Déise boss says there’s ... NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Waterford believe their Championship whitewash last summer was down to playing their games outside the county and they’re demanding change in 2019
‘MANY GAMES ARE COVERED IN STADIUMS THAT ARE NEAR EMPTY’
THE t-shirts haven’t quite been printed yet. Murals proclaiming ‘Fraher Field or Forget It’, have yet to spring up on buildings around the Dungarvan area.
Yet there is no denying the spirit of Kildare’s ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’ campaign is alive and well in Waterford.
When county chairman Paddy Joe Ryan uttered the Fraher Field catchphrase a couple of weeks ago, it was the first shot fired across the bows of the Munster Council and Croke Park, who have a vested interest in how the Munster and All-Ireland Championship plays out. Páraic Fanning, still settling into the role vacated by Derek McGrath after his predecessor’s five seasons in charge, isn’t about to imitate Cian O’Neill and go on national television to plead his case – at least not yet – but the lesson of Kildare’s grand stand isn’t lost on him either as home advantage translated into a seismic football qualifier victory over Mayo.
The roots of Waterford’s traumatic Munster Hurling Championship in 2018 can be traced back to the unavailability of Walsh Park. Instead of being part of hurling’s brave new world and a format that offered four games in a roundrobin – two home and two away – the All-Ireland finalists of 2017 were made to feel like outsiders. They were subsequently whitewashed after having to play on four successive weekends outside of the county.
Fanning doesn’t quite utter the words ‘Fraher Field or forget it’ but he makes no bones about his desire for a home venue on a weekend when the Waterford county final between Ballygunner and Abbeyside takes place at the same venue.
‘I’m hopeful of that,’ said Fanning. ‘As a hurling county, every county deserves the chance to play their home games at home. The Championship was structured to bring the game to provincial venues. Well, then it’s only fair that it happens, that people get to experience Championship fever on their doorstep. And local businesses and everything that goes with it.
‘We realise we’ve a difficult situation with our stadium [Walsh Park] at the moment. Thankfully, it is being resolved. It can’t be built overnight but that doesn’t mean, that with a bit of support from the powers that be, that we can’t accommodate games over a short period.’
To that end, Fraher Field is the only serious option. If, like Newbridge, the capacity is limited by health and safety regulations to less than 10,000, then Fanning says that live television coverage can be used to offset the limited ticket supply. ‘The capacity will change depending on what they do with it. It’s not going to be a massive capacity. But then, you’ve people saying that if Waterford have a stadium with a small capacity for a period of time, then the GAA and the Munster Council have got to make sure that those games are covered live so people can see them. There’s enough games covered live in near-empty stadiums. I think we’ll have a full stadium and good viewing numbers as well.
‘I’m fully aware that other things have to be discussed by those managing the games. I would hope that with a lot of talking and collaboration with everybody, that we can have some way of making it happen.’
The stats are there to show the value of home advantage in terms of win ratio, never mind being fundamental to the fairness of the new round-robin Championship.
‘It’s worth a lot,’ he added. ‘Of course we want to play our games at home. We want our people to experience that atmosphere.’
He has a tough act to follow in Derek McGrath who guided Waterford to consecutive National League finals (winning in 2015), consecutive Munster finals (losing to Tipperary twice) and to only the county’s third All-Ireland final appearance since their last title triumph of 1959. Fanning has a long apprenticeship served though, a Waterford selector with Davy Fitzgerald when a Munster title was won against the head in 2010 and again in Wexford the past two seasons as the county made waves.
The operations and business development manager at WIT Arena has brought James Murray and Pa Kearney on board with him as selectors and said he couldn’t let the opportunity pass.
‘It wasn’t something I said, “I want to be number one” but as the summer progressed the opportunity came up. I felt it was now or never. I have a huge interest in hurling, particularly in Waterford hurling. I’d stepped away from the Wexford position as coach with Davy Fitzgerald.
‘There was an opening in Waterford and I was approached. I expressed my own interest as well. I discussed it with my family and employers. I thought, “Have a go at this. I feel I’ve something to offer.”’
The family name is synonymous with the GAA, his grandfather Pat was president when the infamous ban was lifted at Congress in 1971, and received praise for the dignified manner in which the debate was handled, despite his own reservations about players being allowed to associate themselves with ‘for- eign’ games such as rugby or soccer.
‘The GAA gets a lot of unwarranted stick. They’ve always adapted and changed. Sometimes it mightn’t move as quickly as some people like but it has always taken things on board, reviewed things. The ban was lifted. There would have been a lot of debates and featuring my grandfather as well. The same thing happened with Croke Park when that was opened up. They said it was in the better interests of the association.
‘Everything in my family was GAA. I spent a lot of time with my grandfather as well as my father. My father was working, my grand-
father was retired so he collected me from school. I used to go swimming every day with him out in Tramore, go to games with him.
‘The club history as well and the family built around it, we are very proud of where we are from.’
A proud Mount Sion man, he is confident Waterford can bounce back in 2019.
‘We were in the All-Ireland in 2017. Had a lot of bad luck last year. The lack of home venue. The ghost goal [by Tipperary in the Gaelic Ground last June], a key score given. I’ve no doubt that if this team had got a couple of breaks last year, they would have been at the business end. ’
In terms of style, the use of a sweeper under Derek McGrath divided the county. It’s a set-up familiar to Fanning, given Wexford under Davy Fitzgerald set up in not dissimilar fashion, so he’s not about to proclaim a commitment to total hurling. ‘I don’t buy into the idea that everybody is so critical of the sweeper. I’ve seen some Waterford goals over the years which have been fantastic. The Wexford performance against Kilkenny for the first 40 minutes last year – I know we got caught in the end.
‘As to how Waterford play? I’m not sitting down saying “we have to be entertaining”. I think the type of players we have, we’ll always provide excitement. Getting over the line – that’s the bottom line. The people in Waterford are no different to anyone else… Looking at Limerick we want to experience success as well.’