Northern Ireland politicians have found a new battleground in Casement Park

News pages have been chock-a-block this week with sports stadiums. Marseille’s Vélodrome, the venue for Ireland’s opening game in the Six Nations, was a talking point. The SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh and, as some people see it, the sale of Irish heritage, drove more headlines. And the demise, or not, of Casement Park’s redevelopment made it into the columns of the London Times on Monday.

Just one of those grounds is currently a dilapidated, overgrown mess and there appear to be people who wouldn’t mind if it stays that way. Casement Park, derelict for more than 10 years, is a sorry sight.

However, because of the 2028 Euros, the stadium is scheduled to be renovated in time to host matches, which were awarded to the UK and Ireland. It will cost about £170 million (€199 million) to meet Uefa’s 30,000-minimum capacity, which neither football’s Windsor Park nor rugby’s Kingspan Stadium meet.

That seems straightforward, except nothing is straightforward in Northern Ireland.

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The Times kicked off the week with a story on the stadium and dolefully wrote. “Euro 2028 organisers have drawn up contingency plans as concerns grow that proposals for a new stadium in Belfast will have to be abandoned.” Wowzah!

It then rolled out some of the usual suspects. It had Kate Hoey, the former Labour sports minister in Tony Blair’s government. It had Gary McAllister, the chairman of the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters Clubs. Both have firm views that Casement Park should not get the money to be redeveloped.

In fairness to McAllister, he says the things that the politicians won’t and added that “some fans had expressed worries about not feeling safe as Casement Park was in an area where the local community do not traditionally support the Northern Ireland team”. Well, that’s Catholics, nationalists and republicans for you, or CNR as they are called. The PUL, or Protestants, unionists and loyalists occupy the other group.

[ Ciarán Murphy: Rebuilding Casement Park could bring more wins than losses ]

Logistical and safety concerns had also been previously raised by the NI supporters because of the “divided nature of Northern Ireland society”. Not a consideration when Windsor Park was given £29 million for renovation, £25 million of it coming from the UK government. But let’s park that.

Last October, a group of NI supporters delivered a clearer verdict on Casement Park during a Euro qualifier against San Marino in Belfast. A section of the crowd could be heard chanting, “You can shove your Casement Park up your hole”.

Windsor Park and rugby’s Kingspan Stadium, which cost about £20 million, have been used to show the disparity in money allocation, although it is unfair to drag rugby into what many see as an ill-disguised sectarian-driven, political dispute.

With work needed to install their 3G pitch at Kingspan Stadium for this campaign, the Ulster rugby team tapered off their preseason friendly series last October with a match against Glasgow in Cavan’s GAA ground, Breffni Park.

“Our thanks go to our friends at Ulster GAA and Cavan GAA for offering us the use of Kingspan Breffni, and their support in putting on the fixture,” said Ulster Rugby chief executive Jonny Petrie. Isn’t that the way things are supposed to go in sport?

Well, absolutely not in Northern Ireland. DUP MLA Stephen Dunne, soon to return to work in Stormont after almost two years, cynically expressed concern about hospitals and kids.

“The idea of Casement Park being given a blank cheque with additional public funds needs a reality check,” he said last year. “We will oppose any plans to allocate additional resources to meet the GAA’s shortfall in the Casement Park project from NI Executive budgets at a time when hospitals and schools need additional and necessary resources.”

Then the BBC followed up the Times story from Monday. It published a different view. “The Irish FA says it is ‘confident’ the Casement Park redevelopment project will be completed for Euro 2028,” it said. Almost overnight the abandoned stadium became one that would be built.

The BBC continued and quoted the IFA saying it was “aware” of the reports that the project is in danger but that it will “continue to work with all partners on the Euro project and are confident it will be completed in the appropriate time frame”.

[ Casement Park suffers another setback as Ulster GAA begin new procurement process ]

Last May, Northern secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told the BBC: “We’ll get the money, don’t you worry.” Leo Varadkar said his Government was in discussions with Ulster GAA and the British government about contributing.

But on it goes, the sniping, the undermining, the resurrecting on social media of divisive local history, particularly the killing of corporals Derek Wood and David Howes 36 years ago, which took place on waste ground close to the ground.

Why, because Casement Park is not really about money. It never has been about money, although everyone wants to talk about money. It’s not about football legacy either.

It is about the ongoing culture wars in Northern Ireland. It’s about issues of identity, religion, heritage and the possibility of one dominating the other.

It’s about the Irish language and the GAA, which have been demonised and misrepresented as belonging to an extreme wing of republicanism and which some people in Northern Ireland have come to fear. The pity is politicians have been central. They have found a battleground and it’s Casement Park.