Centralised Fund for Team Expenses?

[manfromdelmonte]

Following on from the Leitrim 'overnight stay' saga and the huge disparity in the funding being provided and available to different counties, surely there is a case for the GAA providing a central fund of money that counties can use to pay for training and match day expenses. Use the National League gate receipts and tv deal money to cover the costs.
Provide a set amount to each county per match and training session.

At least then counties will be on a more even keel. Smaller counties will have the same official funding as the larger counties.
It will be clearly visible how much each county are applying for.
Counties will have to trim their panels to stay within the funding framework.
It will also be clearly visible how many official training sessions counties are having.
Counties will not have to worry about raising cash to cover these day to day county squad expenses.

[thejuice]

Absolutely. Would NFL and TV money cover it though?

[INDIANA]

Following on from the Leitrim 'overnight stay' saga and the huge disparity in the funding being provided and available to different counties, surely there is a case for the GAA providing a central fund of money that counties can use to pay for training and match day expenses. Use the National League gate receipts and tv deal money to cover the costs.
Provide a set amount to each county per match and training session.

At least then counties will be on a more even keel. Smaller counties will have the same official funding as the larger counties.
It will be clearly visible how much each county are applying for.
Counties will have to trim their panels to stay within the funding framework.
It will also be clearly visible how many official training sessions counties are having.
Counties will not have to worry about raising cash to cover these day to day county squad expenses.

Completely agree but it won't happen. I've said for years that we should be happy to have the best amateur sporting organisation in the world and should stop trying to professionalise something that can't get there.

[macdanger2]

Good idea in theory but it'd have to be properly thought out.

Being devil's advocate, possible issues would include:

- Bigger counties getting "sponsored" this and that outside of the system
- Is money collected within a county e.g. Club Tyrone, factored in?
- If the panel size is limited (by spending), it's more difficult for larger counties e.g. Cork, to select their best panel due to the sheer volume of players who need to be trialled.

Something does need to be done to level the playing field though

[theskull1]

Completely agree but it won't happen. I've said for years that we should be happy to have the best amateur sporting organisation in the world and should stop trying to professionalise something that can't get there.

+1 Indy
Too many people seeing the GAA as the cash cow nowadays. The more people on the payrole, the more the organization is driven by money rather than focusing on whats good for the majority of the organisation

[thejuice]

Well if we all agree it's a good idea perhaps rather than just accepting that nothing can change. If we make some sort of effort or campaign for this you would at least get the idea discussed.

Socialism works quite well in sports i find. We need standardised facilities and back room teams as well.

[Rossfan]

Completely agree but it won't happen. I've said for years that we should be happy to have the best amateur sporting organisation in the world and should stop trying to professionalise something that can't get there.

+1 Indy
Too many people seeing the GAA as the cash cow nowadays. The more people on the payrole, the more the organization is driven by money rather than focusing on whats good for the majority of the organisation

Where does the "professionalise" come into the suggestion?
Counties are already spending money on training, managers, back rooms, travel etc. Problem is some have so much more than others and not surprising one othe "haves" - Indy- is against it.

As for the "good of the organisaton" vs "money" - i would have thought that the more money we can get the better for the organisation.
Otherwise why are we charging admission to games etc?

[thejuice]

Good idea in theory but it'd have to be properly thought out.

Being devil's advocate, possible issues would include:

- Bigger counties getting "sponsored" this and that outside of the system
- Is money collected within a county e.g. Club Tyrone, factored in?
- If the panel size is limited (by spending), it's more difficult for larger counties e.g. Cork, to select their best panel due to the sheer volume of players who need to be trialled.

Something does need to be done to level the playing field though

The "Club Tyrone" money perhaps could go to grassroots level.

[INDIANA]

Completely agree but it won't happen. I've said for years that we should be happy to have the best amateur sporting organisation in the world and should stop trying to professionalise something that can't get there.

+1 Indy
Too many people seeing the GAA as the cash cow nowadays. The more people on the payrole, the more the organization is driven by money rather than focusing on whats good for the majority of the organisation

Where does the "professionalise" come into the suggestion?
Counties are already spending money on training, managers, back rooms, travel etc. Problem is some have so much more than others and not surprising one othe "haves" - Indy- is against it.

As for the "good of the organisaton" vs "money" - i would have thought that the more money we can get the better for the organisation.
Otherwise why are we charging admission to games etc?

Its not Dublin's fault professionalising the game. This started in the late 90's and it wasn't us that started it.

[Lar Naparka]

Good idea in theory but it'd have to be properly thought out.

Being devil's advocate, possible issues would include:

- Bigger counties getting "sponsored" this and that outside of the system
- Is money collected within a county e.g. Club Tyrone, factored in?
- If the panel size is limited (by spending), it's more difficult for larger counties e.g. Cork, to select their best panel due to the sheer volume of players who need to be trialled.

Something does need to be done to level the playing field though

+1
It ain't gonna happen as you can't legislate for human nature.
Very few counties would stay within the rules if they felt they felt they would boost their team's potential by slipping in a few euro here and there. The trouble is that there are far too many ways to pad the expenses without having to go through the books if you really want to.
I agree with the idea but I can't see any effective way to enforce a cap on expenses.

[muppet]

Well if we all agree it's a good idea perhaps rather than just accepting that nothing can change. If we make some sort of effort or campaign for this you would at least get the idea discussed.

Socialism works quite well in sports i find. We need standardised facilities and back room teams as well.

It did in East Germany.

[INDIANA]

Completely agree but it won't happen. I've said for years that we should be happy to have the best amateur sporting organisation in the world and should stop trying to professionalise something that can't get there.

+1 Indy
Too many people seeing the GAA as the cash cow nowadays. The more people on the payrole, the more the organization is driven by money rather than focusing on whats good for the majority of the organisation

Where does the "professionalise" come into the suggestion?
Counties are already spending money on training, managers, back rooms, travel etc. Problem is some have so much more than others and not surprising one othe "haves" - Indy- is against it.

As for the "good of the organisaton" vs "money" - i would have thought that the more money we can get the better for the organisation.
Otherwise why are we charging admission to games etc?

Because we are trying to professionalise a game that can't get there. HQ has never tackled the issue of inter county in its tenure. contrast that to NFL for example which has exactly the business model it is trying to promote.

Had HQ governed the inter county game properly from the start we wouldn't have the current schisms that we have. We have a malfunctioning structure and fixture list that doesn't work for any of the players, counties or clubs.

[heffo]

Does this mean we'll all share in the 100s of millions Sterling that the likes of Tyrone and Armagh shared (in the same period they won their AI titles) from the British Govt?

What about supporters groups? Is this included too?

[muppet]

Does this mean we'll all share in the 100s of millions Sterling that the likes of Tyrone and Armagh shared (in the same period they won their AI titles) from the British Govt?

What about supporters groups? Is this included too?

This new socialist GAA will probably mean a wealth tax so I'd expect Kerry, Kilkenny and Dublin to get it in the neck.

[manfromdelmonte]

Socialism works in American professional sports.
The weakest teams get to pick the best young players.

Centralised funding of county teams would ensure a fairer level of funding. Plus county boards would be able to budget much better and not worry about costs for an extended championship run.

Counties would be free to spend more if they wanted, but this would be totally up to them to fundraise. And the spending of that money would be audited