Is Croke Park still ours? - O Sé

August 29, 2014

American football at Croke Park.

Tomás O Sé is concerned about the commercial direction Croke Park is being brought in.

The unavailability of the stadium for Saturday's All-Ireland semi-final replay between Kerry and Mayo due to its hosting of a money-spinning American Football match has led the former Kingdom wing back to question who the stadium actually belongs to:

"I know stadium director Peter McKenna is brilliant at what he does, but his brief isn't the promotion of the GAA. His brief is to drive the commercial side of the Association and I applaud him for it. He's clearly a very shrewd operator," O Sé writes in The Irish Independent.

"But I remember walking down a corridor of Croke Park after winning the All-Ireland in '09, being stopped by him and asked where I was going. He didn't know who I was from Adam. I explained that I was a player, just trying to get down to meet some friends.

"I'll admit I was lost and I'm pretty sure that, technically, I shouldn't have been where I found myself. But, at that moment, I might as well have been an intruder caught climbing down out of an air-vent. Look he's a busy guy and I know he's doing a fantastic job.

"But Croke Park is the GAA's field and I just get the impression that, more and more, there's an attitude building around it of 'Get off the pitch, we're making money here!'

"So there's a principle involved that bothers me this week. Why on earth agree to putting this American football game into Croke Park at our busiest time of year?

"Is the GAA now a business, pre-occupied with making money, or is it still ours?"


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