Cost of fielding inter county teams in Louth becoming a huge concern

With a return to normal activity on the GAA fields across the county after two years of Covid-19 dictating our lives, Louth GAA have announced a record-breaking level of income.

According to figures shown to delegates at this year's County Convention, the Wee County brought in a figure in excess of €1.1 million in 2022. The healthy figures were helped greatly by a huge jump in gate receipts last year, which went up ten fanfold since 2021.

€361,692 was the final figure, as opposed to €30,785 last year. However, these numbers are skewed, as they include the last 31 games in the 2021 championship. Meanwhile, the county’s fundraising, Allianz League games and commercial returns also helped them bring in such a high income.

“Allianz League receipts were up on those of 2021 with the return of large attendances to our games” noted County Treasurer Aidan Berrill. “There was a sizable increase in commercial income (€68,605) resulting in greater returns from team and competition sponsorship.

“Income for fundraising was also up to €30, 344 thanks to the Mickey Harte Night last March and the Golf Classic in August. It doesn’t include the recent walk in Darver.”

However, there also a big jump in expenditure as a result of games returning to a full-time schedule. The costs of running competitions in 2022 rose by over €100,000 to €163,008. This was largely made up by increased referee costs, from close to €23,000 in 2021, all the way up to €93,851 this year.

Another jump was in the renting of grounds, again due to the increase in matches, that rose by over €30,000 to €44,152. Of course, this is slightly off, like the income figures, due to 2021 games being included.

Moving over to the county teams, their costs increased to €305,641, which was an almost 100 percent jump on 2021. However, Berrill explained the jump was caused by players travel being greatly subsidised by Croke Park in 2021. The high figure was noted by the Naomh Mairtin clubman as a worry.

“While our spending on county teams has increased, we are conscious of this and are trying to manage the spend, while at the same time not hindering the progress of our teams.

“A neighbouring inter county manager was listing off to his dismay the extent of his backroom team needed to run the team he was about to manage. Sometimes you cannot help but wonder where the word manager or the world voluntary fits in anymore.”

The final expenditure amounted for Louth GAA was €981, 178, an increase from 2021 of just over €542,000. Overall, they reported a surplus in 2022 of €134, 839.

This was used to lower their bowering debts, largely on the Centre of Excellence in Darver which is now expected to be fully paid off by June 2025.

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Gallery: Louth GAA Convention 2022

Speaking of Darver, the expenditure for its upkeep was less than that of 2021, a year when they renovated the new county dressing rooms. In 2022, new nets were installed on some of the pitches, while the ones on Pitch 3 had their heights increased.

“The necessary ongoing maintenance has ensured the pitches are at a high standard for training inter county teams and for championship matches in the second part of the year” stated Berrill.

“A stand must be a priority going forward for the venue here, as well as a renewal of the lighting to a more economic type."