Kerry senior footballers claim 50% of board expenditure

KERRY County Board spent over €300,000 on the preparation of its senior football team over the past year - approximately half the total expenditure on all inter-county activities.

The board achieved a surplus of €118,915 (up €65,174), with the increased return from gate receipts proving significant.

Income for the year totalled €3,624,729, marginally lower than last year, but expenditure was reduced by close to a quarter of a million euro.

On the expenditure side, the biggest single item was €621,913 for team administration expenses. The board spent over €84,000 on physiotherapy and medical bills, which represented an increase of €18,000 on the 2004 figure.

County football championship gate receipts reached €243,540 (up from €177,637), the return from the hurling championship was €98,894. The addition of €45,742 from leagues and other championship games brought the total to an impressive €388,176.

In his report, secretary Eamonn O'Sullivan states that while the senior footballers failed to repeat their All-Ireland success of 2004, players management and the county board did everything possible in their bid to retain the Sam Maguire.

The team's 'easy passage' to the final may not have been the ideal preparation against a Tyrone team which had to play nearly every week during the summer, but acknowledged that Mickey Harte's team was 'better' on the day. The challenge is to build for the future and ensure that the county's tradition is maintained.

On the inter-county hurling front, progress was encouraging, with a record number (12) of senior games played. However, the absence of a number of players all year and 'the poor commitment of others' for vital games and training was a stumbling block to ultimate success.

Dealing with fixtures in general, Mr O'Sullivan states that between county and divisional board activity some competitions are overlapping while others are played at a standard lower than that required. Looking ahead, he feels there is a need to review the format of the senior club and U21 county championships and tackle problems in a whole lot of areas.

For instance, he feels that games at minor and U16 level seem to be all run in a hectic 5 weeks in April/May and senior club players are being neglected over the months of July and August in particular.

"We have sufficient competitions and games, which have served us well over the years. But we now need to evaluate these in light of falling numbers in rural areas, more emphasis on urban areas and the changes for players and mentors at work, home and leisure."

He takes an unnamed politician to task for criticising the Board's method of allocating All-Ireland tickets, pointing out that the bye-law which honours the entitlement of medal-holders has always been operated. Additionally, relatives have also been accommodated.

"It was therefore most disappointing to have a local politician air his critical views on radio on the above subject without courtesy of a call to the board to establish the procedure. Even more surprising when he himself avails of the byelaw - indeed Kerry is the only county with such a scheme."

Meanwhile the Spa club from Killarney wants the International Rules Series to be abandoned, because of the risk of injury to players and to avoid the interruption of domestic competitions. They do so in a motion submitted to next Monday night's convention, suggesting that the money spent on the series should be used to fund holidays for the All-Ireland champions in hurling and football. Rathmore want the All-Ireland finalists in both codes to be 'guests' of Central Council on the weekend of the finals and they propose that managements should be able to choose captains. Several clubs have put forward motions calling for a reappraisal of the club football championship programme.