Fair play to the Irish Independent and GAA writer Colm Keys who have today published a detailed review of the income and expenditure of each of GAA County Boards in the 32 counties during 2021.
In total, the counties generated a surplus of a little under €12 million though this arose largely out of availing of government supports relating to the payment of wages where revenue was hit by Covid, and the GAA centrally taking on much of the cost of team expenses for the inter-county Championships.
This too came largely from a grant of €20 million paid by the Government to the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association to offset the cost of staging the 2020 Championships behind closed doors.
The numbers show the importance of this government backing and will be reflected in the financial survival of most sports and many businesses during the two-year hit of Covid.
Digging beyond that main pillar of support, two counties recorded a surplus of more than €1 million. It is not unrelated that Dublin and Wexford are the two counties that have invested in creating a full time paid position looking after commercial income. This is something which is left to voluntary committees and the best of intentions in every other county and the proof of its strength is very evident from the numbers.
Dublin has set aside €750,000 towards capital project development costs, investing in the future. It’s best in class player development infrastructure, employing over 50 coaches across the county. cost €1.1 million to deliver but much of this was met by the Government wage subsidy scheme.
The County’s total income of €5.1 million included a contribution from commercial revenues of a little over €2 million. That figure alone represents greater than the total income of all bar six counties – Mayo (€3.04 million), Kerry (€2.6 million), Limerick (€2.6 million), Galway (€2.6 million), Tipperary (€2.4 million), Cork (€2.3 million), Wexford (€2.1 million) and Roscommon (€2.1 million).
In commercial terms Cork came second with income from partnerships and fundraising of €879,000, followed by Wexford with €772,000.
This information and image were first published in the Irish Independent on Friday, January 28th 2022. Click to read the full article.
Sport for Business Perspective
The counties that have performed the best financially are the ones that generally have the most professional management structures in place. The GAA is a volunteer-based association and amateur as regards its players. It could not work if it had to sustain the cost of a professional game and that is not something anyone wants. It often comes in for criticism if it has the temerity to have professional people on the payroll to run it in the most efficient way possible. These figures clearly indicate that if you do not invest in management and programmes that you will not progress. There are many lessons to be learned, and ones that go deeper than a single year’s accounts.
