Walsh Park - To Move or Not Move That Is the Question

The front page of this week’s Waterford News and Star makes interesting reading if you are a fan of Gaelic Games in Waterford.

Like Councillor Jason Murphy who spoke with Darren Skelton in the paper and again with Eamon Keane on his Déise Today programme on WLR.fm yesterday morning, I have long felt that it is time for the G.A.A. in Waterford to move out of Walsh Park and to put the for sale signs up outside the ground.

The ground is one which has never appealed to me in my forty plus years attending hurling and football games in the county.

I will accept that the ground has come on a great deal in the last two decades.

I am well able to remember the green hay shed structure that stood in the area which is now the centre of the stand at the ground.

I am well able to remember the old cement bench steps that ran along where the stand is now. It was many a time that I sat on the first row or two of them for games down the years, sitting on them as unlike many others watching games I was not able to stand on them owing to by disabilities, and had to go down near the front to ensure that no one stood directly in front of me while the game or games were taking place.

While the building of a stand and proper seating at the ground in the 1990’s was a welcome move, other development work at the ground was always going to be limited.

The capacity of the stand was never going to be huge because of the road that backs onto the back of it.

You are always going to be limited to what you could do on the bank at the Keane’s Road or Country end of the ground because of the road that runs behind it. On the bank side of the field you are again limited as to what you can do as it backs onto a row of houses on Griffith Place who would not want another stand built at the end of their back garden and you are also fairly limited as to what you can do behind the goal at the city end of the ground and also Ard na Greine is close by and would they want the shadow of a stand or terracing backing onto the people of the areas property.

Councillor Jason Murphy like many others within the county has suggested that the County Board should move its county ground to the WIT arena at Carriganore.

I have attended a number of games at this venue in the last number of years and have been mighty impressed with what I have seen there, but the ground is not suited to be the County Ground for Waterford.

First up and I stand to be corrected on this, the property is privately owned by the WIT. The ground is capable of hosting a number of sports including Gaelic Games for both men and women, soccer and rugby and it is also capable of hosting cross country athletic events.

If Waterford was to develop a new county ground away from Walsh Park, then I am almost certain that grants to do so could well be available from both the Munster and Central Council and maybe Lottery and other funding would also be available.

While the G.A.A. in recent years have voted to allow none GAA sports to take place in Croke Park, I for one cannot see the G.A.A. wanting to get involved in developing the WIT Arena as a County Ground for the Waterford County G.A.A. Board if the Association did not own the property which was to be developed. Would the G.A.A. want to develop facilities for other sports if there was nothing out of it for the G.A.A.

If Carriganore was to be developed as a county ground then it is almost certain that at least one playing field at the WIT Arena would be lost, as terracing or a stand would have to be built opposite the current stands on the main field as well as behind the goal furthest away from the dressing rooms.

Walsh Park other than for the developing of proper terracing or new stands around the ground is also not a good place to be.

I have often heard down the years people claim that they are good G.A.A. people who go to all the games, but when they are pressed they will admit that it is hurling games that the most will attend.

I consider myself to be a G.A.A. person. I am neither a hurling man nor a football man. To me both games are equal. So too is Handball and Scór, while I have to admit that I know little about Rounder’s which is also a G.A.A. Sport.

And anybody that knows me, Camogie and Ladies Football to me are important and are seen by me as being equal to their male equivalent games. Maybe even at times I regard the ladies games as more enjoyable to watch as the games are often played as they should be.

To me, the sooner the G.A.A. gets fully behind both Camogie and Ladies Football and promotes them as best as possible, the better.

In the late spring and throughout the summer Walsh Park is more than capable of staging a double header game. But this cannot be said throughout the year.

In the last few years during the National Hurling and Football Leagues, Waterford from time to time have had both sides down to play home games in the on afternoon. But the overwhelming majority of the time we have had to see both sides play at different grounds for the simple reason Walsh Park is not capable of holding a double header.

It has happened that maybe our men’s teams have had only one game at home on any given weekend, but we have had one of our Camogie teams down to play a home game the same afternoon.

Recently we had for example Waterford play Cork in the National Hurling League at Walsh Park, while the same afternoon the same two counties clashed in Camogie at the WIT Arena. Other counties can play double header games in the National League season, so why can’t we here in Waterford. The answer of course is that the surface at Walsh Park is not up to the required standard in the early or late months of the year.

If Walsh Park is not fitting its purpose and the WIT Arena is not a possible solution for different reasons, then where does that leave Waterford?

I for one when times were good if I was part of the decision making within Waterford G.A.A. would have argued that the For Sale signs should be put up on at Walsh Park. I have no doubt had it been done when times were good, a good price would have been agreed. We are told that the country has turned around in the last number of years, so maybe it’s not too late to put up the signs and a good price could be got in the near future.

While the G.A.A. has tended to have its major grounds in areas where the population is biggest, it does not always have to be this way.

Tipperary for obvious reasons has its county ground in Thurles which may not be the biggest population centre in the Premier County. And while Tipperary does not have their county ground in the centre of the biggest population, neither do possibly Wexford and Kildare. I am sure that Gorey has a bigger population than Wexford Town and Naas I am sure has a bigger population than Newbridge. So is there a reason why Waterford has its County Ground in an area where the biggest population is.

Ideally, a venue would be in the centre of the county would be best suited, somewhere close to Lemybrien or Kilmacthomas. There are plenty of Greenfield sites in this area that could well be developed. This area would be well suited with public transport passing through the area. But one downfall would be venues that people could gather before and after games, a choice of pubs and cafés and restaurants etc. but maybe as the Greenway that passes through the area grows this is something that could be put to right.

Dungarvan would possibly be the best location as it is served with a good bus service from both Cork and Waterford and it is also relatively close to the County Tipperary border, while the Limerick border coming through Mitchelstown and onto Fermoy or over The Vee and into Lismore or Cappoquin would also not be too far away.

I am only too well aware that suggesting that a county ground in Dungarvan is stirring up the East-West divide that sadly exists in Waterford. I think it is well known that I would favour the abolishing of the Western and Eastern Divisional Boards. I was one of the delegates back in 1996 that voted in favour of an All County under 14 hurling Championship and would have hoped that all competitions in the county would have gone that way since then.

Dungarvan is pretty much in the centre in the county. A person could come from Waterford city to Dungarvan often much quicker than you would travel from areas of Ballyduff Upper, Tallow or the Nire Valley into Dungarvan.

The infrastructure in and around Dungarvan is relatively good. If the playing surface at Fraher Field was turned 90 degrees two new sizeable stands could be built at the ground as well as safe terracing at either end of a new look playing pitch. Within the town area there is some sizeable car parking spaces for cars, all within walking distance of the town.

Fraher Field is also a ground with a history, one that those in G.A.A. Headquarters in Dublin should not forget about. Fraher Field as we know it now has played to the most Senior All-Ireland Finals outside of Croke Park, even ahead of Semple Stadium in Thurles. Dan Fraher who the field is named also played an important role in the purchase of land on Jones’ Road in Dublin early in the last century and is a man that the G.A.A. should never be left forgotten about.

Ok, Fraher Field as a County Ground in Waterford might have some downfalls as well. Parking is often a problem, but nowhere near as much as in Waterford. If the G.A.A. were to purchase the land between the Mart and the corner of the road leading to the current car park and to develop the area as a car park it could take many of the cars that would travel to the venue. Maybe the owners of the Mart could also help out by opening their premises on match days.

Waterford is in need of a top quality county ground. At present for many reason’s Walsh Park is not the answer and many will agree with this. Where there would be most divide is to where the County Ground should be located. There could be plenty of options, but in the eyes of yours truly, developing Fraher Field properly is the best option.