Secret GAA Coach: 'Club funds raised for juvenile teams used to pay VAT bill from club bar'

"Funding for clubs is hard. For many years the next month’s mortgage payment or the upcoming VAT bill was the limit beyond which any plans for the future dare not stray."

'Maintaining pitches alone is a massive financial undertaking. Paying for and maintaining floodlights isn’t cheap.' Picture: Stephen Shannon/iStock 

Finance and fundraising are key to the very existence of the GAA club. Some clubs are well-run business operations. Others, less so. 

My beloved club falls into the latter category. Regardless of the nation’s economic outlook, my one and only has teetered on the brink of extinction as a result of debt and insurmountable running costs on more than one occasion.