Soccer Pitch ploughed up on GAA instructions

[Croí na hÉireann]

And what do these "GAA" men think of the soccer club putting a lock on the gates after they were refused leave to appeal???

that it was naughty but pails into comparison with ploughing a pitch under the cover of darkness.

Naughty my hole. They went and put a lock on the grounds, which they were granted access to by the GAA club, because they didn't like the ruling of a court of law. The GAA club were entirely in the right to plough the field, they didn't go far enough in my opinion...

[INDIANA]

I am not speaking on semantic argument. you are putting out a version that is not true. The name of the GAA club is on the Trust deed of that piece of land- now you show me a piece of evidence thats tells us otherwise. You're simply splitting hairs. Nowhere on that document is the soccer clubs name on it.
Now everyone here owns a house- whose name is on the deed? Thats who owns it. it really is that simple. you're looking for all manner of semantic arguments to stir shit. The fact is the soccer club has no legal standing on that piece of ground. And if you speak to the relevent parties in Milltown they'll tell you that.
The moral issues are a complete side issue as to who owns it.

Christ on a honda. No-one is saying the soccer club are on the lease, how could they be?

What they are saying is that the GAA CENTRALLY took the land in trust on the basis that they would maintain it for the entire community and a three person committee was founded to do so. That committee have recently allowed the local GAA club subsume the land. The issue is as to whether they have that power and if Rule 44 is compatable with the agreement the GAA signed with the land commission in the 30's.

Nowhere is it claimed that C/M GAA club hold the lease on behalf of the committee on behalf of the GAA except by you.

You are deliberatly missing the point.

No sir you are missing the point by delibarately mis-representing the facts of the case.

Milltown/Castlemaine GAA club are the legal owners of the property as registered by the Land Registry Authority in folio KY24138. This may be viewed at the Authorities offices in Waterford or at the Courthouse in Tralee.

The club was granted full planning permission without submission or objection on August 20, (planning file 08-1591), for the levelling of the existing field, creation of a full-size, fully-floodlit GAA pitch, and the provision of 50 car parking spaces. These works are now underway.

[dublinfella]

Naughty my hole. They went and put a lock on the grounds, which they were granted access to by the GAA club, because they didn't like the ruling of a court of law. The GAA club were entirely in the right to plough the field, they didn't go far enough in my opinion...

Do you honestly believe that to be the case? 20 years rent free use?

[lynchbhoy]

Do you honestly believe that to be the case? 20 years rent free use?

thats ow gracious the GAA are to people, then when they need to use their own land for their own uses, the cuckoo soccer crew are up in arms and try to use what are effectively 'squatting rights' as leverage to maintain their cuckoo status - instead of going out to get their own grounds and developing them.
The GAA clubs fund themselves in getting grounds, clubhouses and maintenance with small token grants usually once in their lifetime from GAA HQ.

soccer dont even pay their way in lansdowne - well they didnt for years, so with that kind of precedent, what do you expect from the rank and file soccer clubs other than to squat then use emotional blackmail instead of paying their way !

[catchandkick]

Your last few comments dublinfella are a load of rubbish. The reason most GAA clubs have excellent facilities these days is because they have shown a bit of drive and ambition which most soccer clubs haven't.

A case in point is Catlemaine Soccer club. I can think of four or five clubs in Kerry which were founded around the same time or after Castlemaine soccer club was, and each have fantastic facilities. None were given discounted handouts by the State as you seem to be implying. There are some well run soccer clubs in Kerry - Killarney Celtic and Dynamos spring to mind but Castlemaine should have got their arses years ago and done something for themselves.

I know the issue of ownership is a different argument but if M/C GAA get the field then the soccer club cant expect too much sympathy

[Croí na hÉireann]

Do you honestly believe that to be the case? 20 years rent free use?

thats ow gracious the GAA are to people, then when they need to use their own land for their own uses, the cuckoo soccer crew are up in arms and try to use what are effectively 'squatting rights' as leverage to maintain their cuckoo status - instead of going out to get their own grounds and developing them.
The GAA clubs fund themselves in getting grounds, clubhouses and maintenance with small token grants usually once in their lifetime from GAA HQ.

soccer dont even pay their way in lansdowne - well they didnt for years, so with that kind of precedent, what do you expect from the rank and file soccer clubs other than to squat then use emotional blackmail instead of paying their way !

What he said. It'd serve the soccer freeloaders better to go out and acquire a field somewhere else in the community. I'd say the local landowners will be queuing up to let them onto their land after the recent shanigans the freeloaders got up to...

[GalwayBayBoy]

As for soccer in general being associated with freeloading, well i dont see how anyone (not even you DF) can argue to the contrary. they seems to believe that the community has some sort of inherent obligation to provide facilities for soccer clubs. this goes on throughout the country.

I could name you several soccer clubs in Laois/Kilkenny who have developed their own all weather pitches and dressing rooms over the last 10 years.
My own village of Durrow in Laois have a club called the Durrow Lions and actually have far better facilities than the local Harps Gaa club and the Gaa club actually use the soccer clubs all weather training pitches for training now and again.
Deen Celtic soccer club in Castlecomer also have one of the best training facilities in Kilkenny,there is also Rathdowney soccer club in Laois,also Freebooters FC and Evergreen FC in Kilkenny,New Oak FC in Carlow all have developed some lovely pitches and training facilities for their clubs.

I do think there is a bit of a tendency to describe all soccer clubs as a bunch of freeloaders on this board but many of them are actually very well run although obviously some are not run well at all.

Check out Salthill Devon's set-up in Galway.

http://www.salthilldevon.ie/dromphotos.asp

[magpie seanie]

Salthill Devon are a fantastic club and more power to them but they are very much the exception. It shows what can be done though.

[Main Street]

But most GAA facilities were provieded either for free or at a discount by the state....

Its a bit unreasonable to expect soccer clubs to keep up with GAA facilities considerng they have grown in numbers in the middle of the Celtic Tiger boom and would have had to pay developers for pitches. Very few GAA clubs have had to do that.

Provided free?
Free in the sense that members donated time work and money to build up the facilities

Where do get the idea from that "most GAA facilities were provided either for free or at a discount by the state"

Like this field in Kerry, the GAA got a sizeable chunk of its lands in the 26 counties from the Land Commission either for free or for token amounts. No other sport got the same assistance.

What they did with that land facility wise is a different debate.

Ah, it's the  'one swallow makes a summer'  argument 

I suppose a fact or two to support your statement would be in violation of the 'GAA free ride' myth belief system.

[The Real Laoislad]

As for soccer in general being associated with freeloading, well i dont see how anyone (not even you DF) can argue to the contrary. they seems to believe that the community has some sort of inherent obligation to provide facilities for soccer clubs. this goes on throughout the country.

I could name you several soccer clubs in Laois/Kilkenny who have developed their own all weather pitches and dressing rooms over the last 10 years.
My own village of Durrow in Laois have a club called the Durrow Lions and actually have far better facilities than the local Harps Gaa club and the Gaa club actually use the soccer clubs all weather training pitches for training now and again.
Deen Celtic soccer club in Castlecomer also have one of the best training facilities in Kilkenny,there is also Rathdowney soccer club in Laois,also Freebooters FC and Evergreen FC in Kilkenny,New Oak FC in Carlow all have developed some lovely pitches and training facilities for their clubs.

I do think there is a bit of a tendency to describe all soccer clubs as a bunch of freeloaders on this board but many of them are actually very well run although obviously some are not run well at all.

I would agree with that..
As I said in my experience from playing all over Ireland its certainly is more than the minority that have well run clubs and have developed fairly decent facilities for training etc.
Granted there not all as high spec as that Salthill club which is very impressive but where I played most in the Kilkenny and District league quite a number of clubs are very well run,and thats in a county where Gaa is a religion to most.

[magickingdom]

i would have a bit of experience myself up in the north and i can honestly say that the clubs with their own facilities are mainly the ones that play in the irish league divisions (and even some of those teams dont). in terms of junior soccer teams the first time i have ever played at a grond which was owned by the team we were playing against was last saturday. other than that it is always pitches provided by local councils etc with the clubs having absolutely no ambition to develop their own ground.

But most GAA facilities were provieded either for free or at a discount by the state....

Its a bit unreasonable to expect soccer clubs to keep up with GAA facilities considerng they have grown in numbers in the middle of the Celtic Tiger boom and would have had to pay developers for pitches. Very few GAA clubs have had to do that.

what do you base that on?

[pintsofguinness]

i would have a bit of experience myself up in the north and i can honestly say that the clubs with their own facilities are mainly the ones that play in the irish league divisions (and even some of those teams dont). in terms of junior soccer teams the first time i have ever played at a grond which was owned by the team we were playing against was last saturday. other than that it is always pitches provided by local councils etc with the clubs having absolutely no ambition to develop their own ground.

But most GAA facilities were provieded either for free or at a discount by the state....

Its a bit unreasonable to expect soccer clubs to keep up with GAA facilities considerng they have grown in numbers in the middle of the Celtic Tiger boom and would have had to pay developers for pitches. Very few GAA clubs have had to do that.

Well then you'll have no trouble naming a few for us?

[RadioGAAGAA]

As I said in my experience from playing all over Ireland its certainly is more than the minority that have well run clubs and have developed fairly decent facilities for training etc.

My experiences would be the opposite.


Very few clubs owning their own pitches, mostly using council provided (and maintained) grounds.


To be honest, even when I was playing soccer, I was often disgusted at the lack of organisation of the leagues, and our club. My gaelic club is night and day different.

[AZOffaly]

I think the difference is in the level you play at. I know Laoislad was subbed at a fairly high level, so he'd naturally experience the better grounds, especially in Oscar Traynor competition, and Leinster Junior Cup. There's quite a few clubs, including the soccer club in Ferbane (Gallen United) who are very well run and have things like Astro Turf pitches. Portlaoise, Tullamore etc etc are all good setups. Pike Rovers, Fairview etc down in Limerick would put quite a few to shame.

Where you get the farmer's field with sheep shit, ditches for dressing rooms and ankle breaking grounds are the lower divisions of the provincial leagues, and obviously places like Dublin where there's corporation pitches being used.

I think the sweeping statement about soccer clubs is harsh.

In this case, it looks like one set of Kerry cute hoors tried to pull a stroke on another set of Kerry cure hoors, and the second set got mad and tried to teach them a lesson. Bull ignorance on both sides I'd say, but it sounds like the GAA are legally right, even if their diplomacy might be a bit underdeveloped. The soccer lads sound like one of those badly run clubs, with little ambition for themselves who suddenly found out their gravy train was coming to an end. I don't think there's glory on anyone, and the 6am ploughing was at best sneaky.

[The Real Laoislad]

I think the difference is in the level you play at. I know Laoislad was subbed at a fairly high level, so he'd naturally experience the better grounds, especially in Oscar Traynor competition, and Leinster Junior Cup. There's quite a few clubs, including the soccer club in Ferbane (Gallen United) who are very well run and have things like Astro Turf pitches. Portlaoise, Tullamore etc etc are all good setups. Pike Rovers, Fairview etc down in Limerick would put quite a few to shame.

Where you get the farmer's field with sheep shit, ditches for dressing rooms and ankle breaking grounds are the lower divisions of the provincial leagues, and obviously places like Dublin where there's corporation pitches being used.

I think the sweeping statement about soccer clubs is harsh.

Thats a fair enough assessment,I would agree there are clubs run badly and believe me I have played on those full of cow shit farmers fields with the back of someones Transit for a dressing room.
But there are many good hard working people involved in soccer clubs all over Ireland who put in just as much effort as those in Gaa clubs and there are some fine clubs about as a result.

BTW I was never a sub in my life while playing soccer AZ....