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LAST UPDATE | 16 Jan 2024
CORK GAA SAYS that they have yet to finalise details with SuperValu on the controversial proposed naming rights deal for Páirc Uí Chaoimh, with discussions ongoing between the parties.
The grandson of Pádraig Ó Caoimh is amongst those who have spoken out against a proposal to rename Cork’s Páirc Uí Chaoimh “Supervalu Páirc”.
The stadium is currently named after the late Irish soldier and one-time general secretary of the GAA, but GAA board delegates are considering a proposal to change the name under a new rights deal with Supervalu.
The proposed renaming was expected to be put to delegates at a meeting of the Cork county board on Tuesday evening.
“Cork GAA can confirm that it is in discussions with SuperValu regarding the naming rights for Páirc Uí Chaoimh,” a statement from Cork GAA issued on this evening said.
“While no matter had been finalised prior to the meeting of delegates to the County Board on Tuesday evening, both sides have been conscious of the public debate that followed recent speculation in the media.
“SuperValu and Cork GAA remain committed to continuing their engagement, as both parties share a common interest in supporting Gaelic games across the county, and discussions are continuing.”
Dónal Ó Caoimh, Pádraig’s grandson, said he was saddened to learn about the proposal through media reports.
In a statement issued earlier today, Ó Caoimh said his grandfather’s legacy should not be “eradicated” for sponsorship.
He said if the rights deal goes ahead, it will mark the sale of “heritage and narrative for profit”.
“My grandfather’s story inspires young players to dream. You take away the absence of focus on money and corporations from games and you have lost what makes the GAA unique. The cornerstone of the organisation is volunteerism not corporations,” Ó Caoimh said.
Speaking ahead of a Cork County GAA Board meeting tonight to debate the proposal, Ó Caoimh said that the meeting being held behind closed doors is “profoundly undemocratic”.
Thanks @RealPMurphy , as Padraig O'Caoimh's grandson I’m just learning about this decision tonight through the media. Nobody from the GAA reached out to me to tell me this was being discussed. I’m in shock and saddened tonight. https://t.co/Buo1bok8nT
— Dónal Ó Caoimh (@donalocaoimh) January 15, 2024
However, he went on to say that he has faith that the Páirc will retain its original name.
Ó Caoimh added that, to the best of his knowledge, no one in his family was contacted by the GAA about the proposal which is being considered.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin, a Cork native, has said today he is “deeply disappointed and annoyed” at the proposal to change the name.
“Pádraig Uí Chaoimh was a key figure in the formation of the GAA at club and national level. Govt allocated €30m towards the development of the stadium and never sought naming rights,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Deeply disappointed & annoyed at the proposal to change the name of Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) January 16, 2024
Pádraig Uí Chaoimh was a key figure in the formation of the GAA at club and national level.
Govt allocated €30m towards the development of the stadium and never sought naming rights.
The Irish Examiner this week reported that the deal being considered would see Boston Scientific, Statkraft and PepsiCo gaining subsidiary stadium branding privileges in an effort to drum up new sponsorship revenue.
The paper said the deal is for a five-year time period, and could be worth €1.5 million.
Páirc Ui Chaoimh has grappled with debts for years, with stadium losses last year adding up to €331,000.
Kevin O’Donovan, the CEO of Cork GAA, issued a statement which said that his organisation has a “responsibility” to ensure that it is on a firm financial footing.
He added that to that end, it has been seeking ways to secure additional income from sources that meet the “goals and objectives of the wider organisation”.
O’Donovan said that a proposal that includes selling naming rights for the biggest asset under Cork GAA’s control – the Páirc – will be discussed tonight.
“It would be inappropriate to comment ahead of that meeting,” he further said.
O’Donovan added that revenue generated from such an arrangement would be used to help ensure games continue to grow at every level in the years ahead.
The Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy has said that he hopes a compromise can be found to allow Páirc Uí Chaoimh to remain as part of the name for the venue.
He said that a new sponsorship deal is very welcome, but the name of the Pairc is “synonymous with Cork”.
“Pádraig Ó Caoimh led the GAA for 35 years, a man who grew the grassroots of clubs across the country, so there is a massive history there,” McCarthy said on RTÉ Radio One today.
“If it was ‘SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh’ or ‘Páirc Uí Chaoimh with SuperValu’, that would be fantastic. ‘SuperValu Páirc’ is not right, and there is nothing wrong with the name SuperValu. Cork people are proud of Páirc Uí Chaoimh; it is the colosseum of sport in Cork city,” the Mayor suggested.
The Journal contacted Supervalu for comment.
Additional reporting by Niall Kelly of The42
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Why on earth would Supervlaue Pairc even be considered… is this a joke? Am I missing something?
@Justanothercommentor: Ali Sami Yen Stadium-Welcome to Hell.
Supervalu Pairc-Real Food Real People
@Justanothercommentor: SVP need the money
@Justanothercommentor: yes, they bought the rights to the name. The amazing thing is that it cost so little
What next? Cork play the Dubs in the newly named Krispy Kreme Park formerly known as Croke Park.
@Chaotic State:
Sign of the times, the family do not have an eternal right to the naming of the stadium. The GAA also needs to move on from naming stadiums, clubs and pitches after those from 1916, 1921 and priests.
@Paul Fahey: you should be ashamed of yourself, another fella who wants to cancel our history. You’d be singing God Save The King if it wasn’t for those ppl who died for this country. Show some respect ye blue shirt.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: Well said. We are being forced to obliterate our history and our culture.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: wow, that is some leap of nonsense you are making there. If your history is decided by the naming of a stadium built many many years after any event the individual was born in that says more about you. History is far more than a stadium, perhaps if you read a book, not only would your history improve, but your grammar too.
@Jimmy Wallace: I’ve never heard so much nonsense in my life. Naming a stadium after one of our heroes is to remember them and not some kind of political or religious statement.
You might not care about the ppl who shaped our country and history but I’d like to think most of us want to hang onto our identity and culture.
@Paul Fahey: you’re a waffler.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: And so what if he does,that’s his opinion and like you he’s just expressing it
@Deano: I must be arguing with a bunch of millennials because there’s no other explanation why they don’t understand the importance of hanging onto our heritage and not selling it off to a supermarket or crisp bag company.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: just for the record I personally think naming it SuperValu park sounds ridiculous.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: a lot of millennials well into their 40s now … and are fully aware of and understand our heritage .. by the way as was seen in another stadium in Cork .. naming rights are only temporary .. cute cork lads .. take the money then change it back in a few years once the contract is up!!
@Paul Fahey: Would you be for Croke Park being renamed Aldi stadium?
@stephen “emmams5” malone: maybe we’d be better off if we were singing god save the king or queen. That crowd in the Dail might be held accountable for some of the crazy decisions they make. Usually those decisions just happen to be beneficial to a lot of TD acquaintances or families.
@Paul Fahey: I winder what our history buff would think of Pairc ui Perkin Warbeck as a name rooted in Corks history. It would honour the origin of the ‘Rebels’ moniker
@Fidgenti: Perk Ui Warbeck?
@stephen “emmams5” malone:
The GAA is for everyone…. who is a white, catholic nationalist.
You people are just like Nigel Farage
@Niall Walsh: What are you talking about?
@Aindriu MacCuartaigh:
I don’t like the promotion of nationalism. It has an unpleasant history. All these grounds named after political and catholic figures doesn’t sit well with me. By it’s nature it excludes those who aren’t part of the republican/catholic cohort.
My problem.
@Niall Walsh: Therefore, we should only call our stadiums/streets/roads/ to those who have no religious affiliation and who see themselves as just a citizen of the world.
Would you become an avid GAA fan then?
@Aindriu MacCuartaigh:
Avid might be a bit of a stretch, but who knows?
@Niall Walsh: Fair enough. To each their own I suppose!
@Phil Mitchell: Dude? That’s the terminology that Varadkar would use..He and Flanagan would probably want to name it after a Black and Tan .
@stephen “emmams5” malone: stop talking rot FFS! Another “patriot” who if he was around in 1920 would have been hiding under the bed. Time to decommission your rusty rifle and move into 2024!
I’m sick of hearing about the GAA been grass roots to our local communities,and at the same time destroying it,The top Men in their offices are making these decisions,they are destroying the game slowly,especially the hurling,so many rules and regulations,Where is all their money going,where I live the GAA are constantly looking for money,they sold a book at Xmas,€50 for the book,and if u played GAA the pictures they put into the book of the teams,if u wanted your name under it,u had to pay another €50,their is no 1 keeping a check where all the big game money is going,all I ever see is people in the communities giving up their time for the love of it and for the kids aswell..Grab All Assocation,is living up too it’s name once again
Modern Ireland, everything is up for sale.
The Kerry Group should have submitted a bid
At the end of the day its all about greed and money … Supervalu dangles a few euros in front of the GAA and they bite their hand off…
@mark mc cann: where are Supervalue getting all this spare cash ? From the people who pay throught the nose for their food Don’t think to many people would be impressed with SUPERVALUE PARK SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED HAPPEN
In all honesty if you asked most people who the stadium was named after they probably couldn’t tell you who it was. I know that there was major overspend in the construction of that stadium so money probably had to be clawed back. The super value stadium sounds Mickey Mouse though.
Here’s an idea…. why doesn’t Mr Martin contact some vulture fund buddies to buy the stadium outright for 30 million. They could then lease it back to the GAA at 5 million a year for the next 25 years. Seems to be the plan in other areas and he could collect a finders fee as well. Sorted.
If it ain’t broke…
@Maire Hicks: But the GAA is broke.
Actually thought April Fools had come early, Cork people need to quick a fuss ASAP…
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, this smacks someone who knows the price of everything and the calue of nothing. Next Croke Park will be The Kentucky Fried Chicken Stadium.
@Joseph Lenihan: KFC. It changed its name.
Just 4 words. NO,NO and NO..
@John Flynn: That’s one word three times, with a coordinating conjunction between them.
I don’t care about the renaming of stadiums and I care even less about GAA but SuperValue Park ? Jesus what numpty thought that was a good idea. Not a fan of SV branding anyway and it just sounds cheap.
I have a feeling the county board are playing a blinder. Throw out the worst idea to the public let the up roar begin and pull it back in by compromise with super value pairc caoimh. Everyone happy. If they started with SVPC the up roar might scupper the plan.
I must say it’s a really beautiful stadium since they reopened it in 2019 I think .
Great place to see a game . I’m thinking of a lovely evening in Cork back in May when Tipperary played Cork in a drawn game.
It’s ridiculous to change the name especially to a supermarket brand . No one is ever going to call it by its new name anyway so why bother .
Oh and Up Tipp!
It’s not like anybody in Ireland hasn’t heard of SuperMac’s, so why the need for expensive naming rights, that’s what I can’t understand?
@Tom: for the same reason that Coke and Guinness continue to advertise. Keeping the brand prominent !
@Tom:
It’s SuperVaue. Not SuperMac’s
@Geraldine O’Riordan: oops
Should call it Musgrave Pairc after SuperValu’s parent company
@Michael Barry: especially now that Musgrave Park is called Virgin Media Park.
Also, Musgraves are one of the companies that kept Cork’s economy above water in the dismal 80s. They helped other family owned retailers survive the onslaught of Ben Dunnes vicious price wars. People speak of heroes; well Musgrave’s are heroes.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: Our identity and culture consists of far more than the names of nationalist political/military figures. Your reading of it is simplistic.
@Brendan O’Brien: that’s rich coming from you, having to put up up with your liberal leftie drivel on a daily basis, if you had your way, we would have no history, culture and identity.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: We will always have history, culture and identity. I recognise that such things are complex and multifarious: you don’t.
@Brendan O’Brien: with the speed the direction this country has taken in the last 20 years, do you honestly think in another 20 years that ppl will have any clue what it means to be Irish. For you be so blaisé about our history , culture and identity shows naivety and a complete lack of understanding.
@stephen “emmams5” malone: I’m not blasé: I just don’t think we should obsess about long-dead gunmen to the exclusion of other aspects of our history and heritage. I think such obsessing does a disservice to real examination and understanding of ‘what it means to be Irish’.
Not saying it’s right but why don’t they call it SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh. It won’t solve everything but might appease some. Just to disregard the name is a real blunder by them
Get over it. They’re even worse than the Newcastle fans when Mike Ashley decided to rename St. James’ Park. And what happened then? The Geordies ended up carrying on referring it as St. James’ Park, despite what Ashley wanted, and the place didn’t fall down.
The same will happen with Supervalu Park. (Unless BAM built it)
Unless Mehole wanted Supervalu to get the naming rights for Leinster House, after all, he is fond of selling out, isn’t he?
Time to set up a “Buoycott Supervalu” campaign- the commercialisation of Irish Heritage needs to be met with an appropriate proportional commercial public reaction
How bout Abrakebabra Páirc…genius right. Now all we have to do is get onto the good people at Abrakebabra.
Move with the times i think. Gaa squeeze every penny out fans sure why wouldnt they rename it .
@Robert Doogan: Any facts with that lie.
They shoukd call it lgbtqi…… Park because these people are never recognised.
Just to add a bit of distraction, could we at least insist on respecting the grammar? In Irish, the noun comes before the adjective, so the proposed name should be ‘Páirc SuperValu’, not SuperValu Páirc, which is just painful….
Why not call it Super Valu Páirc Uí Chaoimh? Kilkenny sold the naming rights for Nowlan Park and retained the Nowlan Park name and just put UPMC at the start
Don’t forget your club card
Hand the country back to His Majesty King Charles III & apologise.
They opened the gate to commercialism. when they hid inter county games behind a pay wall with Sky and then they continued down this commercial road with GAA Go in partnership with RTE and now this.
While all this commercialism is building into a mega bucks corporation the people who provide their product must be happy with scraps in the form a bit of expenses and maybe their photo in the paper.
Its time the players stopped this nonsense and demand their fair share of the spoils.
Really can’t understand the problem,alot of counties have done this deal,cavan,mayo,offaly and my own county springs to mind,it’s officially TUS Gaelic Grounds but it’s always called the gaelic grounds,same in offaly,Cork need money,why not take handy money
Absolutely disgraceful by the Cork board and the souless Supervalu name grab.
When this is concluded remove all Cork County board senior members from their positions.
“He who pays the piper calls the tune…” as the saying goes. Fair enough, I suppose, but unfortunately, in this case, the tune is somewhat jarring, to say the least…
@William Tallon: Better than Lidl Pairc or Aldi Pairc. Tesco Pairc.
@Fidgenti: Or Dealz! Yikes…
Has a Tayto Park ring to it. Awful proposition.
As if this traitor who pushed the deadly vaccine, mass unchecked immirgration, and is a WEF member, cares for cultural names of stadia. Sad time for Eirú.
He’s more enraged about that than he is about the genocide in Gaza….. strange days indeed . As for ” SUPERVALU ” stadium , well , expect more of that in the future. Cash for naming rights . Sign of the times , capitalism like a runaway train at this stage. Nothing is sacred anymore , cemeteries will be next . ” This headstone is proudly brought to you by … SUPERVALU , Eircom , Aer Lingus , Cunnylingus … take your pick .
@Pete Murrey: really ? .. i suggest you do more research sunshine, a lot more .
@Pete Murrey: do some research… now , read that again .
Every little bit helps.
Supervalu should pull out and give their money to someone else
Martin ur nothing but a snide. Bo ll ock
Irish out of Ireland park
Only football field name it whatever they like and give gaa nothing
The real question here is how the Central GAA & Government allowed such a project spiral out of control in the first place, when being built. Did neither body have Project Managers in place overseeing the Millions been pumped in, or was a certain individual allowed free rein.They are so desperate for money now, they would name it Páirc Dildo.
Government should buy Páirc and use it as an event centre. The debt on that place is never ending.
What about lansdown?
Posters decrying the silly name changing in persuit of pieces of silver, yet have no issue with the many streets/estates throughout the land named after colonial ner do well and little English estates. forget history/Culture at your peril
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