Waterford GAA blame cash flow difficulties for late payment of  expenses

It has emerged that the county's U20 football panel have not been paid their expenses - ten months after they were first due.

Waterford GAA chiefs hope to resolve the issues in the coming weeks

Cash flow difficulties owing to lockdown have made it difficult to reimburse players for 2020 expenses, Waterford County Board Treasurer John Jackson has told the Irish Examiner.

Jackson was responding to queries after it emerged that the county's U20 football panel have not been paid their expenses - ten months after they were first due.

He pointed to the board posting a deficit of €216,997 in their 2020 accounts, with gate receipts falling by almost €236,000 while fundraising dropped by €87,000.

He said he "accepted" that some players involved in other intercounty panels have been reimbursed ahead of the U20 footballers.

“We're processing payments as we speak and we will have all players paid within a week hopefully," Jackson added, with more money having been secured this week through fundraising.

U20 players are owed the money since the first lockdown, last April, but had received little indication as to when they would be reimbursed after following the issue up in recent weeks.

While it is understood that some players did not look for expenses, the total submission for players and management is believed to have ranged between €3,000 to €5,000. Per player it is believed to work out to €150-250 on average.

Expenses were submitted last March and players were told in April that the figures had been submitted to the County Board.

Portlaw GAA chairman Paudie Coffey said the situation was “not acceptable” for young players. 

“If this is the case then the County Board needs to engage with the players and find a resolution and compensate them for last year. The GAA is built around players and can’t be finding itself in this sort of situation.

“This should have been flagged as an outstanding issue at the convention last month if money could not be paid to players,” the former Fine Gael junior minister said

The mileage rate for players is calculated at 50 cent per mile, with players on the panel based across east and west Waterford. There were at least 15 training sessions held across the shortened season. Training began in December 2019 and the U20s were among the first to bow out of the Munster Championship last year, losing to Clare last February.

The chairman of east Waterford club Gaultier, Richard Finnegan, called for a breakdown of the €34,000 expenditure on the U20s as shown in Waterford GAA’s accounts at the county convention: “We need a total picture of the cost around the team.” He added: “For it to be ten months later then it’s really disappointing that players haven’t been sorted out. A lot of those lads involved would only be students, and likely wouldn’t have had jobs during lockdown. It’s just very poor to be honest.” 

Mr Coffey added that it’s been difficult to raise issues with the board due to lockdown. “It’s understandable if things have been difficult due to lockdown, but it’s still shocking if players are being left out of pocket for almost a year.” 

Jackson said the remote nature of last month's convention was the reason clubs were not made aware of the cash flow issues around paying expenses: "In the past we would have been able to put the breakdown on the screen and available for clubs to discuss with us, but that wasn't possible when we were meeting with Microsoft Teams."