It is welcome news that enabling works and land clearance at Casement Park, Belfast will begin in the weeks ahead but it must be remembered that this is not due to political will.
As politicians scramble over each other to announce that work is due to commence, no significant progress has been made in regards to securing the money required for the current design. This hasn’t been a priority for Sinn Fein or Corporate GAA regardless of how it is spun. There has been an absence of any coherent political campaign from either, just empty promises and straplines – the rare announcement of advances and then retreat to allow sectarian squabble to continue. The strategy has been broadly based on the reliance of handouts from the British Government, and their proxies in Stormont, and there is still no clarity on secured funding or timelines, despite the GAA being one of the wealthiest sporting organisations in the country. This has been to the detriment of Antrim Gaels and the wider GAA and sporting community. This would not happen in other counties.
It is disgraceful that 15 years on from the closure of Casement Park, Antrim Gaels remain without a county ground. Even if things progress at pace we will be lucky to have a county ground within 20 years from the initial pitch closure. This is a stain on the GAA.
It must be remembered that there is no reason why Gaelic games aren’t being played in Casement Park today. It was deliberately closed as a bargaining tool by the GAA and the political class, to use as leverage and they failed, leaving them, and us, in the position we find ourselves today.
Casement Park must be built, and soon. We need a suitable sporting ground, fit for purpose, for current and future generations of Gaels, for the development of Antrim GAA and for the promotion of gaelic games and culture. But we must not forget that the political elite and corporate GAA have yet again failed grassroots Gaels, robbed generations of a county ground with their politicking and laissez-faire approach. Let that be remembered, and we must ensure that when things do get moving that we do our outmost to ensure grassroots and the working class get the most out of it, not the contractors aligned to the political class, their business forums or proxy community projects, their friends and corporate GAA who are waiting in the wings and circling in anticipation of the influx of money. It must belong to the people who have kept things moving, the volunteers, players, clubs, grassroots Gaels and social clubs.
The Casement Park saga is no different from other, similar struggles, it has been the grassroots and volunteers who have kept Antrim GAA alive while those in power continue to squabble and delay.
No more delays, Get it built now!
Aontroim Abú.
