THERE are some things money can’t buy.
That’s what the late Freddy Shepherd, then the chairman of Newcastle United, said when an offer was made – three million quid for five years – to sell the naming rights of St James’s Park back in 1997.
Three million was serious dough back then and it wasn’t as if Shepherd didn’t like making money.
Brought up in a working class home in the North East of England, the Geordie lad did very well for himself. He made millions in a haulage business and became a shareholder and then top dog at his beloved Magpies.
Shepherd got some things terribly wrong. He was infamously and inexcusably caught in a News of the World ‘Fake Sheikh’ sting ridiculing Newcastle fans for buying replica jerseys, describing the women of Newcastle as “dogs” and Alan Shearer as “the Mary Poppins” of football.
But he did get at least one thing right.
“We had the chance to change the name of the ground when I was chairman,” he explained.
“We were offered something like £3 million for a five-year deal but the money could have been 10 times that and I would still not have been interested.
“The decision not to go down that road was one of the easiest we ever made as a board. I can recall raising the subject with my fellow directors, recommending we reject the idea and within a minute or two, they had agreed and moved on to the next item on the agenda.”
When Newcastle United was sold to Mike Ashley the opportunity to rename the iconic stadium arose again and this time it wasn’t a problem. To the horror and against the wishes of all Magpies fans, in 2011 Ashley renamed their iconic ground ‘The Sports Direct Arena’.
A decade later in 2021, Ashley’s Sport Direct made their first inroads into the GAA when they were announced as the sponsor of Cork in a deal that was worth €2 million over five years, with performance bonuses of up to €2 million.
The arrangement included a boot deal as well as €200,000 for winning an All-Ireland (still unclaimed) and it has been extended to 2028.
Mike Ashley’s money hasn’t been enough to turn the fortunes of the cash-strapped Rebel county around but in a dramatic twist of fate the powers that be in the Cork County Board are in grave danger of following in his footsteps after this week’s disturbing news that discussions have been going on to change the name of Pairc Ui Chaoimh, the county’s iconic home, to the classless, in-yer-face branding ‘SuperValu Pairc’.
The stadium is named after Pádraig Ó Caoimh, a Civil War soldier who became a revered and respected GAA administrator. Ó Caoimh displayed his vision and ability when he famously organised the 1947 All-Ireland final between Kerry and Cavan to be played at New York’s Polo Grounds,
SuperValu are part of the Musgrave Group, which also includes Centra, who announced after-tax profits of almost E100 million (I thought there was cost of living crisis?) last year.
It is understood that SuperValu would not accept the hitherto arrangement of adding their brand to the existing stadium name as in the Box-IT Athletic Grounds, O’Neill’s Healy Park, Kingspan Breffni etc.
They would was not agree to the name Uí Chaoimh being retained in the new stadium title at all.
Suffocated by massive debts since the redevelopment of the stadium, the Cork County Board has been backed into a corner and it seems SuperValu hold the aces here.
SuperValu Pairc O Caoimh is no good to them, they want to squeeze every last cent out of their investment and, in this increasingly commercial world of ours, history and culture are way down the list of priorities. If they even make the list.
Would the late Pádraig Ó Caoimh care that his name will no longer be associated with the stadium? Perhaps if Cork GAA are getting something out of it, he might be happy enough?
But whether he is or he isn’t, SuperValu don’t care and that should get our backs up. Pairc Ui Chaoimh is mired in a swamp of debt that is 30 million Euros deep and this sponsorship (E1million over two years) won’t put much of a dent in that.
Investment is always welcome of course, almost everything costs nowadays, but no company should be able to muscle in to buy off and airbrush GAA heritage. The names of our grounds are part of the rich tapestry of the Association and our nation and they should never be up for sale.
Besides, if SuperValu invest they will get a return on every cent they put in. They will be rewarded with the loyalty of the GAA supporters who, let them not forget, are their customers and it was their hard-earned cash that saw their profits soar to around nine figures last year.
The public backlash over the proposed renaming of Pairc Ui Chaoimh has caused the project to be paused to allow further talks to take place and a compromise to be reached.
At a behind-closed-doors meeting of the Cork County Board on Tuesday night delegates told the Cork GAA executive that a compromise must be found to retain the Páirc Uí Chaoimh name in any deal with the supermarket giant.
SuperValu have to find out that there are are some things money can’t buy.