Is McHale Park’s ‘ivory tower’ a white elephant?

INTEREST LOW County Secretary Sean Feeney admits the crowd at McHale Park on Sunday may be down on other years.?Pic: Sportsfile

McHale Park media tower still out of bounds


Edwin McGreal

Over two years after the redeveloped McHale Park first hosted Connacht championship football, the controversial media tower at the Castlebar venue will remain empty for Sunday’s clash between Mayo and Galway.
The media tower was part of the €16 million redevelopment at the historic ground but has been beset by planning problems since it was constructed. While Mayo County Board do now have permission to open the tower to broadcasters once modifications have been carried out, those changes have not been made.
“The media tower is out of commission,” Mayo GAA Secretary SeΡn Feeney told The Mayo News yesterday. “We have to make certain amendments to comply with the planning permission and it wasn’t possible to do so in time for this game. It probably won’t be until later this year that the work is complete.”
Last February, Castlebar Town Council accepted plans from the board’s architects for the modifications and, speaking at a County Board meeting on March 3 last, SeΡn Feeney was then aiming to have work completed ‘in about six weeks’.
On Sunday RTÉ will operate from a scaffold structure beside the media tower. One television insider said that while not having the media tower ready for Sunday may not damage McHale Park’s ability to host games because a championship game between Mayo and Galway will be covered come what may, a different scenario presents itself for league games.
“To be honest Mayo County Board are cutting off their nose to spite their face. With games in the National League now being covered by Setanta and TG4, a media tower can be decisive in them determining where to go because it is much easier to work in a fully-functioning tower than off scaffold. Not finishing off the media tower might very well end up costing them more money,” said the source.
Mayo County Board are also likely to take a financial hit from the attendance for Sunday’s game. Whilst Mayo v Galway games traditionally attract in excess of 30,000, SeΡn Feeney admits that 20,000 could be the maximum attendance in Castlebar this time.
“There is not as much interest in this game compared to other games down through the years. I guess it is because football is at such a low ebb in both countries. We’ll (Mayo County Board) be getting ten per cent of the gate. Ten per cent of a 20,000 attendance is not ideal at all. We could certainly do with a bigger crowd and a bigger return for ourselves but something is better than nothing,” said Mr Feeney.