Antrim, the way forward

[NAG1]

Looks like a lot of the club and county draw is going toward upgrading Dunsilly.

Hopefully becomes a real hub for the juvenile teams.

The cynic in me is wondering about the timing of this announcement of the upgrade to the Dunsilly facilities. All seemed a bit rushed to get something positive out there about the county at the moment, but maybe I am being overly harsh and it is all a coincidence.

[BigGreenField]

Its been long overdue to be done and it needs it asap as Dunsilly is a hateful place to go watch a game. i dont understand why they take senior semi finals to that place.

That being said i dont think the uptake on those tickets will be as high as was expected. People arent interested in supporting the county and with all thats going on its hard to disagree with them. How can you sell these tickets to people when they see the cash just wasted in their eyes.

I know some clubs have refused to sell the tickets and to be honest i can see their point of view. Its hard enough to fund raise for your own club to survive each year without giving to the county as well.

For example clubs need to cover insurance for players

• GAA player injury fund £8k
• Camogie insurance £7k
• public liability insurance £?k depends on facilities

Then you have player injuries costs and operations. The insurance only covers up to £5k for the GAA and most operations don't even come close to covering this so clubs are operating on a lost each time it happens.

But here, help Antrim GAA improve their lot whilst the clubs struggle to cover costs.

Struck me as limited buy in from clubs and no real plan get the buy in - the Dunsilly video is a bit vague, I'd have expected some graphics knocked up at a minimum.

What's the target for sales - presuming 2000-3000 tickets, that's a lot.


I also think a lot of clubs have it financially tight as it is, for those in better shape they have their own expansion plans to fund.

It's good the county board are trying and hopefully it gets there (full disclosure someone in my house has bought one) however as per EOC comment elsewhere, a chunk of the money needs to go on improving coaching first - make it about the county raising money to support clubs and a lot more positivity.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

The fact that they told clubs they have to sell them was pathetic.

If you are a small club with small membership and not a large income you value what local resources you have yourself to keep things going. To then ask them to sell tickets that wont potentially generate any income for your own needs is a real stretch, esp considering that they see nor hear nothing in terms of support during the year.

It started as needing each club to sell 24 and now its down to 20.

In the current climate, no one is interested in giving money to our county as results go from bad to worse.

[NorthAntrimSaff]

A lot of clubs have their own major developments ongoing. Creggan, All Saints, Ahoghill. Few belfast clubs also ongoing

[p3427977]

The fact that they told clubs they have to sell them was pathetic.

If you are a small club with small membership and not a large income you value what local resources you have yourself to keep things going. To then ask them to sell tickets that wont potentially generate any income for your own needs is a real stretch, esp considering that they see nor hear nothing in terms of support during the year.

It started as needing each club to sell 24 and now its down to 20.

In the current climate, no one is interested in giving money to our county as results go from bad to worse.

Are these the £12 per month tickets? The email said the club's got 25% I thought. Didn't bother buying any. What happens if a club doesn't sell its quota?

[johnnycool]

Ciaran Kearney was promoting these (along with a clubman of my own) with Jerome Quinn prior to the Antrim v Down game in Dunloy and evidently they are following the Club Down draw model.

Every club in Down is mandated to sell 20 (might be 24 now) and then every ticket you sell thereafter £96 out of the £120 goes to the club. Some clubs in Down use it as their main fundraiser of the year and can generate £20 to £30K easily by doing so.

That 25% figure does look at bit low from Antrim and if it is greed may kill the thing at infancy.

[Hectic]

Antrim website says:

£90.00 out of every ticket sold after the initial 20 goes directly to your Club. For example if you help your Club sell another 100 Tickets, then your Club generates £9,000.00 for itself with no outlay!

That's not a bad return given don't have to put up any prizes and does not seem to carry much by way of admin.

And for anyone that cares the county benefits as well.

But then this is Antrim so maybe we would prefer if the county put up the prizes and let the clubs keep all the money raised.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

The fact that they told clubs they have to sell them was pathetic.

If you are a small club with small membership and not a large income you value what local resources you have yourself to keep things going. To then ask them to sell tickets that wont potentially generate any income for your own needs is a real stretch, esp considering that they see nor hear nothing in terms of support during the year.

It started as needing each club to sell 24 and now its down to 20.

In the current climate, no one is interested in giving money to our county as results go from bad to worse.

Are these the £12 per month tickets? The email said the club's got 25% I thought. Didn't bother buying any. What happens if a club doesn't sell its quota?

Yeah they get a return after they go past the quota of 20 tickets so its an incentive to sell more

I can assure you there wont be many clubs passing the 100 extra sold. I know the uptake on our club has been low.

[Hectic]

Is this model a success in Down?

[delgany]

It has been running for 10 years. It has raised something like £3 million

[NAG1]

It has been running for 10 years. It has raised something like £3 million

To be fair, it probably couldn't have been launched at a worse time for the County. Nothing but negativity around the place.

[johnnycool]

It has been running for 10 years. It has raised something like £3 million

I was trying to find that video again but I think it's raised £3M for Down CB, but the clubs would have raised multiples of that.

[BigGreenField]

It has been running for 10 years. It has raised something like £3 million

To be fair, it probably couldn't have been launched at a worse time for the County. Nothing but negativity around the place.

It's the right idea, in the absence of an embedded county culture though perhaps more focus in the first year of the county supporting schools/club progress via funds.

A lot of positive reaction to the news on the schools officers at Mary's and Ballymen.