GAA Taken to Court Over former London GAA Grounds at New Eltham

The GAA is being taken to court in a row over a former London club's grounds.

And director general Paraic Duffy is one of the trustees of London GAA against whom the High Court action has been taken.

Irish-backed company Novalong purchased an option to develop the 13-acre site of the former New Eltham club in east London in 2001 but says it has been frustrated by a lack of cooperation from the GAA over the last three years.

The company has incurred costs of £3m and has now taken High Court proceedings to try to get cooperation "in accordance with the option agreement entered into with the GAA."

Novalong director Mark McCarroll has issued a statement in The Irish Post, in which it is said:

"For the last three years we have tried unsuccessfully to obtain London GAA's co-operation in our attempts to deal with the Secretary of State's main reason for refusing the previous planning scheme on the site."

Taken from Irish Post

Do the GAA take much notice of the development of facilities outside of Ireland? Think something similiar occured in warwickshire.

If you seen some of the grounds used by clubs outside London & HQ in Birmingham some people would be stunned! The GAA couldn't honestly give a toss about the grounds as long as games were getting played and no claims were put in!

bald eagle wrote:If you seen some of the grounds used by clubs outside London & HQ in Birmingham some people would be stunned! The GAA couldn't honestly give a toss about the grounds as long as games were getting played and no claims were put in!

Played at Páirc na hÉireann a few times, it is very basic and has not changed at all in well over a decade. Has an OK clubhouse but that is about it.

GAA-Fan wrote:

bald eagle wrote:If you seen some of the grounds used by clubs outside London & HQ in Birmingham some people would be stunned! The GAA couldn't honestly give a toss about the grounds as long as games were getting played and no claims were put in!

Played at Páirc na hÉireann a few times, it is very basic and has not changed at all in well over a decade. Has an OK clubhouse but that is about it.

It's Croker compared to some of the tips i've played on!

The whole New Eltham debacle has been a PR disaster for the whole GAA let alone that of the UK GAA. This has been rumbling for years and will cost them millions in the long run i feel. The ground was sold subject to planning and the money ploughed into Ruislip, well planning has been denied regularly for years and the ground is now a wasteland, there are photos of it now where you can see the old wooden clubhouses rotting away. Very sad affair indeed.

Found a news article from 2007 on this story, here's the link -

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sad when clubs in and around London are struggling for grounds that we still own a 13acre site and it's going to waste! It will never get planning due to it's status as an open space. I know a part of a paper was written for the olympic legacy committee on the grounds as locals wanted it taken over and developed as a community parkland, but the conclusion was that it was privately owned by the GAA so there was nothing they could do! It's online somewhere so will look for it and post.

Would be interested in the views of you on this topic.

bald eagle wrote:Found a news article from 2007 on this story, here's the link -

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sad when clubs in and around London are struggling for grounds that we still own a 13acre site and it's going to waste! It will never get planning due to it's status as an open space. I know a part of a paper was written for the olympic legacy committee on the grounds as locals wanted it taken over and developed as a community parkland, but the conclusion was that it was privately owned by the GAA so there was nothing they could do! It's online somewhere so will look for it and post.

Would be interested in the views of you on this topic.

Find it odd that the RAGED group want it to be redeveloped for sport and recreation. Even if it did happen, the GAA would keep it closed to the general public anyway and would not allow it to be used for other sports.

Clearly everyone else is livid with these turn of events and cannot bring themselves to put their fury into words!

RTE Prime Time Programme on YouTube under 'Croke Park Dispute'.

RTE PRIME TIME REVELATIONS

The GAA is an amateur association of members, families and communities. One stated mission is to nurture communities and to respect individuals. However on the 15th March 2012 the RTE Prime Time programme (See YouTube - Croke Park Dispute) revealed that:

• The GAA Company PACT before Christmas sued members of families who are defending the local Community & Handball Centre that community and handballers built and maintained for 40 years. Despite GAA Rule 1.9 many being sued are GAA members. A Croke Park executive challenged by the RTE reporter acknowledged a reason Croke Park want to knock our Centre is to turn lorries. {Our Note: The stresses legal actions and visits to courts, 4 already, put on families all of whom are community volunteers are enormous. People are afraid they will lose their homes – this is the worst face of corporate bullying. Croke Park in an attempt to destroy the Centres finances also sent barristers to Court to object to our Sports Club Bar licence – the Judge informed Croke Park lawyers their approach was draconian and we got our license. While the great GAA majority are volunteers often making big financial/family sacrifices the GAA/PACT in Croke Park draw huge salaries/remuneration = €5m+ pa – no austerity there. GAA members need to realise that the GAA’s company PACT may sue people. Just as the players did, GAA volunteers need to ask is there one set of rules for Croke Park and another set for the rest of us. While PACT in Croke Park wrote off €1.7m in 2011 many GAA volunteers are under terrible financial pressure to keep Clubs going – some running golf classics to stay afloat. And for all this pressure the thanks you might get is to be sued like us. Though if lucky you could be the team guest, invited to an after-match function in Croker, who had finger food but was shocked when he heard a colleague that was a GAA Central Council guest had dined sumptuously on pheasant and quail.}

• A Dublin City Council committee has twice condemned PACT for suing community members.
{Our Note: Most media did not cover this. Journalists admitted privately they can criticise all aspects of the GAA except Croke Park. Journalists have families too and have to make a living - none attended the Courts. Six weeks elapsed before a reporter got a story into the Irish Times. Why is our being sued not a big story? All our community request is that PACT enter a legal binding agreement to provide full replacement facilities if they want to knock our Centre. Despite promises Croke Park has not done this. Church and Planning scandals occurred when people kept their mouths shut for too long. We won’t!}

• Croke Park is trying to get prime Dublin City Council property on the cheap, as well as our site. {Our Note: By a stroke of great fortune Croke Park realised that people beside them in Croke Villas are living in terrible conditions. This terrible state of affairs has been described as ‘an opportunity’ within GAA circles. Expect news of another attempted land-grab soon – this one’s a real Corker!}
CROKE PARK GAA (‘PACT’) NOW A COMPANY DRIVEN FOR PROFIT
1. PACT changed its Memo & Articles a number of times recently so it could engage in profit making activities, and it reduced the number of GAA Directors. Current Directors include individuals that have worked for either Allied Irish Bank, FAS or the Quinn Group (all €bn businesses). CRO Office - Company No. 4192.

2. Croke Park in 2005 built Thousands of sq ft WITHOUT planning permission seeking Retention Planning (Pl.Ap. 6378/05) after construction. Since 1993 Croke Park has a record of 58 planning applications and NO refusals. On another GAA planning matter An Bord Pleanala agreed to an investigation.

3. A Board Pleanala Inspector (case PL 29N.237183) refused Croke Park a relief from paying an infrastructure contribution; she said ‘I remain concerned that the applicant has not adequately demonstrated they are a non-profit/non-commercial organisation with voluntary/charity status.’ The ABP Board ignored its Inspector’s recommendation to FAIL, on 9 grounds, this Croke Park planning application; ABP strangely sat on the Inspector’s report (or was it musical chairs) for 8 months. Why?

4. In breach of the GAA non-party political rule PACT has sought political intervention to get what it wants in certain matters – some time ago a letter was written highlighting an issue in this regard to every TD and Senator in the Oireachtas – many were not happy with Croke Park.
5. Croke Park received €114m + from the govt. – they were not given this money to attack families.

6. The Croke Park Community endure ‘Martial Law-Like’ restrictions on big event days. Family visits, parking, property values all affected. We believe Croke Park wants to crush all community resistance.


This Leaflet is from the Croke Park Streets Committees Ltd on behalf of Families Against Croke Park Corporate Bullying. We intend to end bullying of our community by Croke Park GAA. If you know media we would really appreciate if you would ask them to cover our story – we believe that some of the facts that will come out in due course will be shocking. Subscribe to our Video Channel ‘CP SCA’ on YouTube.


We are NOT anti-GAA - We are community, the real GAA.[/b]