The Sports Capital Grant scheme announced by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in recent days has been warmly welcomed by sporting organisations, delivering as it does some €40 Million of direct funding into local and regional projects.
This money will release additional funds through matched funding and individual fundraising that could eventually more than treble the amount being spent on upgrading the individual infrastructure of Ireland’s sporting bodies and clubs.
Today we begin an analysis of how the money is to be spent starting with a listing of the top 20 sports and the money that each will gain directly from the scheme.
This covers half of the sports that will benefit but leaves out the category of multi sport funding, mainly to local authorities, schools and National Governing Bodies that could be spread across a wide variety of outdoor and indoor facilities.
Sports Capital Grants – The Top 20
- Gaelic Football and Hurling – €14,457, 441
- Soccer – €6,244,550
- Rugby – €2,287,691
- Tennis – €2,032,779
- Rowing – €830,750
- Swimming – €774,606
- Athletics – €752,336
- Hockey – €681,775
- Gymnastics – €606,464
- Boxing – €575,795
- Sailing – €561,917
- GAA Handball – €380,000
- Wheelchair Sport – €253,000
- Diving / Snorkelling – €250,207
- Bowls – €223,659
- Badminton – €219,050
- Cricket – €213,001
- Triathlon – €185,716
- Golf – €147,775
- Martial Arts – €146,108
It is only natural that the big three sports in terms of funding, participation, sponsorship and almost every other metric should feature at the top of the list. Building or upgrading facilities in Gaelic Games, Soccer and Rugby will deliver the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people.
Beneath those the distribution becomes perhaps more interesting with Tennis attracting over €2 million in funding and seven others drawing down in excess of €500,000 to fund particular projects.
Over the coming days we will analyse these headline numbers against a number of other metrics used to paint an overall picture of sports funding and the benefit it delivers.
