Waterford GAA request clubs purchase two €1,000 season tickets 

In a fundraising initiative by the board, Waterford clubs were last month issued invoices.

LEVY: Waterford GAA clubs were issued with an invoice last month. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

GAA clubs in Waterford have been requested by the county board to purchase two 10-year club season tickets, each costing €1,000.

In a fundraising initiative by the board, clubs were last month issued invoices to pay for the tickets within 30 days and it is hoped Waterford GAA will raise close to €100,000.

It has been suggested to the clubs that they raffle them as a means of recouping the cost. An annual club season pass costs €200. However, the move has been interpreted by some units as a creative levy.

Along with the county’s ladies football and camogie clubs, Waterford GAA clubs recently received €10,638 each from the distribution of JP McManus’ €1m donation.

Waterford’s recent history has been marked by levies to meet the county’s debts. In 2006, hefty payments for clubs were introduced, while in the face of public opposition the board four years later had to abort a proposal to put a €5 levy on inter-county tickets and replaced it with a draw.

Walsh Park before the AIB Munster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship quarter-final match between Ballygunner and Sarsfields. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Levies existed for a large part of the early 2010s and concluded in 2016 before they were replaced by a “county teams training fund contribution”, which was approximately half of the previous levy. In 2019, it was put forward that clubs begin paying a levy towards the redevelopment of Walsh Park (senior €2,000; intermediate €1,500, junior €1,000).

The €12m stadium project has received over €7m in Government capital funding with Central Council and Munster GAA also providing grants. The Munster Council contributed €750,000 to phase one of the stadium’s rebuild and will be contributing a further grant to phase two.

Last year, Waterford reported a surplus of over €371,000 largely due to a “Win A House in Dungarvan” fundraiser which brought in over €770,000. However, the lack of a breakdown was criticised by Kilrossanty delegate Kevin Lonergan – “There were 15,000 tickets and they were all sold. That equates to €1.5m. Why are we not seeing any of that detail?"

In 2023, Waterford spent over €1.2m on their inter-county teams, the preparation of the senior hurlers’ total coming to €590,000 and footballers €360,000. In 2002, they had been €506k and €289k respectively.

Last week, Waterford announced Suir Engineering as their new three-year sponsors and are pursuing the sale of the naming rights to Walsh Park.

Earlier this year, Wicklow clubs had to pay increased levies in order to help the county address their €250,000 loss from 2023.