The GAA President John Horan and Director General Tom Ryan will meet with organisers of the Liam Miller Benefit Game today to discuss what options might be available around the use of Pairc Uí Chaoimh for the high profile game in September.

It has been a bruising few days for the GAA with pressure from without and within to show flexibility in allowing use of the 45,000 capacity ground.

At present, the game is fixed for Turners Cross but the 7,000 tickets for that sold out within minutes. All the money raised from it, which will bring former teammates of Millers from Man United, Celtic and Ireland to play in an exhibition game will go to his young family and the Marymount Hospice.

The GAA rulebook insists that only games under the control of the Association can be played at its stadia and grounds. That no longer applies to Croke Park after the hosting of games in Soccer and Rugby was made possible by a rule change to accommodate the redevelopment of the Aviva Stadium.

Extended

It would have been extended to a wider variety of grounds as part of a joint approach to the bid to host the Rugby World Cup. College football games have been staged at grounds, as have boxing bouts, the Opening of the Special Olympics World Games and concerts.

When I returned from working in England nearly 20 years ago a phrase of advice that stuck in my mind was the difference between the two countries being that in Britain rules were there to be obeyed while in Ireland they were there to be interpreted.

The differences have narrowed in many areas, expanded in some others but the basic truism that Ireland is a more flexible society holds true.

There are plenty of reasons to hide behind in terms of the rulebook but none that do great credit to the organisation that has itself moved so far, and in the main so surefootedly into the future.

History

There is a lot of history behind why the GAA looks with suspicion on other sports. The global reach they have should, under all known norms have swallowed up the GAA many times over. And yet it not only survived, it has thrived.

It is the largest civic organisation in the country. The work it does, through its volunteer ‘army’ in every town and community is immense and without compare.

The suspicion cuts both ways though and there are many who do not carry a GAA membership that believe it to be a divisive and elitist organisation. It is not but having to defend it against the accusation means that there is a perception of that being the case.

Events like the refusal to open up grounds, at a time when collaboration and sharing are the new bedrocks of how we live as a society, how we work and how we think, goes against the grain.

Yes, the GAA is something different, something special, and perhaps something which in a modern day world of megabrands and mega-events needs to be treated differently than just another sport.

But those are discussions which should be framed against the need to do the right thing in individual circumstances.

Doing the right thing here would be to find a compromise, and allow the game to be staged at Pairc Uí Chaoimh. Cork people want it, sporting people want it. It should be done.

If a workaround is needed whereby the GAA becomes the ‘promoter’ of the game in a technical sense then let that be done. If it is staged not as a match but as a charity event, then let that be done.

Good and Decent

The people making the calls on this within the GAA are good and decent people. As administrators, they will never be loved and their lot is never one where they will be carried aloft from the pitch like those who take to the pitch in ways that they have made possible.

They make the call based on what they think is the right thing to do for the GAA, for the communities in which they operate and live and sometimes because it is simply the right thing.

Being forced into it by a bandwagon driven by media and politicians is never normally the best way to come to the right decision, but sometimes…

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