Recession, County Boards and the foreign game

I see three english league clubs are going to the wall (only leaves 89 more to go) and they have 4 weeks to settle the re finances or be shut down.
Aren't we so lucky here to have some "level headed" county boards that don't believe in buying success or looking for that short cut to attaining success in the quest for Sam and Liam.
Wexford turned a €250k deficit last year into a €38k surplus this year but at what cost, we have made our senior teams so uncompetitive its a joke (footballers may do something this year) so the boys at the top table don't have to answer any tough questions on expenditure (i always find it amazing once your in the black no ones asks any questions yet thee waste can be staggering, yet go into the red and everything is wrong -but you could be in it for all the correct reasons).
I only used Wexford as an example but every county board will have to look at themselves and prioritise what is required and what isn't.
Inter county senior teams in leagues and respective champs wanted
Intermediate and Junior teams are these needed at inter-county level
Development squads for U14 to minor wanted
Centres of excellence are these needed more money to levy and impose on clubs
GPO's are they required
Do we need county squads with 30 plus players
Do county squads need to be training more than twice a week

I'm sure there are more ideas out there on what to trim and more importantly want not any views

I think English clubs are in too much debt, can see some of them collapsing in the next few years.

Galway hurling board are getting rid of the intermediate team. It was costing 20k just for one year and usually one game.

Good post Jim - deserves a good response. Am thinking about it and have flagged similar in the past.

Great post Jim, and some brilliant points mentioned. I will give a response when i get a chance (may be tomorrow due to work) as i have some very strong views on the amount of money that is being spent by county boards!

The waste is a key issue all right but I can't see how any of the things you mentioned can dropped. Underage development squads for example can play a big part in bringing on the next GAA superstars.

I'd get the GAA to create a small (paid) team of people who would support each county board in reducing their costs. They could share the experience of other counties and other boards who have been successful in reducing expenditure while maintaining. A few good business heads would be able to offer good advice to, what in essence these days, are businesses.

i seen figures relating to Tyrone's expenditure for last year. They spent over £500,000 on the various teams £130,000 on administration, £90,000 was pumped into Healy Park and there was also coaching costs which were thousands as well.

And yet they still produced a profit of over £200,000 ..................

Did some clubs go too far the other way? Mullahorn in Cavan is in debt of 1.2 Million.

Jonsmith wrote:Did some clubs go too far the other way? Mullahorn in Cavan is in debt of 1.2 Million.

JS - the big problem as i see it at least in Tyrone is clubs seem intent on worrying more about the material side of things. That is they build the biggest and best clubrooms with state of the art gyms and maybe a second or even third pitch.

They care more about what the club looks like to those who drive past it and see the facilities. And yet it is the actual playing and coaching side of things that are neglected on a grand scale. So clubs are tens of thousands of pounds in debt and yet they are not developing any future players.

They might have the best facilities but they make little or no impact on the playing side of it. Would clubs not be better to pump a few pounds into employing a coaching officer on a paid basis who would target all the local schools youth clubs etc and try to bring more and more players through.......

many clubs I feel have lost the whole idea of what the GAA is about, its not about bricks and mortar and gyms and the likes its about coaching and playing

Totally agree Boc. One of my local clubs for example; Played Senior football in 1996 and were competing after having just won Intermediate the previous year. One pitch which had a fall of about 7-10 foot on it and two dressing rooms/sheds. Now they're a junior club with one of the best facilities in Cavan, it won best in Ulster in it's opening year as far as I know. In fairness to them they are building some fantastic underage teams and they are hopeful for the future but I think they lost sight of what was important for a few years, people were coaching underage who had never kicked a ball themselves!

Jonsmith wrote:Totally agree Boc. One of my local clubs for example; Played Senior football in 1996 and were competing after having just won Intermediate the previous year. One pitch which had a fall of about 7-10 foot on it and two dressing rooms/sheds. Now they're a junior club with one of the best facilities in Cavan, it won best in Ulster in it's opening year as far as I know. In fairness to them they are building some fantastic underage teams and they are hopeful for the future but I think they lost sight of what was important for a few years, people were coaching underage who had never kicked a ball themselves!

JS thats not necessarily a bad thing - some of the best footballers can make the worst coaches - so i wouldn't knock a man or woman who wants to get involved who has no playing previous.

People like that need to be guided by the club coaches who are coming from a playing background and perhaps better informed. Interestingly enough its a subject that i have discussed at great length with our Youth officer recently - i think clubs would be better advised investing man hours in putting a coaching development plan together which would reap better rewards.

A few years back myself and colleagues within the club spent weeks months even tramping the country trying to sell tickets for new changing rooms pitch etc, now we arent even allowed on the f*8king field for fear of damaging it - we are paying £10k in maintenance per annum for the upkeep of two fields. Interestingly enough we had more success as a club when our facilities were just average - now we have state of the art everything but on the playing side of things we achieve little

Boc hit he nail on the head regarding clubs
"They care more about what the club looks like to those who drive past it and see the facilities. And yet it is the actual playing and coaching side of things that are neglected on a grand scale. So clubs are tens of thousands of pounds in debt and yet they are not developing any future players."

I think county boards are guilty of these to with centres of excellence. Personally if you rotated these around I think you would get a better job than what's happening at present. Far too many tickets out for developments all over the place. I got "stung" for €100 on tickets for other clubs in the last 4/5 weeks alone without anything for my own.
Liked the idea of assessors- this is coming down the line in a sort of fashion.
all county boards have to submit there financial records to croker as of this year, same is going to apply to clubs.

Rem for a club to "go into debt" or get a loan for any substancial amount (think €10k upwards-may even be less) the have to get permission from their county board. In Mullahon's case the Cavan county board had to give them permission to borrow the money
Why?? you ask
Croke park (P.Duffy), provincial Secretary plus county board chairperson and secretary are automatic trustees along with you those your club nominates and those that are in positions (chairperson, secretary, treasurer) because croke park has a right(owns) to the deeds to all club grounds belonging to the GAA or associated (handball alley's prime example).
Sorry divulging from the point. Keep these views coming in.

Boc on a separate note Tyrone are on the crest of a wave 3 AI titles in the last 7 years couple of national league titles, this could be a good reason to be in the black (imagine been in the red and been the second most successful team in terms of silverware).
Also and a very valid point you have only one team competing at the top table you are not a dual county to the same standard of Cork, Galway, Dublin, Limerick, Offaly, Wexford and Antrim (others are getting there most notably Tipp and Carlow).

This is another factor should the likes of KK, Kerry, Tyrone, Armagh, Kildare, Waterford who only pay lip service to there "other teams" get any monies or very reduced monies from croker and dual counties who try and promote (I did say try before people take issue and slate Wexford rather than me) both games.

Anyway food for thought and to MR Cluxton happy Friday

very good points Jim and i agree wholeheartedly with all you say. On the subject of Tyrone what amazes me is we are on the crest of a wave - we have won 3 all irelands since the GAA was founded 7 years ago!!!!

And yet our county board decides we need a new complex with 6 pitches at a cost of circa £7m - why do we need that - we have managed up until now. There is a complex just yards from my house with 3 pitches and a state of the art running track which is rarely used and in fact was closed not that long ago because of financial difficulties. In Cookstown there is the Mid Ulster Sports Arena which Tyrone use on a regular basis along with Cloghers pitch - so i cant fathom the notion that we need this new complex costing so much.

The guys who are advocating it will be long gone when the **** hits the fan in terms of paying for it - what happens when Tyrone aren't so successful and the support wanes and the income along with it. If the county board were to invest a fraction of that in player development i would have no problem but i do have to say i have a big problem with the Garvaghey project.

Areas I think need investment,
Players- development for the game
Officers - development to help see the sh1t through the trees, on the administration side.

As boc and others have pointed out name one county where there are idle facilities and county boards dead set on these centres of excellence.
Centres of getting county boars in the red and as Boc pointed out those who started the process are long gone before the sh1t hits the fan