Dublin!
Dublin, Dublin, Dublin.
So, what is it? What is it about Dublin GAA that has everyone so wound up? What are the key facts that seem to set doubt upon our ability to trust Dublin’s “over-exaggerated” chunk of funding. What do they spend it on? What do they need more than the rest of us?
Tom Ryan, the GAA’s Director of Finance said that there is no point in denying that fact that Dublin’s funding does boost their success yet doesn’t state by how much. When talking to ‘the42’ he said:
“I’m not sure the degree to which there’s a 100% co-relation but it would be naive to assume that there’s not some degree of co-relation”.
Are the GAA now planning to tackle the debatable imbalance of funding between Dublin and the rest of the country? Yes! Why? Because hagglers said so.
We are jealous
The old saying of the grass is greener on the other side rings a bell. Some sticklers might even say Dublin probably get money to make their grass the greenest in the country. You never know, it could be true, if they have the extra money lying around they might as well try it!
You cannot blame the country for resenting Dublin but the reasons for resentment are half arsed attempts at jumping on the bandwagon. Population, the GAA headquarters, over indulgence on the senior team, sponsorship and winning form are the real reasons for the countries jealousy.
Population
Games Development Money per registered player. So much for a level playing field... #Dublin #GAA @sheikhbarabas @EwanMacKenna @The42GAA pic.twitter.com/TXs7qTISpo
— Shane Mangan (@Shane_Mangan) October 4, 2016
Games Development Funding in 2016 provided Dublin with €1.463,400 putting them number one on the list, cork was second again but were only given €249,000 whereas Mayo only received €129,886 and they were number 22 on the overall list. Cork have 5,365 less registered players than Dublin and don’t receive even a close margin of similar funding. Yet Mayo can still reach the All-Ireland final in 2016 and only get beat by the minimal of margins with even less money from games development funding. Does population really play a big part in funding decisions? (Figures relate to 2016)
The GAA’s funding distribution actually makes sense
Wexford hurling was dead and buried up until the last two maybe three years. New facilities and a change in manager aided the development of the current talented group of Wexford Hurlers. The idea is the same for Offaly GAA who are going through transitions.
Obviously, the GAA are not blind sighted. They are going to distribute the money according to the number of players and facilities needed. So, what if Dublin are building state of the art facilities and providing their teams with the best of the lot? That to me demonstrates the positive way forward for Dublin and others should follow suit.
Expenditure on their Senior Team
Sponsorship
The money from both hurling and football All Ireland Championships is for the benefit of all counties including Dublin. On top of that, Dublin can then use their AIG sponsorship money within the county. To compare that to the likes of Fermanagh and Longford who are sponsored respectively by Tracey Concrete and the Glennon Brothers, a timber processing firm, is just baffling.
The key thing here is, we cannot blame Dublin. We cannot blame the current senior inter county Dublin team for the push that the GAA gave them. We cannot blame Dublin for being the capital city in Ireland, where most business is traded, most concerts are played and that is has been described as having “world leading potential” as a city. We cannot blame Dublin for their success nor for international sponsors taking an interest in them. What we can question at the end of the day is that the GAA is an amateur organisation so where does it stop?
Winning generates revenue
Connacht
Author - Sarah Banville
4th Year Recreation and Sport Management student - Waterford Institute of Technology