MONEY is never an easy topic to discuss, least of all in an amateur organ-isation like the GAA but there is something depressing about how much the topic dominated the discussion at this year’s annual county convention.
The same detailed and agonizing discussions are happening in clubs across the country. In a week where the budget added to the sense of doom and gloom about the place, the county couldn’t have chosen a worse time to reveal their own financial woes. There has to be a bigger concern for the GAA as a whole that more and more counties are running into serious financial problems.
Fundraising is never easy but the scale of the costs that counties are now expected to absorb in the pursuit of success is frightening. The inter-county game has become an all-consuming monster that is proving more and more difficult to feed. How much bigger can it get? How much is too much?
There is only so much fundraising that can be done. At some point you have to scale back when the costs are unsustainable. Clearly Kildare have reached that point.
A training session for the county’s senior football team now costs an average of €3,500. That’s a lot of lotto tickets to have to sell and goodness knows this current panel have done a huge amount of selling in the last few years in order to help finance their ambitions. What’s really frightening is to think how much effort the players have had to put into fundraising and they’re still well short of what it costs to run the whole operation.
Their ambition, and the dream of every supporter, in the county is to win an All-Ireland but those in charge of Gaelic Games in Kildare have a responsibility to make sure we don’t become bankrupt in the process.
If a business posted the kind of figures that Kildare did at the end of 2011, the banks would be looking to bring in a receiver. Cuts have been promised and further fundraising schemes announced but there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
How did we arrive at this point?
In her secretary’s report at this year’s convention, Kathleen O’Neill, admitted that the county board didn’t take the steps they knew they needed to take long before now. In case we forgot, she reminded us that her 2010 report also warned of the need to take ‘remedial action.’ So who is she pointing the finger at? The rest of the officers on the county board or the people who are running up all the costs?
She is the county’s full-time secretary, a professional working in an amateur organisation, admitting that her own advice was ignored. That doesn’t bode well for the future. How are clubs expected to have faith in those charged with turning the situation around? What is the point in having a full-time officer if her instructions aren’t followed?
You’d wonder how a secretary can continue to work within an environment that doesn’t pay heed to her warnings.
Clearly there needs to be a lot more transparency about how Kildare GAA is run. A voluntary organisation shouldn’t have an air of secrecy about it and it is only right that clubs get to see a detailed financial report on a regular basis, as was demanded by Eadestown in one of the motions put forward this year. Across the country it seems, finance is only discussed when there is a problem but maybe there wouldn’t be as many problems if these discussions were out in the open long before that. It should be a matter of course that accounts are presented and the costs of running the county’s affairs are made known to the clubs. Then they could decide if they want to call a halt to something. It is too late to find out in October when the season is more or less finished.
Clubs have to make tough decisions all the time but going by the secretary’s report, the county have put off making the same tough decisions for at least a year. That’s what will really enrage the ordinary men and women of Kildare GAA this Christmas.
Thankfully there’s still some decent football being played at this time of the year to take our minds off other matters. This Sunday’s under-21 A final between Athy and Naas promises to be a belter.
Unfortunately Sunday’s B final was a rather one-sided affair but there are some really talented players in the Castledermot side, which will make that club a serious force in the intermediate championship in a couple of seasons. It is not inconceivable that they could hold their own at senior level if the Farrells and co come through for them.
Gavin Farrell gave a masterclass in defending and has already featured on county minor sides while Emmet O’Keefe is a forward with serious ability.
There is no end to the potential that will be on show this weekend and it would be some end to the season if Athy manage to add another title. It won’t be easy for them and after the highs and lows of their Leinster campaign, this bustling Naas side will really test their resolve.
Athy are clearly favourites and have enough firepower up front to win a game in a matter of minutes but Naas won’t mind being underdogs. They are a strong, physical side that will prosper in the heavy, December conditions and they too have plenty of talent in attack.
It’s hard to think there will be more than a score between the sides and don’t be surprised if Naas’ hunger for success gets them over the line.