How the sad story of Parnells offers many lessons to the GAA

Extra.ie​

9 hours ago

Even the dogs on the streets knew. There was a time just over a decade ago when I couldn't pop down to my local in Phibsborough without being told about the latest inter-county superstar rumoured to be relocating to Coolock. Names like Aidan O'Shea and Michael Murphy were mentioned—and scoffed at.
But Parnells were behaving like the drunk and generous uncle at a wedding who insists on getting a round of Midleton Rare in, and everyone knew about it. At least, around the northside, they did.
It's just as well there was nothing in those more outlandish rumours about O'Shea and Murphy, given that one of the many revelations of RTÉ's Prime Time investigation last Tuesday was that the club were paying their outside players mileage for travelling to training in their own county. Aidan O'Shea of Mayo in action against Jason Foley of Kerry. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
It is difficult to understand how that was agreed but perhaps spending had spiralled so far out of control that it made as much sense as whatever else was gobbling up the €22million windfall they received for selling land near Dublin Airport in 2008.
Niamh Brennan, a Professor of Corporate Governance at UCD, told RTÉ that the downfall of Parnells, who were liquidated earlier this year after 132 years in existence, was the classic case of 'living beyond its means', an interesting phrase to use as one of the club's most famous members was a certain Charles J Haughey, who played for the club in the 1940s.
The country was in the teeth of a nasty recession in the early 2010s, trying to adjust to a global economic crash, but Parnells seemed to be oblivious, going about their business in an alternative reality where the Celtic Tiger never stopped roaring. Pic: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
The club had been an integral part of the community around Coolock and Artane for 115 years by the time of its lottery win with that plot of land in Collinstown Lane. But over the course of the next few years, it moved away from its roots.
County footballers from Armagh, Laois, Mayo and Wexford moved into the area, employed as coaches or fitness instructors, as they looked to win their first Dublin senior title since 1988. When they played Ballymun Kickhams in a championship game in 2012, 10 of their starting players were outsiders who had blown into the club.
'It was very unsettling for the players who were representing us on the field of play up to then because they were playing for their enjoyment,' recalled long-standing club member Liam Quinn. 'All of a sudden, they were being pushed aside to make way for these players who were supposed to be making us champions again and that didn't happen, so there was a bit of animosity.'
Former chairman John Byrne, who won a county medal in 1988, was even more blunt. 'I feel when Parnells got the money, people migrated to the area that normally wouldn't have come into the area,' he told Prime Time. 'And it killed the dynamic of homegrown players and trying to produce homegrown players.'
Byrne was one of those who tried to raise the alarm over how Parnells' spending had gotten out of control. He even wrote a letter to then-GAA President Christy Cooney in 2011 to express his concern. But as he pointed out, nobody came to the rescue.
'I did have good engagement with Dublin County Board at different stages, trying to get some resolution. The GAA knew about it. Dublin County Board knew about it. They were signatories of the finances. The grounds and the money were vested in the GAA, so they should have taken a better control of it,' he said.
He wasn't the only one that tried to shout stop. Stephen Cluxton, who skippered Dublin to their unprecedented period of dominance, dropped down to the second side in protest at how the club was being run, penning a letter to the executive.
In these pages 11 years ago, Philip Lanigan had a special report headlined 'On the Brink' which suggested that the gates of the club were at risk of being shut permanently. And yet, the spending went on. In December 2014, with the club's financial position already perilous, gift cards – with a total value €9,000 – were given to almost 100 people involved in the club, including some players. In the same month, the club's financial statements showed net liabilities of more than €1million, with fuel cards costing the club thousands of euros every month. 7 July 2021; Stephen Cluxton of Parnells during the Go Ahead Adult Football League Division Three North match between Parnells and O'Tooles at Parnells GAA Club in Coolock, Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
'Basically, the mileage, the expenses, the fuel cards, the accommodation, they were all classed as incentives to play for the club. And they were given these as benefits of playing for Parnells. But they were outrageous figures,' said Greg Walsh, another of the players on the 1988 county championship team, who served as coach and on the committee of the club down the years.
While the club were still flashing the cash in an effort to get success on the field, things were going from bad to worse off it. They had used roughly half the windfall to acquire land from the Marist Fathers on a 999-year lease. There were conditions attached, such as the building of a sports hall and hurling wall within 18 months that could be used by the adjoining Chanel College, a school run by the Marists.
A new clubhouse was opened as a hospitality venue in 2012, vast enough for weddings and other social events, but there was no sign of the sports hall or hurling wall. Even then, the club were in trouble.
Professor Brennan, among others, suggested that there should have been more oversight from Croke Park. When the club were liquidated in January with debts of €1.5million, the GAA was owed almost €500,000 with Dublin County Board another €300,000. It's all well and good saying that they should have stepped in – but at what point? It already felt that it was nearly too late for Parnells when Cluxton removed himself from the senior team in 2014.
The current survey on amateurism within the Association that President Jarlath Burns has asked all members to fill feels especially timely. We should ask ourselves even after the salutary lesson in the sad story of Parnells, has anything changed? In Dublin GAA or beyond? There are still clubs shelling out for outside managers and recruiting players.
If anything should be learnt from Parnells, it's how damaging the forces of commercialism can be on community values and it's a message that the GAA might need to absorb itself.
Little more than 24 hours before Prime Time was broadcast, the CCCC decided on the times and venues for this weekend's football quarter-finals. And rather than give each of last week's winning sides seven days off – ensuring that the integrity of the most thrilling football Championship in history remained intact – they decided to give Donegal a six-day turnaround and Kerry eight days. And this imbalance was down to commercialism. And generating revenue. No other reasons.
As Armagh are the best-supported team in the country, they didn't want them on the same bill as Dublin – rather spread the big crowds over the two days. And there was the small matter of GAA+ having the Saturday quarter-finals.
There would have been public uproar had Armagh v Kerry been behind a paywall. All of which meant that Donegal were given the short straw of the sixday turnaround – the first time in the three-year history of preliminary quarter-finals that has happened a team.
It's unfair and it hurts the integrity of the competition, but it was done for reasons of commercialism. To start sacrificing their values at that particular altar is a dangerous road as the GAA should know from the sad story of Parnells.