C.C.C.C. chief says Shamrocks behind late venue change

AT WHAT point does the G.A.A. accept responsibility for its actions, or lack of them? Last week in the ‘Seen and Heard’ column we carried a brief reference to the Liam Mellows and Geraldine O’Hanrahans Junior ‘B’ hurling championship game, when the teams and mentors turned up at Fr. Murphy Park, Enniscorthy, as per the official fixture.

However, the venue wasn’t ready to host the match for reasons that still remain unclear, and it meant that the participants ended up going out the road to Ferns to fulfil the fixture, with the game starting roughly one hour later.

We had a reporter at both venues to verify that all of this happened, and in our view it was ‘shabby treatment’ of the clubs involved.

The Chairman of Wexford’s Central Competitions Control Committee (C.C.C.C.), Denis Cadogan, has shown some disquiet at that reference.

In an e-mail to our editor, he stated – ‘Shamrocks secretary received notice of the fixtures on September 17th and a reminder on the 21st (as did all other clubs, media, etc.) and were fully aware of the fixture and the clubs involved did not receive “shabby treatment”.

‘Neither the Secretary of the C.C.C.C. nor the Shamrocks Secretary were contacted by the author of the article, regarding the fixture (and this has been confirmed by both parties since the game) and we trust that the author will have the courtesy to correct the matter and state the facts.’

There were red faces in the G.A.A. once the gaffe was highlighted. In this age of social media and the need for a proper public relations structure, surely the G.A.A. should have released a statement explaining why both clubs had to accept such treatment to fulfil a fixture at such a critical stage of their championship.

The majority would accept that if such a scenario had developed for a Senior or Intermediate quarter-final, they would not have been moved to some other neutral venue in order to have the game played. The players and the clubs did deserve better as they pursued their moment of glory.

The situation received widespread attention on social media, and it all stemmed from the fact that the Shamrocks club did not have their facilities available for a championship quarter-final tie. But the question everyone is still asking is a simple one: Why? All club officials live in close proximity to the ground, so one would think a simple telephone call could have averted this debacle, with the venue surely becoming available within 15 minutes of such a call.

Instead of accepting the error, the G.A.A. as per usual went out on a limb with finger pointing as to who was responsible.

The C.C.C.C. state the Shamrocks were made aware of the fixture. They further state the club received a reminder four days later.

I spoke directly to Denis Cadogan on Monday afternoon and asked him who was responsible for what happened with the fixture. He said the responsibility rested with the Shamrocks club. ‘Someone did come along later from the club to open the gates, but there were no nets or pitch markings,’ he added.

Anthony Masterson, a Liam Mellows player, had a telephone number for George Murphy in Ferns, and when it was established that their venue was available, the game was moved.

Spare a thought for Liam Mellows and Geraldine O’Hanrahans in all of this, having travelled early on a Sunday morning from Coolgreany and New Ross respectively.

I tried to make contact with the Shamrocks club to receive their side of the story as to why they hadn’t their facilities available for the game.

Firstly, last Sunday morning at 10.26 a.m. I telephoned the club Secretary, Aoife O’Connor.

I left a message seeking a return call but I’m still awaiting a response at the time of writing.

I then made contact with the club Chairman, Jim Bob Dempsey, and explained the reason for my call.

‘I don’t know anything about it,’ he said. ‘I’m just back off holidays.’ He added that he would try to find out details and get back to me as quickly as possible. I am awaiting his response.

There is a question that still remains unanswered: Why did the game not take place in Fr. Murphy Park?

This debacle deserves closer examination from the G.A.A. hierarchy, and a detailed explanation should be provided.