A BITTER row between a GAA club and a soccer club about access to a playing field in Kerry is to take to the streets on Sunday.
Members of Castlemaine Community Sportsfield Action Group are to protest outside Austin Stack Park, Tralee, where Kerry and Galway are meeting in a National Football League game.
The action group claims the disputed field has been owned by the community for more than 70 years and is not the property of any individual sporting organisation.
However, a row between Castlemaine Utd soccer club and Milltown/Castlemaine GAA club about the field has led to deep divisions locally. The soccer club has used the field for almost 20 years, but the GAA claims to be registered owner of the property which it admits ploughing up early on March 27th.
In a statement, the GAA club also said it had full planning permission from Kerry County Council for a €750,000 development of the field to include a full-size, flood-lit GAA pitch and 50 car parking spaces.
But, the sportsfield action group is adamant it has been a community-owned field since it was handed over to the community by the local Spring-Walker family in 1936.
A statement issued by the group yesterday said the problem “is not going to go away” and needed to be resolved immediately.
“We fully support the Kerry team and wish them the best of luck on the day and we do not want to cause any disruption to them, or anyone else,” the statement said. “We do, though, have to highlight the issue in Castlemaine and the heavy-handed tactics being used . . . by the GAA against the local community.”
Public meetings have been held in the village since the soccer pitch was ploughed and group PRO Brendan O’Reilly said there was huge support in Castlemaine for the sportsfield group.
The GAA club has also issued a statement claiming the good name of the club had been vilified in the locality and in some media circles.
Saying that its work to develop the field was now under way, the GAA club also said the new pitch would be of enormous benefit to the community and would be available to all activities except those not allowed under GAA rules, such as soccer and rugby.
“The investment will transform the facilities at Castlemaine, facilities the entire community can, should and will be proud of,” the statement concluded.
