What if Cork City were drawn against Celtic?
THE FURORE over whether a tribute match in honour of the late Liam Miller should be played at Páirc Uí Chaoimh will likely prompt a GAA rule change.
To be fair to the Cork County Board, it seems as though the massive public outcry at the initial refusal to host the game was taken on board.
But the flip side is that, historically, Cork have always been on the other side of that argument – the solitary exception when Páirc Uí Chaoimh would have been one of the beneficiaries of Ireland’s failed bid for the Rugby World Cup in 2023.
But, as recently as 2015, a Clare motion sought that provincial grounds outside of Croke Park be opened to other codes, provided such approval was granted by Central Council was defeated at Congress, where it received just over one third of the vote.
It is likely that Cork would take a different view of that motion now, not least because the fine stadium they have developed could do with all the games it can get to an approximate €80million spend.
The CCCC is unlikely to be sending more neutral games their way after barely 10,000 clicked through the turnstiles for last Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final between Cork and Clare.
But there is a bigger and more humane picture at play here. It was little short of an outrage that a stadium, built in a large part by tax payers funding, was initially not in a position to open its gates for a good cause.
Lesson learned. The very least, and this will come calling to the GAA’s door again, is that Congress changes the rule to ensure that Central Council can have the final say when such an event is being held to aid a benevolent fund.
But it should extend beyond that. What happens if someday soon Cork City draw Celtic in a Champions League game?
Will they have to take it to Limerick or Dublin because of a rule that seeks to protect stadiums which spend most of their times idle, offering little benefit to the communities who helped fund them in the first instance.
It is not good enough and it should change.