The Government has announced €150 million in funding for sporting bodies and clubs to develop capital projects in every corner of the country.
Read about the announcement which was made on Friday
Today we begin a five-part series looking at different aspects of the funding.
Monday: The Six Sports to secure the largest funding
Tuesday: The Rest of the Sports in comparison
Wednesday: A selection of the projects that were awarded the maximum amount at the local level
Thursday: The larger-scale regional projects
Friday: The Appetite for more
The biggest six category sports in the Sports Capital Funding round announced on Friday have absorbed 92 per cent of the total money on offer at a local level.
From Gaelic Games with €58.7 million to Tennis with €4.2 million across 68 projects, the bigger pots have gone to the sports that offer facilities to the greatest number.
There is nothing wrong with that, particularly when Government has expanded the overall pot.
So what of the remainder of sports that are challenging to get their facilities to a point that they can be more competitive in terms of attracting more participants?
Here is the rundown of monies received by them:
€
1,297,947 Athletics
964,897 Community Games
731,945 Rowing
699,545 Sailing
610,272 Hockey
555,616 Handball
481,339 Basketball
454,807 Boxing
419,846 Swimming
374,215 Cricket
280,135 Canoeing
276,340 Equestrian
256,502 Camogie
250,246 Hillwalking
211,421 Pitch and Putt
140,880 Cycling
138,604 Gymnastics
118,712 Bowls
117,140 Special Olympics
103,649 Badminton
Another nine sports were in receipt of money with sums of less than €100,000.
Every one of the sports listed above and in the Top Six has increased the amount of money which they have got in this round over the last one that was made available in November 2019.
Athletics has almost doubled from €619,722, and Community Games has seen the biggest percentage increase from €113,090 just over two years ago to €964,897 this year.
The number of projects has increased, the average amount given to those projects has increased and the number of people that will benefit has increased.
The Government has long recognised the political value of this funding, as well as the societal and so long as the quality of projects being put forward remains on the right side of increasing participation that is likely to still hold.
