GAA set to pocket 30million-plus this year

THE GAA will pocket over 30m euro from this year's football and hurling championships in another bumper season for the organisation.

A total of 1,730,000 people will have passed through the turnstiles when the final whistle is blown on the race for silverware.

Record crowds for games at the revamped Croke Park will net the GAA over 18m euro. Gate

receipts from the provincial rounds of both championships brought in another 12m euro.

Taking in the extra games from the backdoor system and lucrative replays in football between Cork and Kerry and Dublin and Donegal, profits rose by 3m euro on last year.

But despite the cash windfall, GAA bosses are refusing to financially compensate county players. GAA boss Sean McCague said the association simply cannot afford it.

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) is demanding 127 euro a week for players during the championship.

Currently, players only get paid an average of 40c a mile in expenses for travelling to training. They also get two tickets for big championship games.

Former Meath football star Colm O'Rourke yesterday backed the players' pay demands, saying: "It's a leisure industry at this stage and the people providing the entertainment are not getting paid."

O'Rourke said a cash pool for All-Ireland winning teams should be established by the GAA. All players on the panel would be paid from this fund.

More than one million fans have paid in to the 64 games played in the football championship to date. A total of 450,000 have attended the 30 games in the hurling championship.

In football, only the semi-finals and the All-Ireland final remain to be played.

A crowd of around 208,000 will pay in to watch these games. These three fixtures, combined with the hurling final, will earn the organisation an estimated 7.2m euro. A full house at Croke Park yields between 1.6m euro and 2m euro depending on the game.

The four football quarter-finals played during the August Bank Holiday weekend saw fans forking out 3.2m euro on tickets.

But the GAA has predicted Sunday's game between Cork and Kerry will attract one of the lowest attendances ever for a semi-final clash.

Nonetheless, about 50,000 fans are expected to attend, making the organisation another 1.3m euro.

The financial surplus for the year will be reinvested in the development of GAA headquarters and other stadiums nationwide. Since 1991 the organisation has invested over 38m euro in county grounds and 32m euro in club facilities.