Munster Convention hears call for more inter-county team funding

GREATER consideration needs to be given to counties to assist them in meeting the huge annual costs of preparing inter-county teams, said Kerry County Board secretary Eamonn O’Sullivan at last night’s Munster Convention.

While appreciating that the council disbursed its funds in other directions, he pointed to the fact that the total of €349,000 paid out to counties and clubs last year represented less than 7.5% of total expenditure. In contrast, counties were spending up to 70% of their total income in the preparation of teams.

Cork treasurer Pearse Murphy agreed that more money should be given to county committees for this purpose, commenting: “The drain on finances is enormous. There are officers who are practically full-time fund-raisers.’’

Former Waterford chairman Paddy Joe Ryan voiced concern that less money would be available for club development and Council chairman Sean Fogarty echoed his views.

“We can juggle the figures, but at the end of the day it’s the same amount of money that can be distributed,’’ he commented.

Eamonn O’Sullivan stressed the importance of regular meetings between the principal officers in the counties to keep in touch with on-going developments.

Treasurer Ger Hickey commented on the under-21 championships, revealing that the return from the 2005 games was down €100,000 on the previous year. In his view, it raised questions about the significance of the competitions when the inter-county schedule was so cluttered.

The chairman said that the days of the under-21 championships being a ‘bonanza’ were gone.

In football, only a Cork-Kerry final would generate a significant gate, but last year and again this year (this afternoon in Killarney) they had been paired together in the first round.

On a more general level, Mr Hickey informed delegates that gates from some of the senior championships were suffering because of the impact of the qualifier competitions. People were becoming ‘more selective’ in their choice of games, especially when they had the option of two games on television during the summer.

Clare delegate Noel Walsh defended the decision to retain the inter-provincial series, saying that while people might have had strong reservations about the policy a few years ago, successful marketing had given the competitions a major boost.

The football final, played recently under lights in Parnell Park, had attracted a crowd of 7,000, which was the highest attendance in 40 years, he pointed out. The biggest argument in favour of the games was the commitment of the players, for whom the series provided the only real representation at provincial level, particularly for those from less successful counties.

* Officers: chairman S Fogarty; vice-chairman J O’Gorman; treasurer G Hickey; PRO W O’Connor.