Success comes at a high price

GAELIC GAMES/County boards' expenditure: This year has seen another significant increase in the price of success in intercounty football and hurling. With most county boards now releasing their accounts for the year, the overall expenditure on teams is shown to vary substantially, although there is clearly a major investment involved in bringing teams to the top.

All-Ireland hurling champions Cork were among the highest spenders. Their overall bill on intercounty teams' expenses for the year ending October 31st was €1,018,794, an increase of €213,418 on the previous year's figure.

Cork's position as one of the few counties which field competitive teams in both codes across all grades is one of the main factors behind the high expenditure. But Cork are also known to lead the way in how team members are looked after, a situation partly brought about by the senior players' strike of two years ago.

In the breakdown of the teams' expenses, various travel and catering costs alone totalled 444,324. Other costs, including gear, equipment and medical, set the county board back 200,227. Despite these massive expenses, the county board's operations for the past year showed a surplus of 105,360.

Cork's overall costs roughly equate to that spent by the Kerry county board, whose output is mainly limited to football expenses. Their overall spend on teams' expenses for the past year was €664,230 - a figure which was also well up on last year's total of 595,408.

The five main components to the senior football teams' preparations totalled 365,041. That was broken down as meals and accommodation for the championship (59,507), the league (38,348), training expenses (187,711), sports gear and equipment (10,548) and medical expenses (68,927).

The most significant rise was in general training expenses, with the figure of 187,711 almost double last year's figure of 99,604.

Speaking at last night's county convention in Killarney, Kerry chairman Seán Walsh made reference to these "astronomical cost increases" and called on the GAA to increase their contribution. "There has to be a realisation that preparing teams to play in All-Ireland finals is a very expensive business," he said.

Walsh then called on the GAA to increase the grants paid out to counties by diverting more of the gate receipts from Croke Park. This year's All-Ireland football final, for example, netted the GAA around €4 million.

"While I totally accept that we are part of the GAA that netted 4 million, the return to the county for the county's expenses is totally unacceptable," said Walsh.

He added that cost increases in preparing intercounty teams arose because of "the number of players allowed on senior county panels, a rise in travelling expenses, a rise in the cost of providing complementary tickets for the players, practically all at the expense of county boards. With no team in the All-Ireland final in 2003 and with two teams in the 2004 All-Ireland finals (senior and minor), we as county received a mere €17,000 extra from a €4 million gate. I am calling for an immediate review of grants paid to counties across the board, including this year.

"While playing in an All-Ireland final is the ultimate goal and honour for any county, the financial remuneration to the county board expenses from headquarters should reflect at least the costs incurred in getting to an All-Ireland final. The county committee cannot continue to carry the burden for the biggest payday of the year for the GAA."

Like Cork, however, Kerry ended the year with a surplus of 53,741, which was a welcome increase of 136,692 on the deficit of the previous year. A new ticket scheme netted an extra 37,608, which brought the overall surplus for the year to €91,349.

Not all counties enjoyed such a pain-free end to the year. The Kildare County Board reported a loss of €128,000, with the rise in teams' expenses the main reason for the deficit.

Kildare, in fact, increased their overall income by 6.75 per cent to 743,500, but the significant rise in every area of team expenses, and particularly in medical and physiotherapy bills, meant the county still ended up with a loss.

This past year brought a fresh directive from Croke Park to improve conditions for teams in the areas of travel, gear, medical, tickets and general facilities. The increase in the mileage rate to 50 cent for intercounty players has also contributed to costs.

Yet the GAA was seen to be acting on the matter at last year's Congress when it reduced the number of players allowed on championship panels from 30 back to 24, a decision criticised by the majority of intercounty managers. Already Armagh have announced their intention to have that number restored to 30 at next year's Congress.

According to Kilkenny secretary Pat Dunphy, the reduction in panel numbers won't significantly reduce the expenditure on teams, but may do the opposite.

"I don't believe it will cut costs in any way," he said, "because it just won't be practical for championship panels to operate with 24 players. I know Kilkenny will still be using 30 players for training purposes, so all it really means is that only 24 can tog out on the day. It may in fact bring an extra cost to the county board. Take the situation with tickets, for example. Effectively it means the county board will now have an extra six players to accommodate with tickets. So while the idea of reducing panel numbers to 24 was to reduce costs, I think most managers will still work with 30 players, and they'll still have to get the same treatment."

Kilkenny's team expenses, however, didn't show a substantial increase this year. Their overall expenditure of €450,000 was only up around €40,000 on last year. Almost all of that involved hurling expenses, not that the county board were cutting any corners.

"I don't think there was any expense spared," added Dunphy. "The Kilkenny players want for nothing, and I know they feel that way themselves. But costs are definitely rising and of course that is a concern. You have to give the players the best they can get, and you also have to be willing to take new things on board every year, even if it's just to try something out."