Wexford chair Kenny airs concern about funding for county teams under one organisation

A general view of Wexford Park. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Wexford GAA chairman John Kenny has questioned how integration can be paid for at county level.

In principle, Kenny is fully supportive of the merger between the GAA, Ladies Gaelic Football Association and Camogie Association.

He attended the first meeting of the steering committee on integration’s roadshow in Croke Park last Thursday. There he aired concerns about the funding that will be required for the county teams under the one organisation.

The steering body envisage Special Congresses being held in October to vote on proposals to achieve the next steps followed by further votes at Congress in 2027. A single membership is the objective for April of next year with the goal of a first integrated Congress taking place in ’28.

At county level, the body propose there will be a chairperson along with three vice chairpersons, one for each of the three current bodies.

“The whole thing was presented the other night but there was no mention of finance until we got to club level,” said Kenny. 

“As a chairman of a county board, I’m in my second year and it’s almost a full-time job just to run the finance for both hurling and football teams.

“We are a dual county. You can say that we're probably more hurling than we are football, but we still have to fund up both those teams to a level where they can compete.

“If I'm a ladies football or camogie county board representative, they're going to want to have the same rights for their players and maybe rightly so. Where’s it going to come from?

“I’m at the pin of my collar. I had three meetings on Friday, and they were all to do in relation to finance, just to fund what we currently have.

“Then you have the whole area of teams. How can one chairperson be responsible for teams across all those levels? And there are some county boards where they can't fill the roles that they have. Volunteerism is a huge issue.

“They (the steering committee) addressed everything except for the whole fundraising model. It looks fine at national/Croke Park level, maybe provincial council level as well, but it’s county board level where the issue is.” 

Kenny’s club Horewood operate the one club model and during his chairmanship of it he had pushed to ensure parity for all. A father of three daughters, he has also coached and managed ladies football and camogie teams.

“I think they have to get it right at the club level, first of all. If it's not right at the club level, how is it going to go up the way? They can't bring it down the way. They have to apply this one club model across the country.” 

As regards the timeline, Kenny notes his county’s presidential candidate Derek Kent as well as Ger Ryan have raised doubts about the deadline for integration. The other candidate John Murphy has also questioned it.

While the steering committee have now pushed the aim of full integration back to 2028, Kent, Ryan and Murphy consider it a multi-year endeavour. “We have to bring a bit of realism into it,” concluded Kenny.