Clarity needed in hurling row as in-fighting serves no purpose

The tension and animosity between the various strands of Offaly GAA that have burst through to the surface this week have made for unpleasant viewing, listening and reading for everyone that has the best interests of the county at heart. No matter who is right and wrong in the current situation, nothing positive can be gained from the very public in-fighting that is taking place, or indeed the divisiveness and rancour that is sure to follow in the coming weeks and months. Extensive commentary on this issue is very difficult, simply because only one side of the story has been made public so far. The county board have declined to comment on the matter and while that policy is undoubtedly ill-advised from a public relations point of view at least - after all the matter is in the public domain now whether they like it or not - it still makes real and in-depth analysis of this stand-off extremely tricky. What cannot be denied is that Joe Dooley's letter, co-signed by several other key participants in the current Offaly senior hurling panel, was designed to catch the eye of the nation. There is undoubtedly some gamesmanship in the fact that the letter was printed in the Examiner, a national newspaper certainly but also the first and foremost paper in Cork, who Offaly will hurl against tomorrow week, provided Cork overcome Laois on Saturday in Portlaoise, as they had fully expected to do. But despite this, the letter is endorsed by a lot of very well respected people and it should be discussed and addressed head on, with no delay. However, there are questions that need to be answered first. Primarily, not even a Junior B team would arrange training without having cleared in advance that their pitch was available and that the hot water would be turned on for showers. If this training session was arranged in advance and fully sanctioned and the players took to the field at the appointed time, then some officious individual or individuals inside O'Connor Park have a lot to answer for. If it was not, then again the spotlight reverts to the management who were so presumptuous as to assume that O'Connor Park would be simply available to them at the drop of a hat, or that they could take to the field early and disturb the Centra Under-12 event simply because they were togged out and ready to go. Once again, the truth could lie at either point or somewhere in the middle and forming an opinion without knowing these facts makes no sense. Digging deeper into the content of the letter, the phrase "the threat of cars been (sic) removed from outside the ground" is particularly interesting. There are other reports that there was only one car asked to be moved, and that was because it was causing an obstruction. If there was a threat to cars parked legally and safely, then that is of course reprehensible and a gross insult to those doing their best for Offaly hurling. If instead this was a disingenuous way of trying to escalate the situation by twisting and exaggerating a reasonable request, then it damages the credibility of everything that is said therein. Again, the truth here is crucial and must be mined. The issue of access to O'Connor Park for county teams is of course both contentious and critical. While it would be great if O'Connor Park was not a huge debt burden to the county, there is no escaping the fact that there are huge outstanding debts to be paid on the facility and that issue must be borne in mind when all fixtures, club and county, are being drawn up. That simple truth forces the county board to use the pitch as often as possible for matches, which in turn means that the playing surface cannot be made available for training as often as would be ideal. While it would be great if this was not the case, there is no point wishing things were different, or making demands of a county board that are not in the position to meet them. However, again there is a second side to this - management still should be granted a reasonable level of access for county teams and if there is not a process in place whereby managers and stadium officials can sit down and thrash this out well in advance, then this should be put in place immediately. However, the most disturbing aspect of this row is that the old chestnut about St Brendan's Park in Birr appears to have once again crept into the discussion despite not having any obvious relevance. If the county board are not supportive of the county hurlers in their efforts to achieve as much as possible on the field of play, then that is an issue by itself - it does not somehow create a situation whereby returning to Birr becomes the solution. Birr GAA club have put a lot of effort into upgrading St Brendan's Park and that is very much to the credit of the club. However this does not put an onus on the county to play games there, simply because this historically was always the way things were done. Historically players didn't get medical treatment for injuries sustained either, but nobody is looking to revert to that, and rightly so. Birr must first prove that it can stand up to inclement weather conditions before it could be made available for any league matches, while secondly, Offaly really needs to guard against the idea that there is a part of the county that plays football, there is a part of the county that plays hurling, and these two regions are worlds apart. Some of Michael Duignan's comments on RTE Radio One were hugely regrettable, firstly because his attack on the county footballers was a sweeping generalisation that was grossly unfair to a lot of dedicated and committed servants that play football in the county. And secondly, he stated that Offaly hurling was centred in a seven mile radius all around Birr, without mentioning that this is a huge problem for hurling in Offaly and something that needs to be fixed. He instead stated it as if it was always thus and will always be the way, and that people should just accept this. Ignoring for a moment the huge efforts being made by hurling clubs farther afield such as Brosna Gaels, Tullamore, Edenderry and elsewhere, Offaly cannot hope to realistically build an inter-county team that will compete at the top level when only focusing on an area of the county with a population of 20,000. Offaly hurling needs north Offaly clubs to follow the sport, just as much as Offaly football needs a strong contribution from south Offaly, where Birr GAA is a leading light in terms of incubating some excellent footballing talent. If Offaly GAA is to thrive, then county teams must be treated with respect, irrespective of what grounds they train in. However the idea that there should be an internal split, a feeling of "us and them" is nonsensical and hugely counterproductive. Birr GAA club is the focal point of a large swathe of strong GAA clubs in south Offaly, and where the budget allows, there should certainly be a consideration of playing league games there, all the more so when the durability of the field against the weather is proven. However, there is no reason why some of the league games played there should not be football ones, since the Offaly footballers represent south Offaly just as much as the hurlers do. Perhaps this is one aspect of the solution, and another would be for Birr GAA to make their facilities available in a manner that ensures that the Offaly county board is not significantly out of pocket relative to the cost of playing in Tullamore. Some steps in that direction would also end speculation that Offaly would be moving games and training, not because of any wish to improve the performances and results of Offaly teams, but merely to pay off a different debt.