Austin Stack Park is a GAA stadium in

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in Count ...

, County Kerry,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is one of the stadiums used by

Kerry GAA The Kerry County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), or Kerry GAA, is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland. It is responsible for Gaelic games in County Kerry, and for the Kerry county teams. The Kerry branch of the Gae ...

's Gaelic football team and the stadium of the hurling team. The ground was named after

Austin Stack Augustine Mary Moore Stack (7 December 1879 – 27 April 1929) was an Irish republican and politician who served as Minister for Home Affairs from 1921 to 1922. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1927. Early life Stack was born in Ball ...

, an Irish revolutionary and captain of the

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

winning Kerry Gaelic football team of 1904. It is located in the centre of

. It hosts many

home games, mostly football league games and both league and championship hurling. The County Championship football and hurling finals are normally held here.

History

Austin Stack Park has been used for the playing of games since well into the 19th century. Generally known as ''The Sportsfield'' it was owned by the County Kerry Athletic and Cricket Club. At that time the pitch was oval shaped and surrounded by a 440-yard sloping cinder track considered to be the finest in Ireland. In 1903 the trustees rented ''The Sportsfield'' to a committee consisting of all GAA members. The Kerry County Board then purchased the grounds in 1929. In 1934 ''The Sportsfield'' was converted into a rectangular pitch to host the 1934 All Ireland Semi Final which led to the demise of the famous cinder track. In 1944 the County Board renamed the grounds in honour of

. The Kerry County Board have had their offices in the ground since 1985 located in the pavilion which first opened back in 1967. In 1994 a new development was completed including a new stand, terracing and redeveloped County Board offices. The Park hosted the All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship final in 1983 when

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in Count ...

took the title beating

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the final. It has also hosted the 1997-98

Sigerson Cup The Sigerson Cup is the trophy for the premier Gaelic football championship among Higher Education institutions (Universities, Colleges and Institutes of Technology) in Ireland. It traditionally begins in mid January and ends in late February. ...

final which was won by Tralee IT, while the first game in

played under floodlights took place here in November 2001.

Recent Times

In 2007 plans were approved for its relocation to a site outside the town currently occupied by Ballybeggan Racecourse. In December 2009 it was announced that plans for the new stadium and development had been put on hold indefinitely due to the collapse of the Irish economy and ongoing

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

. By 2012

The Kerryman ''The Kerryman'' is a weekly local newspaper published in County Kerry in Ireland by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper was founded in 1904 by Maurice Griffin and cousins Thomas and Daniel Nolan. Independen ...

newspaper reported that the plans had in effect been abandoned.''The_Kerryman
''.html" ;"title="The Kerryman">''The Kerryman
''">The Kerryman">''The Kerryman
'' 21 March 2012 In 2014 a committee was put in place by the County Board to look into the gradual refurbishment of the grounds. Some of their goals include the upgrading of the pitch, a new score board, upgrading of the lighting system and terracing of the western side of the grounds.

References

Buildings and structures in Tralee Gaelic games grounds in the Republic of Ireland Kerry GAA Sports venues in County Kerry {{Ireland-sports-venue-stub

History

Recent Times

See also

References