Flower Lodge/ Pairc Uí Rinn

Could somebody please tell me the history behind flower lodge
and how it came to be Pairc Ui Rinn?
I dont think I need to explain the reasons for this you all know. Thanks

I believe it was land owned by the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Not sure how long football was played there though. For some reason they decided to sell the land for somehting like 200-250k. I think Cork City offered to buy it would they sold to the GAA for the same amount offered by City.

I don't have any facts to back any of this up.

Pitch used to be superb but ruined now.

The GAA are said to have bought the ground with the money made for the Michael Jackson concert held in Pairc Ui Caoimh.
There were a lot of unhappy people in Cork when it was sold. At least the GAA have made good use of it.

I'm not one for dwelling on the past. There is little room for development up there and parking is a nightmare!

Cheers lads

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Originally Posted by pete

I think Cork City offered to buy it would they sold to the GAA for the same amount offered by City.

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True but there was also some unresolved questions about whether City or some other company owned by Pat O'Donovan was buying the place.
In fairness to the GAA they only came into the equation when the AOH ran out of patience with O'Donovan because he couldn't complete the deal.

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Originally Posted by hoops1

Could somebody please tell me the history behind flower lodge
and how it came to be Pairc Ui Rinn?
I dont think I need to explain the reasons for this you all know. Thanks

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AOH wouldn't sell it to City because Pat O'Donovan wouldn't signed a contract binding him to use the ground for football only, basically so he would be able to sell it for housing later on.

Rumour has it the GAA actually offered less than City but it was sold to them because they would keep it as a sporting facility.

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Originally Posted by A face

AOH wouldn't sell it to City because Pat O'Donovan wouldn't signed a contract binding him to use the ground for football only, basically so he would be able to sell it for housing later on.

Rumour has it the GAA actually offered less than City but it was sold to them because they would keep it as a sporting facility.

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Heard that as well.

More interesting though is the question of was it the AOH's to sell? I know it was legally theirs but morally? The ground had originally been paid for by public collections from the people of Cork in the 1950's in order to provide another soccer stadium in the city. Afaik the AOH Grounds Committee was wound up after the sale of the ground and with little liabilities the 8 members made a tidy sum of it all.

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Originally Posted by yiddo

Heard that as well. Afaik the AOH Grounds Committee was wound up after the sale of the ground and with little liabilities the 8 members made a tidy sum of it all.

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It was always going to be something like that, any of those crowds with the funny handshakes you'd have to be well wide of !! :p

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Originally Posted by yiddo

True but there was also some unresolved questions about whether City or some other company owned by Pat O'Donovan was buying the place.
In fairness to the GAA they only came into the equation when the AOH ran out of patience with O'Donovan because he couldn't complete the deal.

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Heard also that O'Donovan wanted to pay in installments and the AOH weren't having that. GAA arrived with a suitcase.

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Originally Posted by razor

Heard also that O'Donovan wanted to pay in installments and the AOH weren't having that. GAA arrived with a suitcase.

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Yeah they came straight up from the Michael Jackson concert with the loot. I suppose in fairness instead of calling it Parc Ui Rinn they could have called it Parc Michael Jackson :)

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Originally Posted by yiddo

Parc Michael Jackson :)

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Le Parco de Wacko Jacko even !! :p

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Originally Posted by yiddo

Heard that as well.

More interesting though is the question of was it the AOH's to sell? I know it was legally theirs but morally? The ground had originally been paid for by public collections from the people of Cork in the 1950's in order to provide another soccer stadium in the city. Afaik the AOH Grounds Committee was wound up after the sale of the ground and with little liabilities the 8 members made a tidy sum of it all.

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That's it, you see. Morally, they were wrong.

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Originally Posted by A face

Rumour has it the GAA actually offered less than City but it was sold to them because they would keep it as a sporting facility.

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My Da told me there was an unhappy developer knocking around in the background, who had persuaded planners that it would make a good housing estate.:rolleyes: So fair play to the GAA for keeping it green.

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Originally Posted by Peadar

I'm not one for dwelling on the past. There is little room for development up there and parking is a nightmare!

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Sounds like da Cross.:D

Ground was paid for by the football people of Cork. Door to door collections in the 50's etc.

Held in trust by 5 trustees. They pocketed £50,000 each from the sale.

GAA offered the same as Cork City at the time but the guys appeared to have a marked reluctance to sell to the football club.

I believe 3 of the 5 died within a year of the sale. Plonk didn't do them in. :D They would all have been quite elderly being the trustees.

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Originally Posted by gspain

I believe 3 of the 5 died within a year of the sale. Plonk didn't do them in. :D They would all have been quite elderly being the trustees.

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So they coined it but didn't get a chance to spend it .... theres an irony in that aint there. What goes around comes around some would say ... if you were bitter. But Cork footie fans are like the Murphys ... we're not bitter !! ;) :p

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Originally Posted by gspain

Ground was paid for by the football people of Cork. Door to door collections in the 50's etc.

Held in trust by 5 trustees. They pocketed £50,000 each from the sale.

GAA offered the same as Cork City at the time but the guys appeared to have a marked reluctance to sell to the football club.

I believe 3 of the 5 died within a year of the sale. Plonk didn't do them in. :D They would all have been quite elderly being the trustees.

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In one of his books on football in Cork Plunkett Carter says that there were 8 trustees and names them. Some of the younger members are still around and would be in their late 50's/ early 60's now.
I had a run in with one of them in a pub about 8/9 years ago.City were playing up in Derry the same night and someone asked the bar man to check the text to see how the game went. Up pipes the AOH man giving out loudly about how crap City were and EL football was finished etc. etc. I turned around to him and loudly asked him what did he ever do for Cork football bar selling the Lodge? He didn't like it but he didn't answer either.
In fairness to the GAA they have made a fine job of the place. If plonk had got his hands on it God only knows how things would have turned out.

Is this the same AOH that runs the paddy's day parade in NYC and all that other malarky?

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Originally Posted by kingcolers

Is this the same AOH that runs the paddy's day parade in NYC and all that other malarky?

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Thems the very boys !!

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Originally Posted by A face

Thems the very boys !!

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then surely all the proceeds of the sale went to the AOH, and not any individuals? so maybe not as seedy as it sounds.

as far as i can remember, city at the time was run by a shower of cowboys, so selling to the GAA was a much safer bet as regards keeping it a sportsground....

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Originally Posted by yiddo

In one of his books on football in Cork Plunkett Carter says that there were 8 trustees and names them. Some of the younger members are still around and would be in their late 50's/ early 60's now.

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Muppets the lot of them aswell!