Money, Dublin and the GAA

[magpie seanie]

Seriously low number of registered players in Dublin is it not?

I don't know Seanie. I don't think Dublin has massive amount of clubs compared to the likes of Cork. I know some of the clubs have massive numbers alright, but then other clubs have much smaller numbers with no parish rule or whatever. Big clubs like Kilmacud, Vincents, Brigids and the like probably have massive numbers.

Again if we do the maths, there's approx 90 clubs in Dublin going by their website (including clubs like AIB, BOI etc).

39,000 divided by 90 is about 430 each. I'd imagine when you factor in big clubs and smaller clubs, that's about right.

Not contesting the accuracy of the numbers.....just that it's a low % of the population though. What would it be if they hadn't got the investment? I'm being a bit devils advocate here. I'd be interested in seeing playing numbers as a % of county population.

[Rossfan]

39k registered players in a population of 1,300,000 - about 3%. Sligo has approx 5k in a population of circa 60,000 - about 8.3%.

Ros has 1,600 more than Sligo I see.
Populations are Ros 64,544. Sligo 65,535.
Feckin soccer.....

[Dinny Breen]

Christ only Dublin Cork and Galway have more registered players than Kildare, some under achievers considering those three are top level dual counties.

[AZOffaly]

That should be fairly easy to ascertain with the latest census data.

But again, on a per player basis, I'd just like to see other counties at least get a fair shake of the GAA's own money. I mean sponsorship and the like is a different kettle of fish, and I see arguments on both sides of pooling sponsorship monies, but I don't begrudge Dublin their sponsorship deals either. That's all part of the glamour of being the Dubs.

The GAA, however, are supposed to safeguard the competitions and encourage participation in our games. By such a large disparity in PP funding, they are not doing that.

Comments earlier this year from senior GAA and ex-GAA figures make me think this is being looked at, and this win by the Dubs again won't lessen the focus. These are some of the quotes I'm talking about..

GAA Director of Finance - Tom Ryan

“It’s a tricky one and it’s one we’ve tried to give a fair bit of thought to over the course of the year”, revealed Tom Ryan, the GAA’s Director of Finance, at the release of their annual report.
“The short answer is no, it (The disparity in funding) won’t persist over the course of the next few years. There’s not going to be a revolutionary change to it. We’ll change it in evolutionary terms rather than in one fell swoop.
“Under Dublin, the first thing is to say that the money is being well spent. I’d be far more uncomfortable sitting here if that level of investment wasn’t being put to good use and I do understand the dynamic when people look at on field results, then look at the amount of funding.
“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.
“What we’ll try to do, we’ll try to grow the other counties. I think you’ll see we have tried to do that. We have achieved that to a certain degree and we’ll try and do that next year.
“We’ve 9 or 10 specific things that our Finance Committee have looked at and want to implement for this year to do that.
“To be honest in terms of bridging the gap, it won’t be possible to do that without some degree of diminution in Dublin’s funding and there will be a modest kind of re calibration of that in 2017.”


And then Sean Kelly on Newstalk said
On the question of games development money going to Dublin, he feels that "sustainability should now been assured and really there needs to be more either extra money coming in which should be available to the other counties which might allow you to continue the funding in Dublin but definitely vis a vis the other counties there is need to invest more in the counties outside of Dublin than there was 10 years ago. It's definitely something we have to look at."

[AZOffaly]

Of course another aspect to all this is that Dublin are using the money brilliantly. There is absolutely no guarantee that other counties would do the same. There are some county board people I've dealt with, and I wouldn't trust them not to blow a massive fund on a short term mercenary manager if they got 500k a year in funding.  Money wins nothing, but having money and using it right, gives you a much better chance of than not having it.

[Dinny Breen]

Of course another aspect to all this is that Dublin are using the money brilliantly. There is absolutely no guarantee that other counties would do the same. There are some county board people I've dealt with, and I wouldn't trust them not to blow a massive fund on a short term mercenary manager if they got 500k a year in funding.  Money wins nothing, but having money and using it right, gives you a much better chance of than not having it.

If you look at on field results well then yes but what about participation rates, new clubs etc Looking at the figures above I wouldn't be so sure.

[Syferus]

I don’t see any argument for not pooling sponsorship money too, Offaly. Dublin being so big would nesscarily get the biggest share anyways, but if the goal is to have an amateur organisation having one be ran as if it’s an Premier League club with massive sponsors like AIG while one of their D1 opponents have their own supporters club on their jersies is another slap in the face of the sport.

The goal has to be to have as many counties as competitive as possible to create a vibrant sport for both players and supporters. The GAA should be socialism at its best, yet it’s being humiliated by the most base capitalist sports in the world like professional American football when it comes to enforcing parity.

[TheGreatest]

Of course another aspect to all this is that Dublin are using the money brilliantly. There is absolutely no guarantee that other counties would do the same. There are some county board people I've dealt with, and I wouldn't trust them not to blow a massive fund on a short term mercenary manager if they got 500k a year in funding.  Money wins nothing, but having money and using it right, gives you a much better chance of than not having it.

If you look at on field results well then yes but what about participation rates, new clubs etc Looking at the figures above I wouldn't be so sure.

Not showing at all age levels, why.

[Bord na Mona man]

The registered figures look right. In large parts of Dublin, hurling and football are very much minority sports.
Take Tallaght for example, I've seen figures was as low as 1% in terms of participation rates. Soccer is the number 1 sport by a long way.

I think people from outside Dublin see Hill 16 packed with folks with joxer accents and get the impression there is a large working class base that Dublin pull from.

[Orchard park]

doesnt show til u21 in football

minor hurling is  at a higher level of consistency........

no new clubs being developed in dublin should be a major cause of concern to croke park.......

[Halfquarter]

show me the facts Syferis about the proportion playing adult football now vs 40 years ago as you seem to know ... I am suggesting its proportionate to then but dont have the facts to prove it and neither was i ramming it down anyone's throat it was the caseo therwise dont go around accusing people who are engaging in constructive debate of taking out of their arses.

also seeing you know so much about dublin how much per player is the GAA centrally giving to Dublin as opposed to the per player contribution in other counties.......fair question if you can deal in hard facts as opposed to cheap lazy Ewan McKenna style unsubstantiated bollixoligy


and i stated others are using Dublin as having too much money as a cheap excuse for their own failings. Trump at his best couldn;t twist that one around like you have.........

anyways do you not have Junior cert grinds

I'm surprised at your comments on Ewan McKenna ,have you read his article in The Sunday Post ?
I found the article to be well researched and backed up by facts and figures.

One of his main points is that the Gaa ( who should treat all counties equally ) are screwing the funding by giving the lion's share of the money to the strongest county .

He accepts that not much can be done about Dublin having the biggest sponsers , one million from AIG and 12 other secondary sponsors.
On top of this was the tax payers  money that Bertie pumped in to Dublin .Why not the same treatment for Dublin or Meath ??
This is only the tip of the iceberg when addressing the advantages that Dublin enjoy, in my opinion.

[TheGreatest]

show me the facts Syferis about the proportion playing adult football now vs 40 years ago as you seem to know ... I am suggesting its proportionate to then but dont have the facts to prove it and neither was i ramming it down anyone's throat it was the caseo therwise dont go around accusing people who are engaging in constructive debate of taking out of their arses.

also seeing you know so much about dublin how much per player is the GAA centrally giving to Dublin as opposed to the per player contribution in other counties.......fair question if you can deal in hard facts as opposed to cheap lazy Ewan McKenna style unsubstantiated bollixoligy


and i stated others are using Dublin as having too much money as a cheap excuse for their own failings. Trump at his best couldn;t twist that one around like you have.........

anyways do you not have Junior cert grinds

I'm surprised at your comments on Ewan McKenna ,have you read his article in The Sunday Post ?
I found the article to be well researched and backed up by facts and figures.

One of his main points is that the Gaa ( who should treat all counties equally ) are screwing the funding by giving the lion's share of the money to the strongest county .

He accepts that not much can be done about Dublin having the biggest sponsers , one million from AIG and 12 other secondary sponsors.
On top of this was the tax payers  money that Bertie pumped in to Dublin .Why not the same treatment for Dublin or Meath ??
This is only the tip of the iceberg when addressing the advantages that Dublin enjoy, in my opinion.

Writes the same article twice a year, copy and paste job. His figures have been proven to be wrong. Ironically makes money from writing on Dublin while giving out about Dublin, he's agenda driven and just following the narrative, calls himself a sports writer but hates sports, poor journalist, twitter magnet.

[Esmarelda]

show me the facts Syferis about the proportion playing adult football now vs 40 years ago as you seem to know ... I am suggesting its proportionate to then but dont have the facts to prove it and neither was i ramming it down anyone's throat it was the caseo therwise dont go around accusing people who are engaging in constructive debate of taking out of their arses.

also seeing you know so much about dublin how much per player is the GAA centrally giving to Dublin as opposed to the per player contribution in other counties.......fair question if you can deal in hard facts as opposed to cheap lazy Ewan McKenna style unsubstantiated bollixoligy


and i stated others are using Dublin as having too much money as a cheap excuse for their own failings. Trump at his best couldn;t twist that one around like you have.........

anyways do you not have Junior cert grinds

I'm surprised at your comments on Ewan McKenna ,have you read his article in The Sunday Post ?
I found the article to be well researched and backed up by facts and figures.

One of his main points is that the Gaa ( who should treat all counties equally ) are screwing the funding by giving the lion's share of the money to the strongest county .

He accepts that not much can be done about Dublin having the biggest sponsers , one million from AIG and 12 other secondary sponsors.
On top of this was the tax payers  money that Bertie pumped in to Dublin .Why not the same treatment for Dublin or Meath ??
This is only the tip of the iceberg when addressing the advantages that Dublin enjoy, in my opinion.

Writes the same article twice a year, copy and paste job. His figures have been proven to be wrong. Ironically makes money from writing on Dublin while giving out about Dublin, he's agenda driven and just following the narrative, calls himself a sports writer but hates sports, poor journalist, twitter magnet.

Could you point me in the direction of this proof?

[clonadmad]

I don’t see any argument for not pooling sponsorship money too, Offaly. Dublin being so big would nesscarily get the biggest share anyways, but if the goal is to have an amateur organisation having one be ran as if it’s an Premier League club with massive sponsors like AIG while one of their D1 opponents have their own supporters club on their jersies is another slap in the face of the sport.

The goal has to be to have as many counties as competitive as possible to create a vibrant sport for both players and supporters. The GAA should be socialism at its best, yet it’s being humiliated by the most base capitalist sports in the world like professional American football when it comes to enforcing parity.

Actually American Football takes the socialist approach in terms of the draft of young players,salaries and funding,it might be a good start point to examine their model with reference to the our sports

http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2015/04/socialist-principles-heart-american-football

[AZOffaly]

I don’t see any argument for not pooling sponsorship money too, Offaly. Dublin being so big would nesscarily get the biggest share anyways, but if the goal is to have an amateur organisation having one be ran as if it’s an Premier League club with massive sponsors like AIG while one of their D1 opponents have their own supporters club on their jersies is another slap in the face of the sport.

The goal has to be to have as many counties as competitive as possible to create a vibrant sport for both players and supporters. The GAA should be socialism at its best, yet it’s being humiliated by the most base capitalist sports in the world like professional American football when it comes to enforcing parity.

Actually American Football takes the socialist approach in terms of the draft of young players,salaries and funding,it might be a good start point to examine their model with reference to the our sports

http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2015/04/socialist-principles-heart-american-football

I think that's his point. The NFL Owners are all about the money, but they realise that to maximise the money, you maximise the competition, so they level the playing field.