CORK HURLING STRIKE: United we stand. That was the message from the striking Cork panel this evening as they attempted to "set the record straight" with regards the ongoing crisis in the county.
All 30 members of the 2008 panel were on hand at the Maryborough House Hotel in Douglas as captain John Gardiner, reading a prepared 15-minute statement, maintained that the players were still unwilling to play as long as Gerald McCarthy remains in situ as manager.
Addressing what they believe to be “a sickness at the heart of the organisation”, the players appealed to the clubs within Cork to help find a resolution but insisted they would not be returning under the current regime
“We believe that the cure can only come from within this great organization,” Gardiner said. “In the meantime, we refuse to take part further in the latest manifestation of that sickness.
“If that makes us difficult, then that is regrettable. We would all, to a man, prefer to be labelled as difficult than as cowards; to be seen as fanatical rather than morally weak; to be seen as acting above our station rather than subservient and self-serving.”
Gardiner refuted suggestions that younger members of the panel were being led in the ongoing dispute, hinting that is only the case within the county board.
“We have on occasions too numerous to mention been accused of being said and led by Donal Óg and Seán Óg or whoever and for once and for all we want to make it clear that we find that notion deeply insulting to us all,” he said.
“Are we expected to be sheep in meetings and suddenly turn into wolves on the field? Are we to ask these people what to do in the split second heat of inter-county championship hurling?
“If there is such a culture in Cork hurling, it is elsewhere.”
And the Na Piarsaigh man added that the players, en masse, were prepared to walk away should they fail to win the backing of the clubs and the Cork public in general.
“If we do not have the support of the Cork hurling public in our actions, we will disband,” he said.
“If this is it for this panel, then so be it. We have unbelievable memories and friendships to recall and take with us. We have been proud to represent our clubs and county with the very best of our efforts.
“Whether those efforts should include the stand on our principles we have repeatedly felt obliged to take, is for the Cork people to decide.”