O’Neill has Duffy backing

GAA president Liam O’Neill has received support from director general Páraic Duffy in revising how Croke Park fund counties.

In the wake of Dublin’s lucrative sponsorship deal with AIG last October, O’Neill spoke of a more even spread of money being distributed across the country.

Duffy said big counties should be commended for “their drive and initiative”, but voiced concern for smaller ones.

Expressing his hope the GAA’s national finance management committee will take steps towards proposing a fairer method of central funding allocations, he wrote in his report: “It is clear counties are not competing on equal terms. We are in an era where some counties have backroom teams of up to 20 people; they can afford this back-up by virtue of their success in the top division of the Allianz Leagues, their income from sponsorship and corporate events, and from other fundraising.

“Small counties, by contrast, draw from a restricted pool of players, must survive on lower revenues, and can afford minimal backroom support, yet must compete in the same leagues and championships as those with substantially greater budgets. These lesser-funded counties incur the same travel, meal and medical costs, but do not have the additional resources and support to compete on an equal footing.”

As part of their Blue Wave strategic paper, Dublin have plans to attract provincial-sized funding. The senior football team have proven to be a real moneymaker for the GAA, and Duffy anticipates it will be a difficult process to convince counties of their size to accept smaller funding.

“Broadly speaking, we allocate fixed amounts to all counties, irrespective of whether a county has a population of 50,000 or 500,000, or has 50 clubs or 150 clubs, or is in Division 1 or Division 3 of the Allianz Leagues, etc.

“It is a model guaranteed to make it very difficult for smaller counties to participate in championships with a prospect of success. The only way we can address this issue in such a way as to retain a competitive inter-county model is to devise a fairer method of financial distribution.

“Given that a significant increase in overall GAA income is unlikely in the next couple of years, this would mean reducing funding for counties with strong ‘gate’ receipts, formidable fundraising capacity and valuable sponsorship, and increasing direct support to those with lesser resources.”