages of the Leinster Championship it makes more sense to have something there that will attract a larger crowd and bring in some profit, and give the other counties a chance to host matches and have a good atmosphere at them.

cournioni

There are too many matches being played at Croker as it is. Fair play to the GAA for making some money for the ones that matter, the clubs.

Tomthepost

According to a top GAA official 'In 2008 we will adopt a horses for courses attitude towards leasing out Croke Park.
The heart of the Leinster football championship will go on and on despite the games in question being played elsewhere so no need for the long faces on the matter (except for Celine's of course)'