Waterford losses at €19,000 despite inter-county team cuts

SPENDING on Waterford’s various inter-county teams has dropped by almost €200,000 in just two years.

County board treasurer Michael Hogan has revealed a loss for the board of €19,000 for the 2010 financial year, having reported a surplus of €62,000 in 2009.

It’s despite the fact that expenditure on the preparation of inter-county teams dropped significantly for the second successive year.

Waterford splashed out €673,000 on preparing intercounty teams this year, a €60,000 decrease on the 2009 total of €733,000.

Figures indicate that Waterford chiefs have cut spending on their various teams by €192,000 since the 2008 All-Ireland hurling final, when spending on county sides hit an all-time high of €865,000.

Outgoing Déise treasurer Hogan has also revealed that sponsorship income rose by €60,000 this year while fundraising is also up considerably, from €29,000 to €69,000.

Hogan explained: “We have a different sponsor, but we’re still getting a good benefit from Glanbia. We held onto them as well as bringing ‘3’ on board. Our sponsorship and fundraising total comes in at €230,000 for the year.”

That figure of €230,000 represents a €60,000 increase on 2009 figures, which is a notable achievement in a difficult economic climate.

Total income and expenditure figures have dropped significantly from 2009 figures, with income down by €314,000. “It’s very hard to compare one year with another,” Hogan added. “There was work done on Fraher Field in 2009 and nearly €200,000 was spent on that. We got a lot of money in grants — it wasn’t work that was capitalised.”

Local gate receipts dropped by €60,000 in 2010 to a figure of €201,000. Hogan said: “The main reason for that is that the 2009 figures included a number of matches that came through from 2008. A lot of the 2008 county finals were played in November and they were included as part of the 2009 financial year. There is a drop of €60,000 from €260,000 but €201,000 is still very good for a stand-alone year.”

Income for the year came in at €2,438,000 but Hogan revealed that €1m of that was a contra item from Croke Park for a development project at Waterford IT.

Expenditure for the financial year totalled €2,457,000, which also includes the €1m contra item, and represents a decrease of €233,000.