Connacht u20 Final Venue?

[SLIGONIAN]

I think this deserves its own thread because I want as much input as possible and for outside of Connacht folk to see what's going on.

Sligo qualified for the Connacht u20 final beating Roscommon on Wednesday. The game was in Markievicz because we last played Roscommon last year at u20 in the Hyde. Connacht at underage has a home and away agreement and at senior but because of attendance issues we play our final at neutral venues at senior.
Mayo beat Leitrim in the other semi-final.

Mayo and Sligo last played in the u20 in 2019 in McHale Park.

So can someone explain to me why the final is fixed for the Centre Of Excellence in Mayo?
A few things -

Its clearly our home game
No player wants to play there in a final
From a health and safety perspective if a huge crowd shows up, how many can it hold?
It favors Mayo and gives them home advantage
They played there in the qtr final

The Connacht council in 2019 changed the rules on the minor after the league to favor Mayo when they were likely to finish 3rd in the group. 2nd place was supposed to get a home semi-final but they changed it back to the home/away agreement when mayo finished 3rd.
Sligo played Galway 3 times in a row away in the knockout part of the minor championship in the noughties when they were a league format.

The rules are always changed to suit certain counties but this blatant disregard for the agreements in place. I think it's scandalous and if I was Sligo I would say Markievicz or nowhere.

Does anyone know what the logic is here or what's going on?

[Cunny Funt]

Zero logic. This upcoming U20 final should be played in Markievicz Park. Bekan is not a suitable venue even if Mayo had home advantage, just 500 seated capacity.

[weareros]

Connacht Council out of control. At this time of year, no rhyme or reason to play in the Bubble plus Sligo should have their home advantage. Time for all the counties to speak up. Had Ros qualified, we'd have lost home advantage too.

[Rossfan]

Wasn't Sligo v Ros originally on Connacht website as being at Prentyvanity Park?
I'm guessing their site defaults to that place???

[SLIGONIAN]

Zero logic. This upcoming U20 final should be played in Markievicz Park. Bekan is not a suitable venue even if Mayo had home advantage, just 500 seated capacity.

I am old enough to remember a huge crowd from Sligo turning up in 99 to see Roscommon paste us. I'd expect a decent Sligo crowd at this and Mayo are always well supported so a couple of thousand at it for sure. Bizarre decision even in those parameters. Have the Connacht Council thought this through? Among my friends and family, there is a lot of anger at this.

Do any of the Sligo lads know if we are pushing back?

[weareros]

Wasn't Sligo v Ros originally on Connacht website as being at Prentyvanity Park?
I'm guessing their site defaults to that place???

ConnachtGAA retweeted MayoGAA advertising it in COE. It's definitely looks like some Ballyhaunis shenanigans.

https://twitter.com/mayogaa/status/1514320605386006530?s=21&t=MfdRI3MPw8CJBxZ_9Eodpw

[Itchy]

Makes zero sense, sure there's not even a stand or terrace there. What a stupid place to put a provincial final.

[manfromdelmonte]

Surely Sligo, Ros and Leitrim don't support finals being played in bekan?

[Farrandeelin]

Surely Sligo, Ros and Leitrim don't support finals being played in bekan?

I hate the bloody place myself, no place for a Connacht final, not sure of the ins and outs of the home and away arrangement, but if Sligo are due a home venue, they should get it imo.

[rodney trotter]

A final should be in a neutral venue. The home away venue, is a bit of a nonsense,  like in Munster with Kerry and Cork

[Blowitupref]

Would expect 3,000 plus to attend this final, does the Connacht COE have that amount of space for parking as you can't park outside on a busy road.

[Rossfan]

A final should be in a neutral venue. The home away venue, is a bit of a nonsense,  like in Munster with Kerry and Cork

We Connacht people get on fine (most of the time) with our home and away arrangements thank you very much.

[armaghniac]

A final should be in a neutral venue. The home away venue, is a bit of a nonsense,  like in Munster with Kerry and Cork

We Connacht people get on fine (most of the time) with our home and away arrangements thank you very much.

Isn't this a thread complaining about such arrangements?

[rodney trotter]

A final should be in a neutral venue. The home away venue, is a bit of a nonsense,  like in Munster with Kerry and Cork

We Connacht people get on fine (most of the time) with our home and away arrangements thank you very much.

Thanks..I'm sure you speak for all of Connacht

[SLIGONIAN]

Sligo County Board Statement, the Connacht Council and TG4 come out of this disgracefully.

On Wednesday night last (13 April) we formally noted our objection to Connacht Council of the announcement that  of the Connacht Centre of Excellence as the location for the Connacht U20 final for which we had qualified minutes earlier.

This communication was immediately dismissed. Since then we have attempted to communicate the depth of feeling in Sligo on this issue to the Connacht Council and to have the game confirmed to take place in Sligo as would be the norm under the longstanding rotation for intercounty championship games in Connacht including finals.

We sought to do so in a constructive manner without unnecessary conflict and without disturbing the preparation for that game by the U20 team and by our senior teams who are involved in hurling and football championship action this weekend.

Having achieved no movement on the issue by yesterday afternoon (Friday) we sent an email to Connacht Council which confirmed formally what had been conveyed by varied informal channels over the previous 24 hours. This email has not been acknowledged.

We now find ourselves in a position where the players and management involved and our supporters are questioning why we are not saying anything publicly. Accordingly we are sharing the text of that email so that there is no ambiguity as to where we stand.


"We have reflected on the email exchange of Wednesday evening last in respect of the staging of next week's U20 championship final and the issue has been fully discussed by the players, their management and the Management Committee of Sligo GAA.

Our U20's achievement in qualifying for a Connacht final is not just based on 60 minutes of endeavour but six years together as a group that has brought a lot of pleasure to all those that follow the games in the county.

For as long as anyone participating can recall, the hosting of championship games at all grades of football in Connacht, including finals, has rotated between the counties involved, something that we are sure will be acknowledged by officials and supporters in all the other counties, including our opponents next week, Mayo. On the last occasion when Sligo played Mayo at U20  level, in 2019, the game was played in Castlebar.

Immediately after Wednesday's semi-final game, it was announced through the media that next week's final would be played at the Connacht Centre of Excellence at Bekan. Sligo GAA is a big supporter of the Bekan project. It is a critical and far-sighted piece of infrastructure that has already brought, and will continue to bring, huge benefits to the development of Gaelic games in the province generally and in each of the  counties, including our own.

Its purpose however is to support the development of the games and to add to what was there. It is  not to replace the use of existing grounds for the hosting of major games that are a core part of the fabric of every season.

It is clear that this decision has been made to facilitate television. While we greatly appreciate the value of media coverage of our games and the distinct contribution of TG4 in particular, there is no basis on which we can accept that putting the needs of a television station before the opportunity for players and supporters to enjoy a provincial final on their home ground can be justified.

We are told this decision is being made because there are lights in Bekan and not in Markievicz Park. Are we seriously now scheduling one of the biggest games of the year in the province to suit the scheduling needs of a television station? We would respectfully suggest that TG4 rearrange its schedule for the evening to accommodate the match at an earlier time. If it is unwilling to do so, it says a lot more about its commitment to support the GAA than all of the marketing and promotion we see.

We have also been told that we have to accept Bekan as the venue because this was referred to in an email issued after the Mayo Galway quarter final late on the evening of Wednesday 6 April. It would have been utterly disingenuous of us to start discussing the location of a Connacht final when we hadn't even played the semi-final and the suggestion that we should accept the location of the final as Bekan because it was in that email is simply ridiculous.

If those charged with the administration of the GAA in Connacht insist on throwing in at Bekan at 7.30 on Wednesday next it is an event in which Sligo GAA will not be involved. This has been fully discussed by the players, their team management and the county committee. We are all at one on the point."