There are indeed mysterious forces at work!

No sooner had we just started to get over our team’s, oh so close All-Ireland hurling final exploits, when along comes another magnificent sporting success. Waterford FC, are promoted back to their rightful place in the Irish Premier League. A very significant achievement in the Blues chequered history. All the more remarkable when you consider that the team have had to drag themselves from the gutter of the lower echelons of first division football.

The new owner and assembled backroom team, have undoubtedly worked miracles, in an incredibly short period of time. Akin, perhaps, to seeing a Leprechaun’s Pot of Gold!

To take the disaster left by the previous manager, turning this around into a championship winning team, is nothing short of miraculous. Yes, significant money was injected into the club, but that’s precisely what was needed, to be fair. That speculation has now paid off handsomely. We can expectantly assume that additional investment will be forthcoming to get Waterford back to competing in some form of European football. Despite some social media soccer lovies criticising said spend, just how else was this Waterford club to climb the league ladder?

For those, such as John O’Sullivan and Paul Cleary, who have had to endure the toughest of times, may they and many others enjoy the celebrations. Then start looking forward to top flight football next season.

I have said for many years that for Waterford to succeed commercially, we would also need sporting success, running in tandem. It would appear that we have reached a turning point in Waterford’s hurling and soccer stories. There is no mystery as to why this corner has been turned. The hard, hard graft endured during cold Winter’s nights of training under floodlights, is finally beginning to reap suitable rewards.

“You can’t beat live football”, local pundit Matt Keane often reminds us and next year we should have an abundance of top soccer coming to the Regional Sports Centre.

All too often, just as you reach for the summit, you can come back down to earth with an almighty bump. Something that we here in Waterford seem to experience far, far too regularly.

“We giveth in one hand and we taketh away in another!” could easily be the calling card of our current Government, when talking about all things Waterfordian.

Our sporting highs have been overshadowed by what would appear to be yet more bad news looming, in relation to University Hospital Waterford. At the time of writing, according to unsubstantiated reports, our Tipp neighbours may be annexed from our hospital grouping, by those masters of preposterous-piss-poor-planning – the HSE. It looks like mysterious forces have been covertly working away behind closed, barricaded doors in Dublin. One would assume in consultation with Government and appropriate Ministers. Nothing happens in the civil service, without the odd compliant TD here and there, agreeing to “Changes in principle”.

If we are to believe that these changes are afoot, then yet more services will bleed from University Hospital Waterford, leaving us with a hospital that has no regional bias whatsoever. As more and more capacity is removed from UHW, we have to ask ourselves just when is enough ENOUGH? 

Waterford has a Minister and one, almost impossible to spot TD in Government. We have people at the top table and yet we constantly have to climb up Mount Everest unsupported, without crampons or oxygen!!!

Are our Government colleagues prepared to say that they know nothing, nil, faic, zilch of the proposal from the HSE, in relation to Tipp? If they are going to adopt this proposal then we have to ask “Should they not make it their business to know?”

Rest assured Teflon TD Lowry will know exactly what is on the table for his beloved, demanding, adoring constituents.

So once again, according to our pair of, “In power TDs”, there are mysterious forces at work. Prepared to drive yet another nail into our coffin lid. But wait, hold the hammer, did not the South East FG regional Councillors write a letter to “Dear Leo”? Yes, they did and of course that will make all the difference.

I think we have more chance of seeing John’s aliens!

What now Rio has gone?

Thomas Barr arrives home!

I woke up, early, on Monday morning, sore and stiff from another battering from the Sean Kelly 160km Comeragh Challenge (well done ALL involved). Switched on the television, low and behold there was NO more news from Rio on the BBC Breakfast! The Olympics had ended on Sunday evening with a riotous closing ceremony.

What now for the sporting mad who tune into this world showcase every four years and watch all manner of sports, which we never knew existed, but could get so excited about.

Rio was destined to be a very tough act to follow the hugely successful 2012 London Olympics, with packed out arenas, stadia and swimming pools. London, a City so accessible to the rest of the world, was always going to be an incredibly well supported games, as it can be directly reached by a plethora of sporting mad countries. But to get to Brazil in large numbers was going to create many challenges.

Brazil, as we know, is the embodiment of a football crazy nation and to get the circa 200 million people of this country to go to weightlifting, swimming, judo, rugby sevens, skeet shooting (clay pigeons to you and I) etc., some saw as impossible.

But as the Olympics entered their second week, with more and more home-grown success stories emerging, we started to see fewer and fewer empty seats. The Games had started to grip the imagination of the Brazilian public. A few medals here and there also helped – 19 in total, including 7 gold.

I followed my own Scottish competitors as they gave 100% (nobody can really give 110%) contributing significantly to helping Team GB and NI to second place in the final medal table. A collection of medals that will lift a nation and motivate a generation to get up off the sofa, switch off the PS4, stop chasing Pokémon and get inspired to try out a new sport.

Whilst, here in Ireland we watched our boxers embroiled in a drugs allegation and then the main medal hopes, would lose to judges who were quite clearly watching fights with their eyes closed. We viewed in horror as Patrick Hickey, the head of the OCI, made headline news for all the wrong reasons. Was Ireland’s only reward for going to Rio, to be the cold hard steel of a set of handcuffs – no gold, silver or bronze?

Then just in time, along come the O’Donovan brothers, fuelled on spuds and steak, pulling like dogs, to row their way to a silver medal. Annalise Murphy, under the watchful eyes of Christ the Redeemer, sailed her Laser Radial to another silver medal.

Olympic flag arrives in Tokyo.

But surely the hero of these games has to be Waterford’s own Thomas Barr? He started his own qualification in that most punishing and exhausting of races, the 400m hurdles. Now just imagine trying to run flat out, for 400m, and then trying to jump over ten 3-feet high hurdles.

Thomas, ranked 10^th after round one, then won his semi-final to reach the final. He dipped under the magical 48 second barrier and finished fourth in the Olympic final. An incredible achievement from the Ferrybank AC athlete, to reach the final and to be the fourth best hurdler in the whole world, is something we in Waterford must embrace and shout about. I hope that Thomas gets his just rewards and is asked to compete in every Diamond League event for the next 12 to 24 months.

So, as the Olympic flag was handed over to Tokyo, Japan, for the 2020 Olympics I now have four long years to wait to reacquaint myself with such diverse sports as archery, diving, wrestling, water polo, taekwondo, weightlifting and even trampolining!

Good Bye Rio!

Rio 2016 was, by all media accounts, going to be a disaster of an Olympics. It was to be the Games that would be defined by the Russian drugs scandal, political skulduggery, budgetary and security concerns. The last three weeks we have seen athletes give their ALL for their country and we can ask no more than that.

The Rio Olympics were quite simply “Perfectly, Imperfect!”

Tears of joy and sadness.

On Sunday 10^th July there was a plethora of sporting delights to whet your appetite.

The Munster Final between Waterford and Tipperary, my own Andy Murray chasing a second Wimbledon Men’s Singles title, the British GP, World Superbikes, Scottish Open golf, European Athletics Championships and of course the European Championship Football Final between Portugal and host France.

If you were in any way NOT sporty it really was rather difficult to miss the sporting headlines. Last Sunday really was one of those days where sport was everywhere – local, regional, national and international.

As with all sporting occasions there are winners and those who come second, third and unfortunately last. For competitors and participants, each finishing position creates its own emotional rollercoaster and I cannot fathom, just what it must feel like to compete at such a high level. My own sporting endeavours never reached those giddy heights!

What is a given, are the emotions that are shown and displayed at the end of any sporting encounter, raw, visceral and spontaneous.

Lewis Hamilton screaming, whooping and hollering on his radio, Andy Murray holding back the tears whilst clinging tightly to that gold trophy on the auld BBC, relay runners, giving group hugs and kisses on the track in Amsterdam, Ronaldo hobbling around the pitch with his busted knee, in the Saint-Denis, Stade de France and the sheer joy of the young Tipperary hurlers lifting the Munster Final Cup. ALL of these winners give us, the supporters, a huge emotional high that we can carry for days and even weeks.

The other side of the sporting coin is that for every winner there has to be a loser and with losing there comes the inevitable inquest as to why and how that just happened!

On Sunday in Limerick and on RTE we witnessed extremely emotional lows with our very own fighting Deise men, distraught and inconsolable from a Munster Final loss. A loss where they appeared to have been out muscled by stronger more aggressive players and in the cold light of day we were simply beaten by a better team.

From loss and disappointment comes the hope that better things are on the horizon. I’m sure that we will see a resurgent Waterford tackling the All Ireland, with renewed determination. Our band of brothers will be reminded of the emotional lows that they felt on Sunday 10^th July 2016 and this will surely stir the necessary passion to drive the Team forward to greater glory and a trip to Dublin later this year.

With the Munster Final gone, what next I hear you cry!

On Wednesday 13^th July, it was Judgement Day, for the Three Sisters bid for European Capital of Culture 2020. The European judging panel will be visiting our City, along with Wexford and Kilkenny, to see who will be placed first, second or third. With the winning announcement to be made on Friday, 15^th July.

From the tears of sadness on Sunday we NOW have the chance to do our bit, to help Waterford Wexford and Kilkenny get over the line and beat Galway and Limerick to first place, in our competition for this title.

Look on this, if you like, as a sporting competition where we need to flood the City Centre with the people of Waterford. They are the best supporters in Ireland and let us show the judges, through conversation and craic, that we have far more to offer than the likes of Galway and Limerick. We all know that Waterford has what it takes but we just need to be encouraged and cajoled, to show that raw emotion, so evident on the terracing when wearing the white and blue.

This is our last chance to impress and get this bid over the line. A chance for Waterford to be top of the pile and a European Capital of Culture.

On Friday 15^th July we want to win. I hope that you did your bit, came into the City Centre on Wednesday and helped to make Waterford shine. #BitForTheBid

PS It was great to be Scottish on Sunday – tears of joy! 

Smiles through gritted teeth!

As each day goes by I look more & more like Shrek!

I was fortunate to attend last week’s Council meeting to elect the new Metropolitan Mayor, or Metro Mayor as it has now been shortened to, of Waterford City.

As a side note I still read, via the interweb and social media, that there is continued confusion as to why we have two Mayors.

Yes, we have one “Senior” Mayor for the City and Council, who oversees the full plenary Council meetings of 32 Councillors and we have a Metropolitan Mayor of Waterford City, who oversees the Council’s Metropolitan District meetings of 18 Councillors. In addition there are the Comeragh District, 6 Councillors, and Dungarvan/Lismore District, 8 Councillors, neither of which has a Mayor, but they each have a Chairperson. In the future they may well wish to elect their own Mayors, in which case we could end up with four – confused, you may well be!

Anyway back to last week.

At a packed City Council Chambers, on the first floor of the Council buildings on The Mall, we awaited the election, nominations and voting on what turned out to be a two horse race, between Councillor John Hearne (SF) and Councillor L. Cha O’Neill (Ind). You can pre-judge how the voting will go just by looking around the Chamber and counting the number of supporters each candidate has in the public gallery. There were substantially more John Hearne supporters than Cha O’Neill so there would be no surprises on the night.

The order of Mayoral Office candidates was agreed at the very first amalgamated Council meeting, some two years ago, under a system called The D'Hondt Method. This proportionately allocates seats, or in this case positions, based on voting averages. Take into account the supplementary agreements made between the various pact groupings and you could have literally put your house on John Hearne getting the gig.

As is the process with elections, the two candidates still had to be nominated and seconded by fellow Councillors. The Chair also asked for any additional candidates to come forward – but alas none would be selected to add spice, to what would be a tame meeting. It was during this process that we heard the Proposers talk about their candidate and we listened to all manner of contributions that each contender had made to the Council and their Community.

A packed Press Centre!

There was even a suggestion that due to the high number of votes received by Councillor Hearne, at the last elections, he should have been a shoe in for Mayor and even Plenary Mayor. But the fact is at the last Local Council elections we were not voting for a Mayor, we were electing Councillors!

Maybe we do need to have elected Mayors and this would add a whole new dynamic to our local politics. We might even get a Boris!!!!!

Votes cast, there was no surprise that Councillor John Hearne was duly elected by a massive landslide majority of support.

For me the most interesting part of the meeting was after the votes were cast when Councillor after Councillor quite clearly spoke through gritted teeth about how they would support this historic new SF Mayor for Waterford City (Metro Mayor).

Clearly they were playing to the galleries of press in attendance, as I have seen no evidence over the last two years of certain Councillors supporting the opposition! In fact I would go further and say that deep down, many didn’t wish for a SF Mayor, but due to the pact and The D'Hondt Method they had little choice.

So, going forward will we see the Entente Cordiale continue throughout 2016 and into 2017?

David v a Goliath

I would hazard a guess that we will be back to normal at the next Council meeting, where swords will be drawn and normal hostilities will resume. Politics will never change!

As we are still at the bottom of the economic league table, I do wonder if a SF and FF Mayoral combination can be our Wales/Iceland to get us competing with the big boys? I wouldn’t put my house on it!

More sporting success please!

We must inspire a culture in Waterford that is not afraid or frightened to celebrate success. The recent positivity around our GAA successes, in both the male and female disciplines, has allowed the City and County, albeit far too fleetingly, moments of being “the best of the best”. These successes must be cherished and built upon in futures years to ensure that this becomes a regular annual celebration. Our GAA prowess appears, to this non GAA person, to be on an upward curve and those leading this charge must be applauded, helped and supported.

Having lived in Waterford City for nearly fifteen years I have been excited by many sporting “nearlys” and the margin between success and failure in sport, as in business, is a very, very fine line. Waterford’s sporting teams across all manner of disciplines have on so many occasions almost got there just to be thwarted at the very last minute. But there is always an annual drive and enthusiasm at the start of every season and if that collective will could be harnessed and transferred to the field of play then we would be at the pinnacle of all our City and County sports. Waterford generates passionate supporters and this must be utilised in terms of other aspects of our City and County. If we can literally bring the rafters down shouting for GAA or soccer or rugby then we should be doing likewise for our other City and County assets – yet we seem to remain strangely silent about these!

As a prime example of how leaders in our local sports have a positive affect on not only our own mindset but the mindset of whole communities you do not have to look very far.

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny is a prime example of a town that almost certainly, on an annual basis, will celebrate some sort of sporting success. And this sporting celebration filters down through the people of Kilkenny to such an extent that they are not afraid to rejoice, exult and take pride in their own town and the environs of a whole County. Ask someone in Kilkenny how business is going and they will tell you it is going great. Ask someone in Kilkenny about the castle and they will boast about it as if it is the only example in the whole of Ireland. Ask a Kilkenny person about the nightlife, shopping, restaurants etc and you will undoubtedly get the same positive upbeat answer. The people of Kilkenny are, in part, lead by their sports and the senior personalities associated with their sports and they celebrate everything else with just as much gusto, passion and eagerness. And this mentality is infectious and contagious as every visitor to Kilkenny leaves with the same positive impression. It really is a win win for all concerned.

As our GAA success story continues to gather pace we also need to see our soccer team return to winning ways for the benefit of the City and County. In fact if all our sporting sectors can be part of a metaphorical rising tide then this can only benefit everyone. Just imagine future years where we can watch our GAA teams winning at the highest levels, our soccer team on top of the Premier League, our rugby teams back playing senior rugby and so on. To be absolutely blunt our sporting success has to be seen as part of the City’s future and we all must make an effort to support our teams as and when we can. The benefits of sporting success to a local economy cannot be underestimated and the higher the standard the higher the economic spend and the more positive the impact this has on a localised economy. You really do not have to be Adam Smith to realise that if Waterford sporting prowess exponentially grew over the next few years we would all see the economic benefits.

As a City and County looking towards a brighter future we do need to see more positivity from every single inhabitant who lives, works and plays here.

On a daily basis I go out of my way to meet and speak to as many visitors as I can and they are easily identified as they are more often carrying map, or they look lost having inadvertently wandered out of the Viking Triangle, and I would say that 95% of the feedback about the City is extremely positive. I would go further to say that many “love” the idiosyncratic way our medieval architecture leads you through and around our City Centre. Though I do often wonder just how many of us are prepared to do the same. We all know from our own holiday experiences that a friendly welcoming face goes a long way to helping you enjoy and remember a place with fond memories. And really Waterford should be no different.

We have a City that is ideal for walking and discovering and perhaps this needs to be the focus in terms of our future development. Let us use the very assets that make the City what it is today instead of trying to “impose” modern solutions on a Medieval footprint. With the immanent start date for the City Centre Renewal just around the corner I would hope that the circa 70 plus submissions lodged with the Council will be taken into account. And it will be very interesting to see if all the work and effort that went into the engagement with members of the public actually results in positive changes to the overall plan.

Success and the emotion it brings!

I am a great believer that in order to progress in business you must surround yourself with positively minded people. Negative people do not drive businesses forward and, in fact, negative people who hold senior positions within a company or organisation often asphyxiate and smother potential “superstars” from, shall we say, the “lower ranks”. This model can be seen across many organisations including those involved in sport and the trick is spotting this early and then being brave enough to make the right changes.

Maybe we have to see changes from within that will encourage positivity and allow us to free up our lungs to breathe more easily and so in the future we too can shout from the terraces of Croke Park or the Aviva Stadium and be singing the songs of victory.

Finally, well done to our Ladies, just don’t leave it another 17 years to repeat the success – please!