Ballina Stephenites are refusing to sell any tickets for an upcoming Mayo GAA Development draw in protest at the County Board's failure to fix competitive intercounty and top club games for the north Mayo town.

The county's most successful GAA club have decided to make a stand after their requests to speak with the County Board on the matter went ignored and they will boycott the county's biggest annual fundraiser.

They are also calling for a mediator from Croke Park to be brought in to deal with a number of issues.

Along with fellow urban clubs Castlebar Mitchels and Westport St Patrick's, Ballina are given the biggest number of tickets and it's understood that they handed over in the region of €8000 last year.

"We're all part of the GAA family. We have and always will, support the best interests of the association, but we're at the end of our tether here in Ballina," club chairman John Healy explained to the Western People.

"We're the second biggest town in the county, and there's a very long and proud history of the GAA in this town. We've supported Mayo GAA to the hilt over the years, yet we get nothing back, absolutely nothing.

"We have written to the County Board looking to speak with them about getting big games back to Ballina, but we've heard nothing back and now we've been left with no choice but to stand up for the town and indeed the whole North Mayo hinterland.

"We're not looking for any monetary gain for the club, but we are looking for the town and the area to be supported. We're a community-based club, but we feel that the community of Ballina and North Mayo in general, has been badly let down by Mayo County Board.

"We have a fantastic pitch and redeveloped grounds here in Ballina. The club and the community have come together to provide these facilities, yet the County Board won't give us one game a year.

"One national league match in Ballina or a county final, would bring four or five thousand people into the town. It would be a huge boost to the whole place, but we're knocked back time and time again when we look for a game.

"The County Board would actually make money from bringing a game to James Stephens Park because we wouldn't want a penny from the gate, not a cent. We're not interested in making money from it, we just want to bring people into the town to assist our businesses. The businesses in this town are finding the going very tough and these businesses have supported the GAA wonderfully over the years and they're getting absolutely nothing back.

"Bringing a game to Ballina would help them greatly and it would generate goodwill for the County Board, because there is very little of that going around at the moment." Tweet

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