‘Red lights flashing’ for Cork County Board’s finances

Cork County Board chairman Ger Lane told yesterday’s Cork GAA convention that the “red lights were flashing” in terms of the board’s finances.

Lane told delegates that investment bonds which had now been cashed in by the board had “shielded the board for the last few years”.

The chairman commended the county secretary and treasurer on looking after those investments in terms of the “serious return” they had made, but added that those funds are now no longer there.

“It’s time to pull the reins in seriously,” said Lane.

“No business could operate on the losses we’d have made the last few years without those investments. The red lights are certainly flashing in terms of finance and the cisteoir (treasurer) has a huge task to turn that around in the next year or so.”

With that in mind, treasurer Pearse Murphy said: “With the clubs draw, we need every club in the county to be fully committed to it. For the sake of the finances of the board, the figure (participants) must get up to 20,000. There has been a good response from a number of clubs but we cannot emphasise the importance of the draw both for the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh and the running of our inter-county teams.

“Whatever clubs are doing fundraising, get this draw, which we have run for 24 years, on board.

“Next year we have the 25th anniversary of the draw and while there has been a drop, we have arrested that and we must work hard to stay up with the best.” Also on financial matters, the treasurer rejected suggestions that senior football championship games would be more financially viable in West Cork, as some speakers suggested, pointing to the income from 15 SFC games held in West Cork, and the revenue from the two county semi-finals held in Páirc Uí Rinn, as “practically on par”.

Senior administrator Diarmuid O’Donovan said: “We need to improve our attendances, and clubs need to communicate to members what their clubs are doing. All clubs — host clubs and participating clubs for games — must maximise publicity for games in our community. We’re lucky with the media, which publicises games, but we forget, particularly in urban areas, to tell people who are not directly involved.

“In small country areas everyone knows what the club is doing but that’s not the case in towns and cities.”

A plea from Carbery delegates that the division’s U21 hurlers to be allowed to participate in the A grade within the county, with speakers instancing the Duhallow template, was applauded.

The chairman responded by pointing out that the U21 county championship was intended to be a club competition, adding that Cork will run a county-wide U21 premier county championship in hurling next year.

The chairman also added that the possibility of a countywide junior hurling championship would be examined early in the new year.

There was criticism of the Munster Council’s decision not to give the award for Munster intermediate hurler of the year to a member of the Cork side which won that provincial competition.

It was also suggested that the county’s junior football side be used as a ‘development’ squad, but the chairman pointed out that the current management team was not in favour of that initiative.

Cork’s intermediate hurling side next year will be an U25 team, with senior club players eligible for selection pending approval from the provincial council.

There was widespread resistance to the proposal to condense the playing season into a calendar year, with delegates suggesting the proposal would further downgrade the importance of the club player.

Some speakers also pointed to the pressure on club attendances when describing the calendar year proposal as “a backward step” while one delegate stressed the need for players to focus on practising skills rather than “chasing oul’ dolls”, which was not conducive to on-field excellence.

With many GAA clubs planning commemorative events for 2016, it was announced that Cork County Council has funding available for community organisations planning a centenary commemoration, though one delegate complained that the national flag was not flying at the Nemo Rangers complex for the county convention.