FIRSTLY, let me put my hand up and say, yes, I have ‘skin in the game’ when it comes to the naming rights of the main GAA Stadium in Cork.
It might be tenuous, but lest I be accused of trying ‘to pull a fast one’ or ‘pulling the wool’ over delegates’ eyes, here goes.
Pádraig Ó Caoimh was married to a woman from the parish of Ballynoe. Peggy O Keeffe was from the townland of Newtown in the parish dedicated to St Catherine. Peggy’s mother was Mary Scanlan, who was a cousin of my great, grandmother Johanna Scanlan.
So, I’m not related to the man who has oft been mentioned in the last ten days, not related - but connected through marriage.
I’m not fully certain when I attended my first Cork GAA Annual Convention - at a guess I’d say either 1976 or 1977 shortly after the stadium had been built on the site of the old Athletic Grounds.
At the time I was already four or five years involved with my own parish Club, Bride Rovers. All I recall about that Convention is that it went on for hours as delegates teased out the ramifications of various Motions.
On the fine stage behind the board Officers was the National Flag on one side with the ‘Blood and Bandage’ of Rebel Cork on the other side. Between these two flags, which mean so much to me, was a huge portrait of Pádraig Ó Caoimh. It was painted when Ó Caoimh was in his ’60s - well, that was my impression anyhow. He was a fine cut of a man, but in truth I knew very little about him.
I had wrongly presumed that because the new stadium had been named after the leading GAA official of his time, that he was bred, born and reared by the Lee. Then, in 1980, Marcus de Burca was commissioned by the GAA to write a comprehensive history of the Association from its foundation in 1884.
The GAA, A History, by de Burca, remains to this day the most complete and thorough publication on the Gaelic Athletic Association - I read it from cover to cover.
Like most GAA members. I knew little of the background of Pádraig Ó Caoimh, the man who is properly regarded as ‘the father of the modern GAA’.
From 1929 until his death in 1964, the Roscommon-born administrator oversaw a remarkable growth in Ireland’s leading amateur sporting organisation. Of course. he served under many dynamic and outstanding GAA Presidents, but all these great leaders were of one voice in declaring it was Ó Caoimh’s vision and determination that was the driving force behind the expansion.
During his tenure, the number of GAA clubs doubled. It was he who spearheaded the movement to purchase and develop lands for provincial, county and club grounds.
A native of Ballengare in Roscommon, Patrick Joseph O Keeffe was the son of an RIC man, Michael O Keeffe, his mother was Mary O Malley. Born in 1897, he was living in Cork with his father (then a draper), a brother and three sisters in the first decade of the 1900s.
After completing his secondary education at PBC in Cork, Patrick studied to be a teacher in London and taught in CBC on his return to Cork. He joined the Irish Volunteers in the historic year of 1916.
Three years later, he became Secretary of the Cork County Board and also ceased teaching to become a full time IRA officer with the Cork No 1 Brigade.
Arrested for his Volunteer activities, Ó Caoimh served time in Parkhurst Prison and was released after the Anglo -Irish Treaty. He became a well-respected GAA official in Cork during the 1920s.
In 1929, he was one of 11 candidates that applied for the position of GAA General Secretary after the death of Luke O’Toole. Since 1901, O’Toole had served as the first full time paid Secretary General of the GAA.
After two rounds of voting by the 21 person Association’s Central Council, Pádraig Ó Caoimh was elected by 11 votes to 10 over dual All Ireland medal winner Frank Burke.
Ó Caoimh secured the position after Monaghan’s Eoin O Duffy, who backed Burke in the first ballot, switched ‘allegiance’ to him.
From 1929 until his death on May 15, 1964, Padraig Ó Caoimh was the leading sports administrator in this country.
A decade after his death, when plans were formulated to replace the old Athletics Grounds with a new purpose-built GAA stadium, it was no surprise that this magnificent building would be named Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
I was absent from the meeting in the Páirc on Tuesday night last week because of a previously planned holiday, maybe ‘twas just as well I wasn’t there.
As one who proudly wears my heart on my sleeve, I’d probably have’ blown a fuse’ in a mixture of anger and disbelief at the thought of such a sordid situation that unfolded.
I’m no fool when it comes to finance, though I’m not a mathematical genius either ! Our debt of €30 million is huge, crippling, and presents Cork GAA with a huge problem. I’m not in denial of that fact, and am aware that even if we sell the Kilbarry lands on the Northside - and sell it ‘well’ - we will still have an enormous debt to clear off.
No-one denies these facts, stark and eye-opening figures. It’s going to take a huge effort from all of us that profess to love Cork GAA to rectify the situation.
One thing is certain though, absolutely certain - if we are ever going to clear this debt and win All Irelands again, we simply must have the support of the Cork population behind us.
The sad truth is that after last week’s debacle many, many proud Cork men and women have hung their Rebel heads in dismay.
Let no one trot out that ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ line to me - that’s like saying ‘we have our principles but if you don’t like them we have others’.
Of course I would love to say to the world ‘Cork GAA doesn’t need stadium naming rights - Rebel Cork?’ but I’m a pragmatist and like 17 other County GAA Boards Stadium, naming rights are seen as means of getting in much needed finance.
John Arnold doesn’t object to that, and I’d say in fairness very few Cork people do, but have we no ‘bottom line’?
Have we absolutely no value or appreciation of the effort, blood, sweat and tears that people like Pádraig Ó Caoimh gave freely to the GAA over many years?
I have heard so-called ‘experts’ say that when debt comes in the door, history and so-called core values go out. If that’s the case, we in this county don’t deserve the title Rebel Cork any more.
That’s a hard thing to say, and even harder to write down, but if we lose our heritage and our sense of values, we have nothing, absolutely nothing.
Maybe we’ll get a stadium name sponsor, and fair play if we do, but if any potential sponsor demands a pre-condition of dropping the name of Páirc Uí Chaoimh I’d tell ’em where to shove their money.
Perhaps there are another 999 people like me in Cork who would donate €1,000 each, if that’s the price of showing the world that we the grassroots want to keep the name of Pádraig Ó Caoimh to the forefront?
Could this ‘proposal’ be discussed at the next County Board meeting?
I don’t know, and ye certainly can’t read all about it now that the fourth estate are persona non grata on Leeside.
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