About a year ago Jim McGuinness coach of Donegal GAA football team was being lauded by all Irish sports circles for winning the All-Ireand. Such was the supposed enduring grandeur of his achievement that Glasgow Celtic football Club came calling for his services and abilities. Then rumours also abounded that 2014 Ryder Cup Captain, Paul McGinley was to include McGuinness in his backroom team for Gleneagles, all accompanied by endless estimates of the potential income and earnings cluttering the Irish sports ages for days on end.
Clearly twelve months we know that one swallow does not a summer make and even a repeat was not possible.
But more importantly that the step up from amateur sport to the more elite levels is more than shuffle. It’s a major jump. And to be perfectly balanced at the outset Gaelic football is an amateur game - no matter how hard the players may train every week. For McGuinness to lose the weekend clash with Mayo the way he did raises many questions. But rather more different to the ones asked of Kilkenny’s hurling Coach, Brian Cody and a coach who knos anout repeats, three peats and four peats.
Across a few county lines then we have the Tyrone coach apoplectic, depending in the reports one reads, about criticism by an RTE TV pundit who voiced personal concerns about the manner of the victory against Monaghan. Not to mention the style of the game played on the day. Not unlike remarks that have arisen about the physical nature of the game on previous times. Yet the surprising reaction from Mickey Harte has been unpleasant eavug him unable it seems to accept a differing view.
As part of thedwal is the coverage the Irish domestic sport receives during the summer by the state broadcaster RTE. That added to the weekly pages for weeks about an indigenous sport, that does not transcend these shores, perhaps beyond emigrants crowded into Irish pubs around the globe trying to catch up on missed games. All rather less frequent now given the developments of the internet, Twitter, You Tube and digital channels. Including also the RTE player. As Americans often get knocked for claiming to host a World Series in baseball, at which there are only American teams, then so should The Championship be less prenetious about ut's place in world sport. Especially with no inroads made further afield than the friends of Croke Park abroad.
Which is not helped either by the multiples routes - via back doors or front - to reach the All-Ireland Final year in year. Vagaries of GAA HQ leaving many of the great unwashed and non followers confused as to when it really knock-out match. As opposed to pretend ones. All just simply made for TV it seems to ensure that the GAA maximise revenue, rather than run the risk of losing some big names on some of the lesser Sundays. A risk all other sports must endure let us point out, without back up. But a recipe better suited to the Celtic boom years rather than the present.
As it is there are too many matches hosted in empty stadia yet billed as major events. If the fans are voting with their feet then the evidence is obvious and condemning Albeit hidden during the good years with the links with Developers, all fantasising at the time about the value of GAA clubs, given many were traditionally so close to town and village centres.
In the world we live now the hopes of financial exchanges and huge monies are gone leaving the GAA clubs having to survive on their own economic strengths or weaknesses. And also manage the overall negative impact of emigrations as many town lands are losing a key component of any aspiring sports club. Youth.
The added argument about paying GAA players for their effort are also now very light on the ground with the unsustainability of such fees now glaringly obvious. Given the disappearance of that easy credit society we once knew and the frailty of Irish banks. Leaving that reality of life that profit is more valuable than turnover in any club. Bringing the GAA Clubs into line with other Irish sporting organisations, - Eirtricity League and Rugby – where the lack of consistent income can cause clubs even to close.
In an effort to be balanced one would hope that the GAA would join the new age and perhaps leave behind its political undercurrents to consider whether the product it offers on the field is really good quality. In that vein what Joe Brolley brings to the discussion needs to be better understood. And argued if need be, so that the sport can reach a better place. In the meantime what it does not need is the predictable reaction that Mickey Harte has offered, which seems to limit the ability for any sporting organisation to seek improvement. Or indeed even have a discussion.
A phobia other sports in Ireland suffer from too, given that Football Association of Ireland Chief Executive refused cancelled the traditional Annual General Meeting press conference as he deemed matters to be raised may not have been favourable to the association. Which seems like a new doctrine of openness and transparency. But then again the financial challenges facing Irish football maybe so insurmountable, if things do not pan out as planned in 2023, that silence may be deemed the better option. Or until debt do us part.
At the original launch of the ticket scheme in September 2009 the main target for sales were high net worth individuals. The FAI spoke about the "33,000 millionaires in this country," and that an FAI data base of 80,000 people would be targeted for sales.
Mr Delaney said at tyat time that the association needed only 3,000 people to buy 10-year tickets on the basis of forecasts of average sales of three to four seats per purchaser. All but shattered dreams one would now surmise four year's hence and hence the silence.
Which unlike their Aviva Stadium partners silence has not been possible after their best laid budget plans failed to materialise, leaving the Irish Rugby Football Union reporting their financial shortfall of €26M in expected earnings from unsold five- and 10-year tickets. In fact, less than half the 3,700 tickets put of sale for €5,500 and €9,000 were actually taken up, meaning the union will have to borrow to fund the professional game over the next six years, in the hope of making up the deficit with the sale of 5,000 premium level tickets in 2020.
The FAI should note the word HOPE.
“We’ve been to the market and it has said what it has said, we sold just under 50 percent of the tickets,” IRFU chief executive Philip Browne confirmed.
“The aim was to make €40 million from their sale, but only €14 million will be banked. This will force the union to borrow €25 million to keep the national and provincial squads competitive over the next six seasons.
As Honorary treasurer Tom Grace so aptly said “It was hoped we would be debt-free by now; however, the down turn means we will have to borrow,”
“Overall, if there’s a message coming through here it’s that the national team is the key provider for all activities undertaken by the union.
“Without the dividend this generates there would be no IRFU funding for provincial teams and consequently the branches would be relying on what they themselves can generate.
“There is absolutely no doubt that times are hard but we are extremely fortunate that we have managed our cash conservatively over the last number of years. The disappointing result with the sale of 10-year tickets reflects what is happening in the economy.
For the record one of Ireland top players has just let the national setup to play in France for the next two years. Maybe the first of many
Smart cookie than Jonny Sexton. Obviously does not believe in hope alone but in cash he trusts.
Now that is professional.
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