Money

[Mickmack]

Sport

GAA





Supermac's say mentors' complaints prompted statement
Updated / Tuesday, 8 Oct 2019 22:15



Supermac's issued a new statement clarifying the motivation behind their original one



Supermac's have issued a statement clarifying the motivation behind last week's statement on Galway GAA's spending, saying that complaints from parents, mentors and management teams were among the factors that prompted them to act.

Galway's longtime sponsors issued a statement last week outlining the extent of their financial contributions to Galway GAA since 2015 and demanded the publication of two financial reviews conducted into the county's spending.

In their latest statement released this evening, the fast food chain insists it "has no interest in seeking to influence the decision-making process of Galway GAA" but added that it sought "transparency and accountability" which it said was vital to the success of the county's teams on the field.

The statement also added that the company had been approached by parents and mentors with stories of how Galway teams were being under-funded due to 'budget cuts'.

"Parents, mentors and management teams have approached Supermac's on numerous occasions to bring several incidents to our attention including revelations of underage teams having to bring their own lunches to tournaments in other counties, teams wearing mismatched jerseys against fully kitted opposition and management teams requiring further resources that weren't made available due to budget cuts."


Galway's GAA's finances have been a vexed matter for some time now. GAA authorities and accounting firm Mazars were brought in to examine the state of the county's finances last year and a meeting in December last year heard concerns expressed over practices in the period of 2015-17.

The use of an official credit card for personal expenses, officer expenses of €45,000 and a debt of €390,000 to Croke Park for All-Ireland final tickets were among the revelations.

A 103-acre site in Athenry that was bought in 2006 for €2.8m and earmarked for a centre of excellence was sold at a loss of almost €2m last year.

Supermac's tonight re-iterated its call for the reviews conducted by the GAA and Mazar's to be made public, saying it was "at a loss to understand why these reports have not been published.

"We re-iterate that players, supporters and volunteers who willingly give their time for the promotion and administration of our games deserve no less."

It has been an extremely difficult week for Galway GAA, who now also have had to begin from scratch in their search for a new hurling manager after all three of the nominated candidates withdrew from the race.

[mikeymoriarty69]

text deleted.

This poster will be banned if he persists with more rubbish.

Control 5

[Mickmack]

Gaelic Football
Further twist in Mayo funding row as Supporters' Foundation chief eyes big sponsorship deal



Donnchadh Boyle

1
Tim O'Leary
Mayo GAA's ongoing funding row has taken another twist with the chairman of the county's International Supporters' Foundation - the group currently withholding €250,000 in funding from the county board - writing to the county expressing an interest in bidding for the naming rights to MacHale Park.

New York-based trader Tim O'Leary, who has been a major backer of Mayo GAA in recent years, emailed the county's commercial manager Tom Reilly expressing interest in submitting a tender for the package, which also includes being the main sponsor on county jerseys.

Elverys hold the naming rights until the end of next season and are widely expected to renew their deal but O'Leary has asked for "a copy of the tender documents along with your bid assessment process".

"It has come to my attention that Mayo GAA are in the process of seeking submissions for commercial sponsorship of the various teams to include the senior team and the naming rights to MacHale Park," read the letter, which was signed by O'Leary.

"Can I ask that you accept this letter as an expression of my interest in submitting a tender for the sponsorship package. Can I ask that you please forward me a copy of the tender documents along with your bid assessment process.


"I trust that the CB will run a professional bid process with relevant governance structures in place. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience," concluded the letter.

Last month a highly critical letter, seen by the Irish Independent, stated the foundation had ceased funding the board "until appropriate governance structures are put in place".

The Mayo GAA International Supporters’ Foundation offered to provide financial support toward the creation of an academy facility and a centre of excellence.

However, the row erupted after the foundation said it hadn’t been supplied with business plans for either project and in a letter to the board, the foundation stated it would be withholding funds. O’Leary has already contributed €415,000 toward the county’s cause since last year.

The contents of that letter were not dealt with at last month’s county board meeting though Mayo GAA board treasurer Kevin O’Toole told delegates that he intended to reply to the allegations made in the statement at the October meeting, which takes places next Wednesday.

O’Toole claimed that the Foundation’s letter contained “a huge amount of misinformation”.

“I will have a line-by-line reply, in chronological order, of the moving sands of the moving sands,” he said.

“Because there are more moving sands in the Mayo Foundation than there is in the Sahara.”

When contacted for comment about this week’s correspondence from O’Leary, a spokesperson for the Mayo board stated: “To be fair to all our sponsors, that is commercially sensitive information. It’s not something we’ll be putting in the public domain.”

Irish Independent

[kerrybhoy06]

Floodlights failed in Parnell park today.

the poor dubs are skint, give them another 17 million ASAP

[Mickmack]

IrishExaminerOpen


Fresh allegations emerge as Mayo dispute deepens


By Edwin McGreal
Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - 12:59 PM
Fresh allegations of poor governance practices have been made against the Mayo GAA Board.

The latest allegations again come from the Mayo GAA International Supporters Foundation ahead of a crunch meeting of the Mayo County Board this evening at MacHale Park, Castlebar.

The board and the foundation have been embroiled in a bitter row in recent weeks.


The foundation claim concerns raised by the board’s auditor in relation to financial governance has not been made available to clubs.

An email was sent on Sunday night by Heather Blond, secretary of the foundation, to the board’s auditor and copied to some officers of the board and clubs in the county.

In the email to the board’s auditor, the foundation state: “We understand that you have written to the county board officers expressing concerns in relation to financial governance and that this letter was not made available to the clubs.

“You might please confirm if you have issued such a letter to the officers? If you have, we believe that this letter should be released to the clubs of Mayo immediately so that they are aware of your concerns.”

A series of allegations have been made by the foundation in recent weeks.


Many of the allegations were made by the foundation’s chairman, millionaire London-based donor Tim O’Leary, who has questioned sponsorship deals and claims he was called a “donkey” by a board officer. The foundation are currently withholding €250,000 from the board over what they describe as “governance issues”.

They worked with the board for a major fundraising gala in New York in May but their relationship has since soured.

At the September meeting of the board, Mayo GAA chiefs said they would “respond in full” at the October meeting to initial claims by O’Leary circulated days before that meeting. The October meeting has been deferred twice, due to illness of a leading board officer.

However, speaking earlier this month, former Mayo star Kevin McStay said the board needed to respond much quicker than they have.

“They say they’re going to answer it (the claims by the foundation) in the middle of the month (October 16). This is a crisis, the middle of the month is two weeks away. This should be dealt with immediately. You can’t have things like your good name, your brand name, your rich tradition, your proud tradition ... they’re not things to be flitted away,” said McStay.

[Mickmack]

Irish Times Logo
User Menu
NEWS

SPORT


GAELIC GAMES MY SPORTS
Mayo GAA contest recent claims and seek handover of funds


Money raised ‘in the name of Mayo GAA must remain in control of county board’




Seán Moran
Updated: Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 21:28
0

Mayo GAA has replied to queries and concerns expressed by a Mayo international fund-raising foundation, and denies claims that it owes money to a New York publican and restaurateur.

Wednesday night’s county board meeting did not permit any further discussion of the matter “due to legal constraints”, but will reconvene for an in-camera meeting on Monday.

Eugene Rooney, who owns the Oldcastle Irish pub, had requested nearly $20,000, which he alleged in a letter was owed to his establishment on foot of visits by Mayo footballers to New York in 2013 and 2014.

In a responding letter, county secretary Dermot Butler said that the Mayo GAA board “is not aware of any money owed to your pub and restaurant. Bills were presented by you arising out of meals and drinks authorised by Mayo GAA during the trips to New York. Agreement was reached between you and Mayo GAA board in relation to the amount due, and that agreed sum was discharged in full. No further monies are owed to you.

“You refer to Kevin O’Toole the treasurer refusing to pay bills arising out of the trips to New York in 2013 and 2014. Kevin O’Toole was not treasurer of Mayo GAA County Board in 2013 or 2014. He was secretary of Mayo GAA county board up to February 2013. He was elected treasurer in December 2015.”

The letters are just the latest shots in battles that been going on between the Mayo county executive and benefactors, principally financier Tim O’Leary, who established the Mayo GAA International Supporters Foundation (MGISF), which has already provided €150,000 to the county, but which has withheld funds from a big fund-raiser in New York last May pending clarification of governance issues in the county.

Naming rights
Mr O’Leary further disclosed in September that he was interested in securing the naming rights for Castlebar’s MacHale Park, currently held by county sponsors Elvery’s.


In a series of letters to clubs in the county and most recently to Mayo GAA’s auditors the foundation has raised concerns about where funds have been spent and other matters.

The county executive undertook to provide a “full response” to the initial letter, dated September 24th and received September 28th, at the following county committee meeting, which was postponed from October 16th to last Wednesday because the county chair, Mike Connelly, was unwell at the time.

Matters have been aggravated by an email reference from a Mayo officer to Mr O’Leary as “a donkey” and the playing of the song Shoe the Donkey at a match last weekend in Castlebar. A subsequent letter of apology explained this as a “lighthearted take on recent events”.

The county’s “full response” to the concerns was contained in another letter from the county, read at this week’s meeting and sent to the foundation secretary Heather Blond, clearly asking for the withheld funds to be released.

“The county board looks forward to the receipt of €250,000 raised on behalf of Mayo GAA county board by the foundation.”

The letter is careful to spell out the official GAA position on fund-raising groups. Centrally ordained protocols provide that any such bodies should be under the oversight of the county board, including having a cheque signatory, usually the county treasurer.

Supporters’ network
Mayo’s official fund-raising body, the letter emphasises, is Cairde Maigh Eo,

“Mayo GAA board are delighted to have the assistance of such a supporters’ network provided that there is a clear understanding that all funds raised are under the umbrella of Cairde Maigh Eo.

“As you will be aware Mayo GAA board has one fund-raising arm and that is Cairde Maigh Eo. Ultimate control of monies raised remains with Mayo GAA county board. The letter under response refers to the Academy, Centre of Excellence and general player welfare and development, and these align seamlessly with the aims of Mayo GAA.

“It is worth repeating, however, that any monies raised in the name of Mayo GAA must remain under the control of Mayo GAA county board.”

It is also claimed by the county that this was communicated to Mr O’Leary at the time of the gala night fund-raiser in New York.

“It was made abundantly clear to Mr O’Leary that monies raised in the name of Mayo GAA must remain within the control of Mayo GAA county board.”

[Mickmack]

GAA
Mayo county board summoned to meeting with senior GAA officials amid row with supporters group

Shane Phelan


The Mayo county board has been summoned to a meeting with senior GAA officials to discuss the ongoing row between it and a supporters group headed by millionaire businessman Tim O’Leary over governance issues.

The move follows discussions today between the Connacht Council and GAA director general Tom Ryan.

Senior GAA figures are understood to have grown impatient that the row, which has been rumbling for months, has not been resolved and is continued to attract publicity.

The Mayo GAA International Supporters Foundation has been withholding €250,000 raised at a gala dinner in New York earlier this year "until appropriate governance structures are put in place".

The cash was earmarked for an academy and a centre of excellence, but the foundation says it will not release the funds until business plans for both projects have been produced and reviewed.


It chairman, English-born interest rate derivatives trader Tim O’Leary, has also raised concerned over how €150,000 he donated towards the preparation of the Mayo senior footballers in 2018 was used. He claims receipts supplied to him did not reflect the terms attached to the donation.


2
Tim O'Leary with Mayo boss James Horan
A letter from Connacht Council secretary John Prenty was circulated by the Mayo county board to clubs in the county on this afternoon.

It stated that “in light of the situation pertaining to the difficulties currently being experienced by Mayo county committee” and following discussions with Ryan, the Connacht Council was exercising its powers to instruct county board officers to attend a meeting with Central Council and Connacht Council officers in the coming weeks.

A date for the meeting will be set in the coming days.

"The purpose of the meeting is to scope the full extent of the problem and to help the county committee to reach a solution that will be sustainable into the future," the letter said.

Under rule 3.30 of the GAA’s constitution, a provincial council can, subject to overall jurisdiction of Central Council, monitor, supervise and advise a county committee on a range of areas, including games development, financial performance and physical facilities.


Mayo county board chairman Mike Connolly has insisted there are no governance issues in the county and previously rejected the suggestion Croke Park may be required to intervene.

The row has proved hugely divisive in the county. Some county board delegates believe O’Leary has raised valid concerns which should be addressed.

But others have expressed disquiet at the negative publicity the controversy has attracted, particularly since a highly critical September 26 letter sent by the foundation to the county board came into the public domain.

Delegates voted to exclude media from future meetings, other than the county convention, at a behind closed doors meeting earlier this week.

The foundation had suggested delegates ask the county board to seek Croke Park’s support to find a mediated solution to the row.

While the prospect of mediation was discussed at the meeting, there was no resolution put forward on the issue.

Connolly told delegates the board had turned the matter over to its solicitors after receiving legal correspondence from O’Leary and former Mayo player Eugene Rooney.

O’Leary’s lawyers warned of potential proceedings if their client was defamed at the meeting.

Rooney, who owns bars and restaurants in New York, claims he is owed almost €18,000 for providing meals to the Mayo team in 2013 and 2014. The board maintains bills were paid and disputes that anything is owed.

When the subject of mediation was raise by a delegate, Connolly said: "If there is a recommendation of mediation from our solicitor we will be guided by him."

O’Leary, whose mother is from Newport, said he set up the foundation as a charitable organisation in partnership with the Ireland Funds to provide a tax efficient method for wealthy people with Mayo connections to donate money to the county cause.

The meeting earlier this week heard that despite having an income of €3.1m the county had substantially eaten into its reserves this year. Treasurer Kevin O’Toole described the county’s expenditure in 2019 as "quite phenomenal".

Online Editors

[kerrybhoy06]

Mayo just love doing Mayo things

[southward]

"the county had substantially eaten into its reserves this year." I'm terribly childish, I know but I just can't suppress an image of a horde of Mick Barretts noshing their way through the funds.

[Mickmack]

Irish Times Logo
User Menu
NEWS

SPORT

LATEST


Seán Moran
about 2 hours ago
0

Mayo’s current long dark night of the soul, soon to be illuminated by Croke Park searchlights, has its origins in an astonishing failure to adhere to central protocols.

In the blizzard of documentation flurrying through cyberspace, arguably the key communiqué is an email, dated April 9th, in which the Mayo GAA International Supporters Foundation (MGISF) lays out its understanding about the funds to be raised at the gala event in New York last May.

The MGISF and its prime mover Tim O’Leary, an international financier who is English-born and second-generation Mayo, used this email firmly to counter demands that the money raised in May should be handed over to the Mayo County Board without delay. Instead €250,000 raised by the event continues to be held by the foundation, pending clarification of governance issues.

On the face of it, O’Leary’s concerns don’t appear unreasonable and he made it clear in the April email that he would distribute the vast preponderance of the money raised (after small donations to charity and local New York GAA) to projects for a training facility in Mayo, a youth academy and also towards player welfare and development.

This was sent to county chair Mike Connelly on the above date but alarm bells should immediately have rung because there are strict rules about the relationships between GAA units and outside fund-raising groups. Such bodies should have a representative of the county’s GAA on their board and whoever it is, is supposed to be a signatory on the account.

Yet, in his email of November 4th to clubs and executive officers, O’Leary denied that anyone from the county board had – as asserted in a statement of 30th October – “made it ‘abundantly’ clear to him that money raised in the name of Mayo GAA shall remain in the control of Mayo GAA”.


He further pointed out that had this been the case, he would not have proceeded with the fund raiser. In other words, he wasn’t willing to engage with Mayo on the terms laid down by the GAA.

This is in retrospect extraordinary. As soon as O’Leary’s views emerged in April, Mayo and Connelly should have walked away.

Feeble attempts to feed the ‘nothing to see here’ narrative were made with specious claims of a broad consensus in support of the executive
Outgoing treasurer Kevin O’Toole is particularly well regarded inside and outside Mayo for the efforts he made to streamline the county’s official fund-raising arm CairdeMhaigheo, which is a body compliant with GAA protocols. It is hard to imagine that he was best pleased to see such an irregular arrangement emerge with MGISF.

To recap, for those whose will to live has outweighed any desire to be fully acquainted with the imbroglio, the controversy centres on the MGISF’s unhappiness with how the funds it has both raised and already distributed have been – and are to be –allocated.

Broad consensus
The longer this situation continued, the more bitter the stand-off has become. County chair Mike Connelly, who at May’s New York event described O’Leary as “one of the greatest Mayo supporters”, has found himself caught between the MGISF – which at one stage looked like becoming a vital resource for the county – and the unhappiness in the clubs at the way such a vital piece of county board business has been mishandled.

So the fall-out from this has seen what originally looked like manna for the financially beleaguered county board, still servicing a Croke Park loan to cover improvements made to MacHale Park – clubs pay an annual levy of up to €7,000 – turn into something more akin to acid rain.

Mayo GAA responded in time-honoured fashion by circling the wagons and huddling round the bonfire.

Media was excluded from the recent board meeting and there were successful calls for this to become a normal modus operandi within the county. In the information gap that ensued, feeble attempts to feed the ‘nothing to see here’ narrative were made with specious claims of a broad consensus in support of the executive – which were immediately disputed by some of those present.

Mayo GAA responded in time-honoured fashion by circling the wagons and huddling around the bonfire
It should be pointed out at this juncture that GAA head office can hardly have any credible concerns on this matter, having long ago declared its own Central Council meetings off limits to reporters.

There may be occasional need for caution in publicising association business but blanket bans and codes of silence do not sit well with many of the organisation’s self-projections of openness and accountability – nor in the case of a county board, the simple maintenance of relations with its local community.

In Mayo, undertakings to deal with the concerns and allegations of the MGISF have not come to pass apart from a statement read at the second-last board meeting on 30th October after which no questions were allowed.

Then at the quickly-convened follow-up meeting, on 4th November, the same issues were effectively declared sub judice because of legal letters from O’Leary and again, weren’t discussed.

Interestingly, when this was all beginning to emerge at the end of September after an MGISF email to the Mayo GAA, Castlebar Mitchels’ delegate Michael Diskin raised obvious questions with the top table at the county board meeting on 25th September.

If there was an organisation out there raising funds for Mayo GAA, shouldn’t the county board have been represented on it? Was there a written agreement or protocol to govern the relationship with MGISF? Had MGISF a written constitution and if so, the county board seen it?


Vague undertaking
The points weren’t replied to beyond a vague undertaking that everything would be dealt with at the following meeting, which of course hasn’t happened.

Tim O’Leary hasn’t done anything wrong in relation to the fund raising activities of MGISF, which has raised close to half a million for Mayo GAA. In fact he spelled out his view of matters in the email of April 9th. He appears though to have been allowed to believe that he could have unfettered control over the distribution of the funds.

If O’Leary remains unwilling to sign up to the relevant protocols, Mayo GAA have little option but to cut ties with the MGISF and leave it to them how they distribute the remaining money.

Another email, this time from the Connacht Council CEO John Prenty, last week in bleakly formal prose, “instructed” Mayo officers to attend a meeting with provincial and Croke Park officials, including GAA director general Tom Ryan, in the coming weeks.

There’ll be a bit of explaining to do.

[e-mail]

[Mickmack]

In my opinion, county boards should be circumspect about dealing with the likes of Tim OLeary if he wasnt willing to engage with the GAA using GAA protocols.

If there was a central fund for defraying travelling costs of county teams it would reduce a lot of this type of thing.

[Mickmack]

HOME»SPORT
'This is a wake-up call': Annual losses of half a million 'unsustainable', says Cork GAA chief
'This is a wake-up call': Annual losses of half a million 'unsustainable', says Cork GAA chief
Cork GAA CEO Kevin O'Donovan. Picture: David Keane

By Michael Moynihan
Staff writer

Follow @mikemoynihanex
Friday, November 29, 2019 - 07:16 PM
Updated (9.27pm): Cork GAA chief Kevin O’Donovan has admitted that finances in the county are close to “crisis point” but he believes there is a route out of the problem in 2020.

Ahead of next week’s annual GAA convention in the county, he revealed at a press briefing that Cork GAA faces a 2019 shortfall of almost €560,000. While there were exceptional once-off items accounting for around one-quarter of that, he said those kinds of losses are unsustainable into the future.


poster

“Crisis is a dangerous word, but we can’t have another year like this. Yes, our reserves are secure but it’s not sustainable to continue with losses indefinitely. This is a wake-up call for Cork GAA.

One of the key elements in the Cork County Board’s €560,000 shortfall is the decline in attendances at club games within the county.

Last year the Board took in €1,030,365 from those games, while this year that figure is down to €825,664 - and the latter figure includes €37,500 in media rights.

“The drop in attendances was huge,” said county secretary Kevin O’Donovan.


“Did we run our games differently? I was chair of the CCC last year and secretary this year and I didn’t see a significant difference in how we run our games.

Yes, shutting down for the summer is killing us, because as a county with a dual nature, crashing multiple games into August and September weekends . . . only the supporters of the clubs involved can go, you can forget about neutrals because they’re all on at the same time.

“We were unfortunate there were no replays of county finals and semi-finals but that’s not something we should be budgeting for anyway - that should be a bonus.”

O’Donovan accepted there has been criticism of divisional teams reaching county finals, with some observers blaming them for the low attendances in the deciders.

“The divisions have got the flak for the attendances at county finals, and that’s a bit unfair. If they’re in a competition they’re entitled to progress as far as they can.

“People’s loyalty is to their clubs but we’ve modified the championship a bit this year in that only one team will come out of the colleges and divisions, and I’ve given a few other suggestions to see how we could balance it a little more.

“I don’t think we want a division to win ten in a row: I don’t think that’s good for the club scene in Cork and it’s certainly not good for our gates.


“But those are only one or two games, in general gates are suffering and we have to start playing games in the summer time.” County board treasurer Derry Gowen added: “It’s very hard to plan and budget for games. 60% of our games income comes from quarter-, semi-finals and finals. A few bad games at that stage and you can be down €200,000 in three games.

“We didn’t have replays at that level this year, which shows you can be lucky or unlucky.”

The championships will have a different format next year but O’Donovan pointed out that “it’s not as simple” as increasing the number of games to boost gates.

“We have already reformed our championship structures, we’ll have extra quarter-finals and semi-finals, more teams on the road, more teams playing games - we know that’ll catch the neutral supporter but it should lead to an increase in attendances and an improvement in our coffers.

“We will be playing games in the summer time next year. Anywhere we can find a game without a county player in round two of a three-team series, were playing that game in July. We know guys have J-1s and so on but we’ll have a fixture programme before Christmas so they can plan accordingly.

“It’s a community game and a summer game, it wasn’t invented for floodlights in the cold when children can’t go.

“We also incurred expenses in hosting games, and that hurts us because as our attendances go down our expenses go up.

“The general change in championship structures has already impacted on people’s habits in attending games, he added.

“Is there ever going to be a million euro come in to this board’s accounts again (in attendances)? My club used to be knocked out in June but we’d follow every senior team in west Cork for the rest of the year “Now, though, my club has the back door so there are more games, and we follow just that team. I can’t say double the games and we’ll double the money.

“There’s no point in running away from this, it’s the key aspect of the secretary’s report and there’s no point in saying otherwise.

“The Board lost over half a million euro this year. We are at crisis point and crisis is a dangerous word to bandy around, but we can’t have another year like this.

“Yes, our reserves are secure but it’s not sustainable to continue losses like this indefinitely.”

Cork GAA officers, Diarmuid Gowen, treasurer, Tracey Kennedy, chairperson, and Kevin O'Donovan, CEO, at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Picture: David Keane
Cork GAA officers, Diarmuid Gowen, treasurer, Tracey Kennedy, chairperson, and Kevin O'Donovan, CEO, at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Picture: David Keane
Earlier: Cork GAA chief Kevin O’Donovan has admitted that finances in the county are close to “crisis point” but he is confident measures taken will improve the situation for 2020, writes Tony Leen.

Ahead of next week's annual convention, he revealed at a press briefing that Cork GAA faces a shortfall of almost €560,000. While there were exceptional once-off items accounting for around one-quarter of that, he said those kinds of losses are unsustainable into the future.

“Crisis is a dangerous word, but we can’t have another year like this. Yes, our reserves are secure but it’s not sustainable to continue with losses indefinitely. This is a wake-up call for Cork GAA.

The drop in attendances was huge this year. You look back and see if there was a notable difference in how the games were run and I didn’t see that. Yes, shutting down for the summer is killing us because of our nature as a dual county.

Key losses for the year were gate receipts of nearly €200,000, a €60,000 drop in commercial income, a €100,000 increase inter-county expenses, and a €50,000 drop in revenue from Cork GAA Clubs' Draw.

“Crashing games into August and September weekends, with only supporters of those teams present – you can forget about games as a neutral anymore, because they’re all on at the same time – that’s killing us.

“We were unfortunate that there weren’t replays in county finals or semi-finals but that’s not something we should be budgeting for, that should be a bonus.

“Next year, anywhere we can find space for a game without county players, in round two of a three-game series, we’re playing that game in July. We know guys have J1s and so on, we will give a fixture programme in December so they can plan accordingly.

“But it is a summer game, it is a community game, it was not a game invented for floodlights in the freezing cold, where children can’t go. It is a summer game – it’s grand to go to the county final in October but not grand to be going to a second-round game in mid-September, when we’re all back to school.”

In 2018, Chill Insurance paid Cork €400,000 but this figure was €330,000 for 2019.

“Our sponsors are brilliant supporters but new deals are now performance-related,” O’Donovan said.

“While our underage teams were successful, it’s not linked to that, it’s linked to the success of the senior teams.

“We need more commercial partners, we are behind the curve with other counties in that. There will be a commercial manager appointed in the medium term, possibly shared with the stadium, possibly in a role with [fundraising body] Cairde Chorcaí, but that has got to come urgently.

“You might that if we’re running losses then the last thing we need is staff, but we need people who can generate revenue.”

[ballhopper34]

Charitable donations are often tax deductible for the donor. If the GAA is considered a charity in the tax location of the donor, then certain protocols must be met.

In simpler language, if someone donates 1500 to a club to buy a set of jersies, and the club issues a receipt from the jersey provider for 1000, then the donor is apparently defrauding the taxman of the tax on the extra 500 donated. Plus the donor should want to know where the extra 500 ended up if the club cannot provide a receipt showing the money was put to proper use.

Of course, the above is purely hypothetical and is not based on any specific donor, club, or tax jurisdiction.
The amounts may vary wildly as well. If of a large enough nature, huge fines and even jail can result in tax fraud cases.

There are a damn sight more than "GAA protocols" that people need to factor in to the discussion.

[greengold35]

The biggest concern here is the drop in revenue from gate receipts ( €200k) & the 50k drop from the clubs draw - Cork followers voting with their feet & not supporting their teams; the draw used to be €10 pm - maybe it’s increased over time but @ €120 pa that’s a fall off of over 400 contributors - serious concerns for all .

[Deleted]

www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/gaa/kerry-report-143000-profit-despite-increase-in-senior-team-costs-968139.html

[Mickmack]

Seán Moran
Updated: Sat, Nov 30, 2019, 02:08
0

Talks between the GAA and the Gaelic Players Association have hit serious difficulties, according to GAA president John Horan.

In a press briefing on the PwC All Stars tour to Abu Dhabi, he said discussions on the latest agreement governing relations between the bodies had hit “a roadblock” and that “money was a factor”. He added that there were “challenges in the relationship” between the organisations.

Ten years to the week since the interim agreement that first brought the players’ body under the Croke Park umbrella, the latest renewal of that deal is clearly proving problematic.

The current agreement, covering 2017-19 and which expires at the end of this year will remain in force for a further 12 months if talks do not reach a conclusion. Asked had agreement been nearly reached, Horan said:

“No, we are in a very difficult position with the negotiations at the moment. I am not going to deny that. We have hit a roadblock, and we are trying hard to get through that roadblock.

“But in the last agreement there is a proviso that if the negotiations weren’t resolved by the end of the year and the start of a new period it would continue on for another 12-month period. That is written in the actual original document. We are in a challenging position, and it is the reality, it is proving difficult.”

Although he conceded that money was part of the difficulty – “it would be a factor, yeah” – the president said the GPA hadn’t been looking for a percentage of gate receipts.

“No, no, no, no, that hasn’t come on the table. I think if you go down that road of giving gates then you are into professionalism straight away. That’s the way you’d have to talk about that.”


The impasse centres on funding for the GPA. Under the current agreement, the players’ body receives a baseline €2,500,000 or 15 per cent of the GAA’s commercial income – whichever is higher – as well as other payments.

According to association accounts €3,500,000 was paid out in 2018 but player allowances, amounting to around €2,700,000 are accounted for by individual counties. It is these latter payments on mileage and other allowances that are believed to be at the heart of the current difficulties.

Related

The extent of the current payments proved controversial amongst some members when introduced but Horan defended the arrangement.

Major haggles
“No, I think the view from our point of view with the last deal, the style of the deal, the 15 per cent model, was that we wouldn’t get into major haggles going forward. That the relationship would move to a different level – probably be more mature rather than a constant battle over finances. But look, we are where we are.”

Was it not inevitable that the GPA would look for greater funding? “They came in and obviously felt justified in the arguments they made but we don’t see that from our side of the table. That’s the difficulty we’re in at the moment.”

Asked was he happy with the interventions by the GPA on other matters, the president referred to comments by the player’s CEO Paul Flynn, which were critical of the new Tier 2 football championship – an initiative spearheaded by Horan and passed by October’s special congress – to the point of suggesting that players may boycott it.

“Some of the commentary on Tier 2 has been more than unhelpful, particularly when there is a democratic decision made of 75-25 per cent. They do good work for the players, yeah. But like all these relationships, there are tensions there. And that’s probably the best way to have that relationship, that there is a bit of tension there. Sometimes it gets a little bit hotter than others. Look, you’d expect maturity on both sides to work away.”

“Look, there are challenges in our relationship, most definitely. As they would see it should be done and how we would see it should be done.” Horan reacted sharply to mention of a previous interview given by Flynn in which he said that members are interested in semi-professionalism.

“Certainly from our point of view, sitting on our side of the table, the word amateur is not negotiable. That’s the way I feel about it.”

Horan also fired a shot across the bows of a project close to the GPA’s heart, the Super 11 hurling format, which took place in New York earlier this month before smaller crowds than had marked its earlier years when played in Boston’s Fenway Park.

“It’s certainly going to come under scrutiny. It has dropped off from the first year – the Boston factor and Galway were involved. Since then, the numbers have dropped on every occasion. It’s up for review on an annual basis whether it continues or not. Certainly it will be reviewed. “My personal view is that it gives the players, the four All-Ireland semi-finalists, an opportunity to go away as a squad as an end-of-season reward. I’ve always said, that’s nice for the players to have it but the whole exercise has to wash its face from a financial point of view.”

Powder dry
Asked had it done so on this occasion, the president was sceptical.

“I don’t honestly have the figures but I’d say it’s challenged.”

The GPA responded by keeping their powder dry. “The negotiating process is ongoing and it is our view that the parties would be best served by respecting the confidentiality of that process and therefore we will not be commenting on the content or nature of the negotiations until they have come to a conclusion.

“The GPA negotiating team remains committed to reaching an agreement that delivers value for our inter-county players and which replenishes in particular any out of pocket expenses accrued.”

The president also indicated that he favours moving the national leagues into the summer, as part of the championship. The radical remarks arose when he announced that the report of the Fixtures Calendar Review Task Force would be published next week.

“I personally would be very much in favour of one of the new proposals when they come out next week,” he said.

Asked what this was, he replied that the task force had one further meeting and that he wouldn’t comment before next week but he did elaborate on some of the ideas.

“There is the flip of the league from earlier in the year to the summer and then the creation of the four eights (rationalising the provincial structure). They are some of the ideas that are likely to come onto the table. You know, maybe the league in the summer could be the answer.”

[Mickmack]

1
Galway GAA flag
The extent of the financial crisis in Galway GAA will be laid bare to club delegates next Monday night when a loss for the year of over €250,000 will be unveiled.

Income in Galway GAA has dropped by almost €1m after a turbulent year and while expenditure has been reduced, the drop of almost 20% in income has seen a profit last year of €373,831 turn into a deficit of €261,248 for 2019.

Yesterday’s announcement by the Tribesmen GAA supporters’ club that they are ‘assessing its future’ after being described as being ‘a medium risk’ in the Mazars report into Galway GAA is the latest twist in a saga which has now dragged on for a year.

The supporters’ club, which said it raised almost €1.2m in the past three years. said they were not consulted or briefed before the report was made public.

Two months ago, long-serving main sponsors Supermac’s twice issued public statements demanding to know how their sponsorship was spent.


Outgoing chairman Pat Kearney is being challenged at next Monday night’s annual convention by businessman Mick Culhane, a prolific fundraiser who has put increasing income and adopting strict procedures as the main pillars of his candidacy.

It has now emerged that the big drop in Galway’s income for 2019 was in fundraising income. Sponsorship increased from €551,677 to €609,968 but fundraising dropped from €860,228 to just €144,743 following the revelations at last year’s convention.

Income in 2018 was boosted by an Ed Sheeran concert at Pearse Stadium which yielded €119,085 but there was no concert this year.

Income for 2019 was €4,059,671 (down from €4,947,134), with expenditure of €4,320,919 (down from €4,573,303), leaving a deficit of €261,248 before depreciation after a surplus of €373,831 last year.

Galway secretary Seamus O’Grady, in his report, noted that it had been a difficult year but that new procedures were bow being put in place.

"I wish to thank the chairpersons of the various committees for their co-operation and work on the different projects during the year, a year that has been quite fractious and challenging for everybody involved in Galway GAA in 2019," he said.


"As reported at last year’s Convention, Mazars, the international auditing and corporate finance company, carried out a review of the financial controls, policies, procedures and staffing levels in operation with the Galway County Committee, and presented their findings earlier in the year.

"Since their findings and recommendations were made known, Galway GAA, with the assistance of the GAA at Central level, has overseen a review of its financial operation.

"We are currently implementing the findings of the 2018 Mazars report, which highlighted previous governance deficiencies in Galway GAA.

"This is work in pogress and is being overseen by David Connellan from Croke Park.

"When completed it will ensure the highest standards of financial and accounting practices are in place," he added.

[Mickmack]

Off The Ball



Richie McCormack
08:50 12 DEC 2019

The Dublin financial juggernaut shows little sign of slowing down if their 2019 financial statement is anything to go by.

Commercial income rose to €2,355,250 for the year ended 31 October 2019 - a year-on-year increase of 801,856.

Sponsors' income also rose by €791,856 to €2,170,250 in 2019.


Their 2019 financial statement didn't all make for happy reading - gate receipts fell from €201,757 to €125,662.

Learn more
Dublin's commercial revenue dwarfs that of their closest inter-county rivals who - for the most part - have struggled financially this year.

As per Colm Keys in the Independent All Ireland finalists Kerry secured €786,000 in commercial revenue, with Cork in at €639,500. Mayo and Galway have also found money difficult to generate this year.

Dublin's overall income rose from €4,398,108 to €5,242,211.

[kerrybhoy06]

Those figures are startling - it would be interesting to see a county by county breakdown and see how close Dublin's commercial revenue & income go relative to whole provinces.

Anyone know what the difference between Commercial Income & Sponsor's Income would be?

[Mickmack]

Commercial income rose to €2,355,250

Sponsors' income rose to €2,170,250


gate receipts €125,662.



Dublin's overall income €5,242,211.



[/quote]

Sponsor is AIG i presume.

I total the commercial, sponsorship and gate receipts to be 4.6m approx.

Where did the other 600k come from.

I am assuming GAA funding is not in those figures as they get 1.2mm or so each year from the GAA so that doesnt explain where the 600 came from

[kerrybhoy06]

Dec 13, 2019 19:01:23 GMT Mickmack said:

Commercial income rose to €2,355,250

Sponsors' income rose to €2,170,250


gate receipts €125,662.



Dublin's overall income €5,242,211.

Sponsor is AIG i presume.

I total the commercial, sponsorship and gate receipts to be 4.6m approx.

Where did the other 600k come from.

I am assuming GAA funding is not in those figures as they get 1.2mm or so each year from the GAA so that doesnt explain where the 600 came from
[/quote]

Those figures are crazy for an ‘amateur’ organisation.
Considering it doesn’t seem to include gov & gas funding then you are talking about an income that could be close to 7.5 or 8mill!

[Mickmack]

yeah, you will have a lot of "volunteers" when that sort of money is splashing about!

[kerrygold]

With that surplus Dublin could pay each panellist 35k per year..........

[kerrybhoy06]

Dec 13, 2019 21:34:49 GMT Mickmack said:

yeah, you will have a lot of "volunteers" when that sort of money is splashing about!

What those figures wont include is the fundraising done by the individual clubs for their own purposes which is far beyond the reach of clubs in almost any other county - Cuala being sponsored by Huawei for example

[Mickmack]

Sport


By Eoin Ryan
RTÉ Sport Journalist

To the victors come the spoils.

In a year that they became the first county to win a senior men's five-in-a-row, and recorded a hat-trick of ladies titles, Dublin have announced record commercial income of €2,355,250.

That is an increase of 34% on the 2018 figure of €1,553,394 and almost double the €1.2m earned in 2015, the year that the first of the five consecutive All-Ireland football championships was captured.

Dublin didn't release a breakdown of that income but the increase can attributed to a number of factors.

A new five-year deal with main team sponsors AIG is believed to now be worth around €1m a year as opposed to the previous record sum of €800k annually.

A growing number of secondary commercial sponsors, from 'hydration partners' Ballygowan to 'official sleeping partner' The Gibson Hotel, have hitched their wagons to what is now a phenomenally successful brand.

Dublin were reportedly selling 30,000 replica jerseys and 100,000 items of county merchandise in 2016 so we might assume that figure has soared in a historic, triumphant year.

For example, Cork made €260k on jerseys and merchandise in 2019 despite their football and hurling teams both exiting the championship at the quarter-final stage.


In comparison to Dublin, this year's runners-up Kerry earned €786k in commercial revenue while Cork, who have the country's second most lucrative sponsorship deal with Chill insurance, were third with €639,500, a decline from the 2017 peak of €708,621.


Dublin commercial manager Tomás Quinn (L) at an event in AIG last year
Despite their financial buoyancy, Dublin have spent less on their inter-county teams than rivals in recent years. The 2019 figure of €1.37m was a very small increase on the year before .

Kerry, Cork, Galway and Mayo have all outspent the Dubs in recent years but some of that differential must be put down to expenses for players that have to travel longer distances to training than their Dublin counterparts.

How do these counties earn less but still keep up in spending terms? Mostly through fundraising, which Dublin effectively don't have to do - they raised just €88,445 this year.

Kerry, by contrast, raised over €500k through their Cairde Chiarraí supporters club, golf classics, greyhound racing nights and now well established events in the USA.

Cork, who are facing a multi-million euro debt on the redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh, recorded an annual deficit of €550k this year.

Their team spending rose by over €100,000 to €1.62m while commercial income declined by almost €60k. Profit from their members' draw was down to €160k, half of the 2015 figure.

One of the factors in Dublin's commercial success over the last five years has been the appointment of former player Tomás Quinn as a full-time commercial and marketing manager.

Roscommon, Mayo and Wexford have all followed suit in creating similar positions and Cork identified hiring a commercial manager as a key priority in their annual report.

Dublin recorded a €1m surplus this year but their financial accomplishments could lead to renewed calls for pooling of income to help less wealthy counties compete or a reassessment of the €1.3m that the GAA invest annually in the capital in games development.



MORE ON

[Annascaultilidie]

Dec 13, 2019 22:33:09 GMT kerrybhoy06 said:

Dec 13, 2019 21:34:49 GMT Mickmack said:

yeah, you will have a lot of "volunteers" when that sort of money is splashing about!

What those figures wont include is the fundraising done by the individual clubs for their own purposes which is far beyond the reach of clubs in almost any other county - Cuala being sponsored by Huawei for example

On the other hand almost no fundraising is done for the county team.

[Deleted]

It is a no brainer to pool commercial income. It is ridiculous for each county to have to go hire their own commercial manager just to try and someway keep up

Crokes Park should have a chief commercial office who overseas all sponsorship activity. Under this person you would have a number of regional commercial managers who would have targets for each county. eg Dublin €1m per annum, Cork 800k etc. This income could then be pooled in a more equitable manner.

[Galway breeze]

I really don't understand why people on this forum are obsessed with Dublins finances. Fare play to Dublin for going out promoting and showing the rest of the country how to build on their success each year. Ye, should stop greaving over Dublin's success and start working on catching up. The easiest way would be take some of their financial gains and give it to all the others county's. People will do anything to take from Dublins success by taking finances or splitting the county into two or four rather than getting out and working hard to catch up with them.

[Mickmack]

Dec 14, 2019 17:27:52 GMT Galway breeze said:

I really don't understand why people on this forum are obsessed with Dublins finances. Fare play to Dublin for going out promoting and showing the rest of the country how to build on their success each year. Ye, should stop greaving over Dublin's success and start working on catching up. The easiest way would be take some of their financial gains and give it to all the others county's. People will do anything to take from Dublins success by taking finances or splitting the county into two or four rather than getting out and working hard to catch up with them.

Great idea.

One third of all kids under 14 are in Dublin. 1.2m of GAA goes into schools to get them at a young age. What are your plans for matching playing population particularly in the light of brexit?

How do you stop the big financial entities in Dublin from competing with each other to pump more and more money into Dublin.


How do you deal with the fact that Dublin have virtually no travelling and accomodation costs in preparation for championship games. Apart maybe from flyin to Shannon and staying in Trumps Doonbeg... but thats probabaly a little pay back from AIG to Trump for a big favourable decision he did for AIG.

[Mickmack]

Gaelic Football


Colm O'Rourke: 'Liberation and joy far away from GAA's bright lights'



#MomentsThatMadeADecade



The decade ends with Dublin as masters of all they survey. They are a special group of players with all the proper values, representing their county with honour and distinction. We may not see their like again - except, of course, the domination could continue.

The change of management will be a blow to Dublin. Nobody could do as good a job as Jim Gavin. He has moulded the players into what they are. Gavin set standards and the players now accept them as their own, so they will press on with those high standards under new management.

Away from the bright lights the dark side of the GAA began to emerge over the last few months, including too many counties with questionable financial practices. If the FAI needed a bail-out then the same thing basically happened in Cork with Páirc Uí Chaoimh. If that was not bad enough, the county board's own audit and risk committee intervened to let it be known, loud and clear, that the official figures seriously underestimated the financial problems in Cork.

Some people don't seem to get it. The finances of a county board are now similar to running a medium-sized business and figures cannot be manipulated to gloss over problems. The word being bandied about is 'governance', but it should be called, 'get you act together quick'. Professional administrators need to take over the financial affairs of every county board. That would be a good start to the new decade.

What we are facing is the GAA drifting into a twilight zone. Neither professional nor truly amateur it is an organisation that is in many cases following money for the sake of it. Of course there has to be investment in infrastructure but not one for everyone in the audience. Neither does there need to be a chasing of corporate sponsorship without specific projects in mind. The recent car crashes involving several counties should be a warning for everyone to decide what sort of GAA is desirable going forward.


The present trend points to Dublin continuing to get stronger and a few others will pull further away from the field. The money will follow a few and the gaps will get bigger. There will be increasing player disenchantment in weaker counties unless a tiered championship gives hope.

Those who live in a fool's paradise and think Dublin will just return to the pattern of the '50s or '60s, or even '90s, don't understand the way of the world. If anything, it is more about numbers than money. When those numbers are properly organised - and it takes money to do that - then it is like a stone rolling down a hill. The momentum keeps up. Dublin won't win every All-Ireland but they will not be far away for the foreseeable future.

In that type of environment, where there is no guiding hand to ensure proper competition, I get less enjoyment out of inter-county football and far more out of club and school. So when pressed to select a highlight of the decade I have no hesitation in making it personal: Simonstown winning the Meath senior championship for the first time in 2016 is an easy winner. It trumps the Dubs all day. This win gave me as much satisfaction as winning an All-Ireland with Meath or a senior championship with Skryne in my playing days.

The county scene is a broad canvas, club is more personal. If you read the first line of The Irishman by James Orr you will get the message. It says, "the savage loves his native shore". That probably sums up club football, which is often built more on emotion than science and it relates to everyone.

Being manager of that Simonstown team with my own son playing made it even more personal. Having nephews involved and lads I had managed at school and underage in the club made it more special. Some of those lads were involved with teams I managed for over 20 years, without any success either. You can't beat that feeling of doing it for your own club. Even if some might remind me that it is my adopted club, having moved to the Simonstown area over 30 years ago. (It should not take much more than another decade to be become a local.)

To be able to sit back and watch people who have contributed in different ways get so much satisfaction from this win was for me the eighth wonder of the world. Maybe it should be placed higher than the hanging gardens of Babylon or the leaning tower of Pisa. In truth, the outpouring of joy took me a bit by surprise. In many ways winning a first championship is a liberation, it cements a club's place in the county's hierarchy and brings relief, but more so a certain self-confidence. If you win one then another should not be as big an issue. The feat was repeated in 2017.


The emotions were a bit different because it was expected but it does promote confidence, energises underage players and make a club feel good about itself. It also brings a certain calmness. Without the occasional victory a club can become rancorous, with many petty disputes. When a big win comes everyone can share a part of it. Humour improves and there is a greater willingness to give something back. Good clubs surf this wave of goodwill and build for the future.

If someone wants to see what winning a club title means they should take a look at the Tullaroan celebrations after winning the Kilkenny intermediate hurling championship. The sight of Tommy Walsh with nine All-Ireland medals embracing his father after the final whistle reflected everything we all feel for our club. In a Utopian society everyone should have that experience once in a lifetime. In the real world you keep on trying . . . next year, maybe next year.