I’VE BEEN GOING TO THE JIM.. KEY FIGURES FROM REPORT
Mckenna: Efforts have been made to assure Gavin about pitch but he’s hard to pin down
CENTRAL CENTRAL COUNCIL
CROKE PARK stadium director Peter Mckenna says he has tried in vain to contact Dublin manager Jim Gavin to discuss issues with the playing surface.
Gavin has repeatedly been critical of concerts being staged at Croke Park at the height of the Championship season as it causes a significant portion of the pitch to be replaced and, in his opinion, compromises the quality of the surface.
Last summer The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift and Michael Buble all performed at
CROKE PARK STADIUM LTD
GAA headquarters, with Westlife and the Spice Girls lined up this year.
With the GAA publishing its financial report yesterday, it emerged that Croke Park Stadium Ltd handed over €8m last year to Central Council, a significant portion of which comes from concert revenue.
But Mckenna insists that the shows aren’t justified purely from a monetary viewpoint.
“I stand over it from a technical point of view,” said Mckenna, who doubles up as the GAA’S commercial director.
“We test that pitch, all the metrics of it. Managers need to GAA PLANS to purchase Clonliffe College are still some way from completion, Peter Mckenna has explained.
The GAA has held discussions with the Archdiocese of Dublin about purchasing the deflect from other conversations, so it is easy to say that I didn’t like this or whatever.
“The pitch is put down to the highest standards and we know exactly what the performance metrics of that pitch are in terms of stud turn, hardness and so on.
“And I have them there for every week for the last five or six years, so no, there is no issue with the pitch.”
He continued: “Managers deflect, they don’t want to talk about the issue that you want to talk about, so the pitch is an easy way to create a diversion, 38-acre site near Croke Park, which has not operated as a seminary since 2000.
Writing in his financial report published yesterday, Mckenna, director of Croke Park and also the GAA’S commercial director, said they are “excited by the if you like. But the figures are there and I am happy to show them to anybody.”
Including Gavin (inset)? “I have tried several times but he is a very busy man, he is a pilot as well as everything else.
“I think criticism is really positive. I welcome anyone making comment because it helps us raise our game. “But I think if you do make criticism, it is nice to find out exactly what your issues were and let us respond.
“I am always very conscious that the fellas that do the pitch potential” of the venture, with plans including pitches and a hotel.
He elaborated: “These are just outline plans that we thought were important to put into the accounts because they could be of significance this year.
“Archbishop Diarmaid are just regular lads and they have millions of people scrutinising their work and they are back page invariably during the year. That’s an awful lot of pressure to be on fellas.
“They are part of my team and I will defend their ability to do their work because I think they are brilliant and if there is criticism, I will go and chat to the guy who is making it and say let’s talk it through and tweak whatever the issues are.
“But sometimes, and you guys [reporters] probably find the same, it is not always easy to catch managers on the phone.” Martin mentioned at a press conference late in 2018 that he was in discussions with ourselves about selling Clonliffe College.
“We’ve had ongoing discussions but we don’t have any deal yet.
“The type of plans we have for the area would include GAA pitches, a hotel to support the conference business here.
“That’s the outline of the scheme but until we get a green light from the Vatican, the Archbishop and Ard Comhairle, it is still a dream.”