Lack of receipts at National League games 13th Feb 2010

[Tomorrow is another day]

I went along to the game last night in Newry between Down and Meath. It was a great spectacle under lights drawing a very large crowd for a Valentines weekend night. However yet again I was annoyed at the complete lack of accountability in the financial process of entrance fees.

There were long queues at the turn-styles at when I handed over £26 for two passes no tickets / stubs / receipts were handed back to me. How can they keep track of the cash in such circumstances? It is illegal not to issue receipts. No business would operate like this. I would have grave concerns over the audit trail of such cash receivables.

This is in direct contrast to a hurling game I attended in Toomevara back in the summer 2009. There for a county championship game there were groups of two officials. One official would take the money from you and issue 2 stubs. 15 yards further into the ground another official would take one of the stubbs from you leaving you with one stubb as a receipt. This gave me the confidence that steps were being taken to close the gaps in accountability and validatiion of attendances and cash receipts. However you go to a "County" game and absolutely nothing is in place. It leaves me to conclude that it is either corrupt management or incompetent management but either way it is pretty poor stuff.

Anyone got any other experiences from this weekend's National League games?

[Minder]

Authorites would have you believe it is a "tax friendly" setup.

[longrunsthefox]

You're just going to have to trust them. The most unaccountable and easily accesible money for years was in the clubs and especially in the North was no way anyone would call in the police if someone was dipping a wee bit here and a wee bit there until was a lot...  very difficult to deal with... (am speaking generally here.. it has happened tho)

[pintsofguinness]

You're just going to have to trust them. The most unaccountable and easily accesible money for years was in the clubs and especially in the North was no way anyone would call in the police if someone was dipping a wee bit here and a wee bit there until was a lot...  very difficult to deal with... (am speaking generally here.. it has happened tho)

I don't think anyone would call in the police to their club now either. 

[Tomorrow is another day]

I disagree - it can be dealt with if there is a will to deal with it - as my experience in Toomevara goes to show.
however this is a National League fixture i.e. a central GAA competition. By my reckoning there were at least 5,000 people there last night. It was £13 or 15 Euro in each with reductions for students and OAPs and terrace. But at an average of 10 Euros per head there should be 50K brought in last night. However guys on the gate thake thier cut, then the host club take their cut then county officials take their cut then the official unofficial county board cut takes place before a sum is declared. Now this is the cynical view however with a transparent system then the cynics cannot be disproved.

[T Fearon]

FFS, half the receipts would go missing, even if they were issued.

Now if the turnstiles clicked and recorded every entrant, that would be suffice.

[Tomorrow is another day]

T Fearon - if the tickets / stubbs issued go in sequential order then they cannot "disappear" or if they did it would be irrelevant

[longrunsthefox]

You're just going to have to trust them. The most unaccountable and easily accesible money for years was in the clubs and especially in the North was no way anyone would call in the police if someone was dipping a wee bit here and a wee bit there until was a lot...  very difficult to deal with... (am speaking generally here.. it has happened tho)

I don't think anyone would call in the police to their club now either.

true enough... I wouldn't want to. 

[EC Unique]

Think £13 is a bit steep. £10 would be plenty.

[pintsofguinness]

You're just going to have to trust them. The most unaccountable and easily accesible money for years was in the clubs and especially in the North was no way anyone would call in the police if someone was dipping a wee bit here and a wee bit there until was a lot...  very difficult to deal with... (am speaking generally here.. it has happened tho)

I don't think anyone would call in the police to their club now either.

true enough... I wouldn't want to.

No, you run the risk of destroying the club in the eyes of the community, maybe permanently, and damaging the GAA. Nevermind the rows and fall out after it.  Far more worrying than the possibility of someone lifting a few pound while doing the gate imo

[Tomorrow is another day]

You're just going to have to trust them. The most unaccountable and easily accesible money for years was in the clubs and especially in the North was no way anyone would call in the police if someone was dipping a wee bit here and a wee bit there until was a lot...  very difficult to deal with... (am speaking generally here.. it has happened tho)

I don't think anyone would call in the police to their club now either.

true enough... I wouldn't want to.

No, you run the risk of destroying the club in the eyes of the community, maybe permanently, and damaging the GAA. Nevermind the rows and fall out after it.  Far more worrying than the possibility of someone lifting a few pound while doing the gate imo

You are missing my point.

I am saying that the whole process is either corrupt or incompetent and the GAA at a central level is complicit is allowing it to continue. Moreover it opens the GAA to the prospect of a very damaging Tax investigation at some point which would be highly damaging.

I have it on very good authority that this was one of the very sacred cows that Howard Wells was trying to slay in the IFA and was ousted because of it. Continuing to do nothing about this leaves us very exposed as an organisation

[pintsofguinness]

ah I know what you mean and you have a point alright. 
Just saying that clubs are in vulnerable position too.   

[T Fearon]

There should be accountability and financial probity in all organisations, never mind a multi million pound operation like the GAA, and oit seems to be amateurish in terms of financial collections etc. I mean its not that long ago that an Ulster Official was stopped and robbed in broad dayliight on a main thoroughfare outside Dungannon when he was coveying the gate receipts of an Ulster semi final. How silly was that?

Yet surely the gaa's accounts are independently audited annually aong with the control systems etc, so presumably the current systems have been approved, so maybe there are control systems in terms of gate receipts that we are not aware of

[haze]

Are there turnstiles in Newry which would keep track of the attendance at the game?

Or is it just a case of handing over the ticket price at the gate and walking in?

[T Fearon]

At most if not all County grounds, you are required to go through a stile. The question is does the stile record every entrant?

I would be surprised if there is not some system of financial control as a fundamental part of the GAA's Corporate Governance Policy.