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It's hard to
imagine what the late Bunny Lambe
would have made of it all. The
dream of a 100% owned, spiritual
home for his beloved Pudding Lane,
crushed by a deal brokered by a
club member he privately and
publicly detested. Its hard to
know what a lot of other members
of the Thurles club are thinking
at the moment in light of last
Friday's announcement in the
"Louise Morrisey Room"
in Harry's Bar. Lambe's lifetime
nemesis and the club's current
development officer Leonard
O'Leary was unashamedly apologetic
that he failed to lead Pudding
Lane to its promised land of
Lambecom Park in Town West. It now
seems likely that the whole
Lambecom Park fiasco will result
in the sacking of O'Leary from his
trusted and treasured position
within the club.
"Lucky
Leonard" must surely be
conscious of the irony surrounding
the recent announcement. It seems
like ages ago since he was riding
the crest of a wave of popularity
following the unveiling of plans
for Lambecom Park. Lambecom Park
was to provide a wonderful
alternative to the club's rented
grounds in Loughtagalla, known to
the locals as Lambe Field. It was
to be a state of the art junior
soccer facility boasting changing
rooms with hot and cold showers as
well as a small but useful kitchen
area, toilets and septic tank. The
"Park" was to be built
on a greenfield site at a cost of
£60,000, with the money for the
project coming from the proceeds
of the club's successful series of
poker classics as well as a
sponsorship deal for naming rights
to the ground agreed with Tony
Lambe Mobile Communications.
Further assistance for the project
was to come from the generous
donation of building supplies and
labour from local merchants and
builders.
The Pudding
Lane announcement though was
quickly overshadowed by the
Thurles Urban District Council
plan for a multipurpose sporting
facility that could be used by a
number of clubs in the greater
Thurles area. The Stadium Thurles
plan was an idea that quickly
gained a broad base of local
support. The town's rugby club was
one of the first local sporting
bodies to agree on a tenancy,
followed by a commitment from the
Fennellys to play at least one
match there per season and the gun
club's aim to relocate pheasant
island to the Campus Thurles site.
Up to last Friday Leonard O' Leary
had repeatedly denied suggestions
that Pudding Lane would also take
up a tenancy in Stadium Thurles
even though other club officers
were questioning the beleaguered
development officer on the
escalating costs of the Lambecom
Park project.
The deal
agreed on Friday is attractive in
any one's language. The
substantial seating area complete
with galvanised covered stand will
allow Pudding Lane to hook the
comfort conscious supporter it has
consistently tried to attract to
its games. The other attractive
facilities on offer will surely
raise the profile of the club in
Tipperary and beyond. But not
everyone is happy. Dissension is
rife in the club at the moment if
the mass brawl outside Harry's
last Friday night is anything to
go by. Apparently large bottles of
cider were used as weapons and
Garda reinforcements had to be
called in from Templemore and
Cashel to control the situation.
Although Lambecom Park is
officially dead as an idea its
legacy could be a club torn
asunder by recriminations and
bitterness. Remember, you heard it
first on Dangerhere.
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