WITH this weekend’s Clonakilty Park Hotel West Cork Rally once again attracting a high entry and other events around the country also well supported, it would seem motorsport, particularly rallying, is in a good place right now.
West Cork native Frank O’Mahony, who resides in Carrigaline, is one of the most respected people in motorsport. From competitor, to organiser, to official and safety representative, he has a vast perspective.
He is a former chairperson of the Rallies Committee (now the Rallies Commission) and a past member of the Motor Sport Commission (now Motor Sport Council). His liking for the West Cork Rally has been there since its inception. Competitively, it was one event that eluded him in his long career, but his son Brian brought the TP Houlihan Trophy back to Carrigaline in 2013.
Despite the high numbers Drimoleague-born O’Mahony revealed his reservations during the rally launch a few weeks ago.
‘The appetite for rallies out there was never higher. It's huge. Hopefully it will continue. I think that there are a few things that could be better,’ O’Mahony said.
‘Unfortunately, we're after a bad spate of accidents – nobody's fault, can't blame anyone for that, it's the nature of the sport. Maybe, some of the fundamentals could be looked at a bit better. Obviously, we are under the rules of the FIA but we have an amateur sport in this country, we have a family-oriented sport, a family-supported sport and a volunteer sport.’
In front of an attentive audience, O’Mahony said, ‘I think that maybe the powers-that-be (Motorsport Ireland) should bear that in mind more and keep it to the forefront of their mind more often than what they're doing. Maybe talk to a few people that are competing.’
He explained: ‘Some of the people are doing their best and are putting trojan effort in and massive amounts of volunteer time. Unfortunately, they haven't the experience of competing so maybe it's a bit difficult for them to get a proper feel for it. I think there should be dialogue between the powers-that-be and the competitors and see exactly what way it should go. That is something I would like to see happening sooner rather than later.’
O’Mahony added: ‘The governing body should also recognise that their sport is being organised by volunteers, who have day jobs. I think they are forgetting that it's volunteers that are responsible for organising the sport. The amount of work that’s involved on a volunteer basis from the very word go is huge. On the day, the rally is run with a couple of hundred volunteers out there under all kinds of weather. Marshalling, without them the rally wouldn't run at all.’
Concluding, O’Mahony, who received a rapturous round of applause, said, ‘I think that maybe the hierarchy in Dawson Street has lost contact with that end of it. They should know what's involved and the cost to competitors. I would love to see better dialogue between those people and the competitors, organisers and indeed right down to the marshals and sponsors, everything.
It's an amateur sport, a volunteer sport and, above all, it's a family-oriented sport and that's a very, very big issue and should be borne in mind by the people in charge.
