Social media abuse will end in tragedy, warns Clare chairman Michael McDonagh

The abuse of GAA players on social media will lead to an avoidable tragedy, according to outgoing Clare County Board chairman Michael McDonagh.

In his final address as county board chairman, McDonagh said GAA members are being put under extreme and unnecessary pressure by what is being written about them on various social media platforms.

County board secretary Pat Fitzgerald also touched on this area at last night’s convention, hitting out at the online criticism which the Clare hurlers were subjected to this year.

“I seriously fear that [online abuse] will go too far some day and somebody will be put under so much pressure from what is said about them on social media,” insisted McDonagh.

“I hope my words never come true but I fear at some stage that it will lead to a tragedy, a tragedy that could be avoided... I would appeal to people to use social media in a kind way to discuss things, use it in a fruitful way, but don’t take people out of it when there is no need to.”

The outgoing chairman also announced a four-year extension of the sponsorship deal with Pat O’Donnell.

Treasurer Bernard Keane, in his report, expressed “major concern” over the state of the finances of Clare GAA.

“Our accountant Tony Fitzpatrick, in his remarks on the convention booklet, says we could easily find ourselves in negative financial territory at the end of next year, unless income rises or costs are reduced. I would take out the word ‘could’ and put in the word ‘will’ because there is no doubt that if we keep going the way we are going, we will end up in negative equity,” said Keane.

The Clare County Board reported an overall surplus of €1,362, a 99% reduction on the 2014 surplus of €109,995. Total income for the year stood at €1,553,295, a fall of 14% on last year’s figure. The largest contributing factor to the decrease in income was the county’s national league share which fell from €155,133 to €83,201.

Total expenditure fell by 7% to €1,551,993. Team expenses were also curbed, coming in at €657,377 – this was a 17% reduction on last year’s total.

“The problem is that our revenue streams are too narrow,” continued Keane. “We still aredepending too much on our county senior hurlers to make up the gap. We have been losing money for the last number of years and the respite we got with the 2013 All-Ireland success camouflaged what we are doing. We need another All-Ireland or we need to put things in place.

“The first thing we need to do is set up a finance committee. This committee will have to look at the whole corporate sector to raise funds. Our fundraising activities only raised €68,000 this year and with a bit of effort from all the clubs, we could easily get this up to €100,000. That would alleviate an awful lot of our problems.

“One other area I am concerned about is replays. I was back in Kilmihil at the Cusack Cup final and I was making my way out the gate when I was horrified to learn the game was going to extra-time. We were out of the All-Ireland senior championship since July, there was no need for that game to go to extra-time. It cost the County Board €4-5,000. When you are dealing with small margins, that €5,000 would make an awful difference.

“For the last couple of years, we have been trying to accommodate dual players, management teams and county teams. In 2016, I think we are going to have to try and accommodate the finances of Clare GAA. There is money to be made there, easy money.”

PJ McGuane (Cooraclare) was elected county board vice-chairman, defeating Martin Reynolds. Kieran Keating and PJ Kelly were elected as Clare’s Munster Council delegates.