Confected outrage grossly unfair to GAA
AN ISSUE shaped by social media is rarely dignified, but there is something very distasteful about the efforts to turn a tribute match in memory of Liam Miller into an attack on the GAA. Páirc Uí Chaoimh always made sense as a venue and it would be best if that could have happened without having to bring legal interpretations of State funding and its consequences into the discussion. But let’s be clear about this: the GAA has been guilty of nothing more than trying to run itself efficiently. Its rules are clear. Outside of Croke Park, other sports cannot be played in GAA grounds. This has fed online outrage, fanned by malcontents, the usual opportunists and minor politicians desperate for notice. Emotional blackmail was the first resort of many in the debate, but a body that has the energy, ambition and efficiency to build stadia (and fund the majority of the projects itself) is entitled to govern as it sees fit. Now there is no objection here to GAA stadia being used for other sports, and offering its Cork base for a charity venture clearly meets with the approval of wider GAA membership. But every sporting organisation is entitled to determine its policies and such nuance gets missed in the online world. It is honourable the people of Cork want to celebrate the memory of Miller, a man who died tragically young. This venture should not be spoiled by confected outrage.