Walsh: Waterford sought financial "sweetener"
July 04, 2012
Pairc Ui Chaoimh
At a Munster CCC meeting last week, delegates voted 8-2 against a proposal from Waterford to move the final against Tipperary from Pairc Ui Chaoimh to Semple Stadium. Speaking on Tipp FM Radio, Walsh revealed that it was the third year in succession that the Deise - whose financial problems have been well-documented - had tried to negotiate such a deal.
The former Kerry county board chairman said: "I'm glad to get the opportunity to clarify the situation in relation to this fixture. The draw for the Munster championship was made last October and since then, both Waterford and Tipp knew that if they met in a final, the venue would be up for decision. But it took from October until now to come out and say that they wanted to play at Semple Stadium.
"On June 7, before our semi-finals, we met to decide our venues. At that meeting, the date for the final was discussed, as is normal. Then came a proposal from a Waterford delegate that they would consider coming to Thurles for the final if what he called a "sweetener" was on the table.
"A 'sweetener' was something that came up last year - that if Waterford came to Thurles they'd get some of the money due to Semple Stadium for the hosting of that match. That's a system we ruled completely out of order last year because that would throw all of our neutral venues expecting matches into doubt because anybody could go away then, do a deal with the host county and get money for it.
"We made it quite obvious and quite plain then that there wouldn't be a sweetener on the table but if they wanted to go to Thurles, they could make a proposal. When the sweetener wasn't on the table, he withdrew the proposal of going to Thurles.
"Cork was proposed and agreed on by the counties involved and by everybody else. On June 25, this was revisited by Waterford, who did the very same last year, having agreed to play Tipp in Thurles." Tweet
