O'Donoghue's billion bypassing league?

[BohDiddley]

IFO (http://www.irishfootballonline.com/news_story.php?newsid=5901): The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue has announced funding of €991 million to be spent on sporting infrastructure as part of the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

This is all I've seen so far, but can he really spend almost a billion euros and not a cent on the national league? :mad:

[Mr A]

€440 million remains from the overall total with the promise of continued investment in sporting and recreational facilities under the sports capital programme.

I see the league's allocation being under this bit. If we can get anything like a decent slice of that money a lot of progress could be made.

[monutdfc]

He's also got €5M earmarked for grants for inter-county GAA players. No idea what it will work out at each, but I'd say it would compare to what an average 1st division player is on.
So the government will pay the GAA players while National League clubs have to scrimp, beg, borrow and beg some more to pay their players from gate receipts,sponsorship etc. I'm not GAA-bashing, I'm bashing government inconsistency. It's just not right.

[BohDiddley]

I'm not GAA-bashing, I'm bashing government inconsistency. It's just not right.
You are pointing out continued bias and favouritism towards the GAA and contrasting that with the criminal neglect of football. Of course you're GAA-bashing. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[eamo1]

fault that they have their house i n order and thus were entitled to a slice of the cake???the minister said last year that if the FAI fully implemented the genesis report that money would be given but as delaney admitted a few months ago everything wasnt implemented yet.the GAA has done a huge amount of good for the country with reguards to communities etc,they been doing it for years.e.l clubs have only recently started to get involved more with their communities and contribute to them with social and sporting outlets etc.i know ill get bashed for defending the gaa here,i wont be online again till tomorrow so if i dont reply just know that im not ignoring yer views.

[monutdfc]

That's exactly what I meant Eamo when I said I was not GAA-bashing. They cannot be blamed for taking all they are given. Still doesn't make it consistent government policy though.

[BohDiddley]

fault that they have their house i n order and thus were entitled to a slice of the cake???the minister said last year that if the FAI fully implemented the genesis report that money would be given but as delaney admitted a few months ago everything wasnt implemented yet.the GAA has done a huge amount of good for the country with reguards to communities etc,they been doing it for years.e.l clubs have only recently started to get involved more with their communities and contribute to them with social and sporting outlets etc.i know ill get bashed for defending the gaa here,i wont be online again till tomorrow so if i dont reply just know that im not ignoring yer views.
The GAA are not stupid, and it's not their fault if they are adept at winning political support. This is not about 'fault': it is about the political reality of the consistent and hardly accidental refusal to fund domestic football while resources are lavished on Gaelic games, horses and greyhounds.

[Dodge]

Were any el clubs refused funding?

[pete]

...horse and greyhound industries will get €70 million...

Continues the disgraceful bias towards state sponspored gambling. They are industries more than sports. Surely after the hundreds of millions put into state run pubs & restataurants (thats what greyhound tracks are really) they should be able to sustain themselves by now? Imagine how good the eL would be if the state built the facilties, subsidised the prize money (by around 50%) & then allowed tax free wages for players?

:mad:

I hear suggestions that the GAA has its 'house in order'. If that was the case why do they need governement subsidies wages for players & have serious discipline control at all levels of the game - fans attacks, referees attacked, players prosecuted for assault on the pitch. If thats the standard then the FAI doing fairly well...

:rolleyes:

[wws]

Pats got 2 billion last year which we spent on wages......

[CharlesThompson]

fault that they have their house i n order and thus were entitled to a slice of the cake???the minister said last year that if the FAI fully implemented the genesis report that money would be given but as delaney admitted a few months ago everything wasnt implemented yet.the GAA has done a huge amount of good for the country with reguards to communities etc,they been doing it for years.e.l clubs have only recently started to get involved more with their communities and contribute to them with social and sporting outlets etc.i know ill get bashed for defending the gaa here,i wont be online again till tomorrow so if i dont reply just know that im not ignoring yer views.

Blah blah blah blah blah...

[Sidefx]

How many EL clubs applied for funding? :)

[TonyD]

Pats got 2 billion last year which we spent on wages......

:D
Ssssh. we were supposed to be keeping that quiet. Now everyone will want a slice of the pie. ;)

BTW - completely agree with Petes post above re GAA. Spot on.

[fitzknows]

Can any amateur Irish sports person playing domestically apply for a grant out of this 5 million Euro or is it reserved solely for Inter-County GAA players?

If it is the case that it is solely reserved for GAA players then surely other Irish sporting bodies (basketball, football, rugby etc) can challenge it as it amounts to State discrimination against other amateur Irish sports persons playing at the highest level of their game domestically.

[monutdfc]

Can any amateur Irish sports person playing domestically apply for a grant out of this 5 million Euro or is it reserved solely for Inter-County GAA players?

If it is the case that it is solely reserved for GAA players then surely other Irish sporting bodies (basketball, football, rugby etc) can challenge it as it amounts to State discrimination against other amateur Irish sports persons playing at the highest level of their game domestically.
There's no actual system in place yet, it's 'on the table' for the GAA if they can come to agreement with the GPA. It's genesis was when McCreevy introduced the tax-break for professional sportspeople resident in Ireland: the GAA players couldn't benefit since they are amateur and the GPA have been pushing for something like this ever since.

[BohDiddley]

Were any el clubs refused funding?
That's either a fabulously naive question, or an equally cynical bureaucrat's defence, worthy of Kildare Street. It doesn't address the underlying imbalance, which has nothing to do with form-filling.
Do you honestly think that if the league, or any eL club, thought it was going to come within an ass's roar of NDP money that it would spurn the opportunity?

[monutdfc]

Were any el clubs refused funding?
Both this €5M player grant and the €3M handed to Croke Park for their floodlights feel totally outside of the Dept of Sport's grant framework

[eamo1]

who should be generating revenue for themselves and thus dont need gove funding.GAA is basically amateur who relies on grants etc.do any clubs in other leagues around europe get government funding???????no they dont!
agree with the posts about gove giving funding to gambling industries in greyhounds and horses etc being a disgrace.

[dcfcsteve]

who should be generating revenue for themselves and thus dont need gove funding.

GAA is basically amateur who relies on grants etc.do any clubs in other leagues around europe get government funding???????no they dont!


Firstly EL is not 'professional'. Most clubs have players on exactly the same working status as GAA. Except in the EL those players get paid openly (unless you're Shels... :D ). In GAA they get paid clandestinely, and then make a play about being the world's biggest amateur sporting association.

Secondly - most EL clubs are not generating revenue surpluses, precisely because they don't have the faciltiies to enable them to do so. The government has spent money providing facilities for the GAA to raise much revenue than the EL.

Thirdly - the GAA actively chooses to be amateur. To pretend that it doesnt really want to make any money, and that its players are all amateurs in it solely for love of the game. It could so very easily introduce professional player contracts etc throughout, and I have no doubt that some players would love it if that was the case. Meanwhile, it makes a bigger revenue surplus in a single Dublin match at Croke Park than all the EL clubs do in a year combined.

Finally - no other football league in Europe may rely on government funding. But then, I'm not aware of ANY national sporting association of ANY kind in ANY other country that plays in front of crowds of 70-80,000 in state of the art facilities, but is still able to convince people that it should be propped-up time and again by government grants. Domestic football in Ireland is not the exception here. The GAA in light of the rest of the world is....

[khoop]

Any time the GAA need money, they think it's the government's problem - and not theirs. And don't bore me with the GAA fund-raising waffle. It's just a shower of GAA heads giving money to their own clubs - because they know that by doing so, they get a whole lot more dosh for free - which they can then use to build enormous facilities which give them even more power and influence over their local communities. Sure wouldn't anyone build their own private pub if they could get the government to pay for half of it???

Furthermore:

How the hell are the GAA allowed ask for rent for Croke Park - after the government have put so much money into it???

The government are partly funding the Lansdowne development (and the government are the ones who MOST want to keep the home soccer and rugby games in Ireland for the duration). The FAI and IRFU have to hand over huge amounts to the GAA for the use of tax-built Croke Park. Money they could have invested in their own games. Which means that more government grants are needed to make up this shortfall.

So in a roundabout way - it's the government who are being asked to pay rent to the GAA.....

Hallo???!!!

[Buller]

sport in ireland is deeply corrupted by the bigotry and jealousness of a sporting organisation that knows if it was on level terms with football, (ie: got same funding + stadium grants), that football would easily thrive. Therefore it must be said they have done an excellent job at keeping the worlds greatest sport in the trail of gah by using clever & cunning tactics, (tallaght stadium delay... government funding), to maintain its "supremacy"

[A face]

sport in ireland is deeply corrupted by the bigotry and jealousness of a sporting organisation that knows if it was on level terms with football, (ie: got same funding + stadium grants), that football would easily thrive. Therefore it must be said they have done an excellent job at keeping the worlds greatest sport in the trail of gah by using clever & cunning tactics, (tallaght stadium delay... government funding), to maintain its "supremacy"

Agreed with all of that. But it has to be said that if the gah wasn't as successful as it is then we'd have to have a tribunal to explain why not. Infact, given the special treatment they get on every level its should raise some eyebrows as to why they aren't even more successful.

What gets me is the way they go on about 'our forefathers' and what they represent, the history etc. yet their tactics seem to suggest double standards and nothing like they claim.

[neutrino]

sport in ireland is deeply corrupted by the bigotry and jealousness of a sporting organisation that knows if it was on level terms with football, (ie: got same funding + stadium grants), that football would easily thrive. Therefore it must be said they have done an excellent job at keeping the worlds greatest sport in the trail of gah by using clever & cunning tactics, (tallaght stadium delay... government funding), to maintain its "supremacy"


agree with that too. but even in the current situation some el clubs are doing well all round while others just faulter. i'd like to see more backing given to clubs who are doing things right and by right i dont mean just financially. i mean everything from community involvement up. some clubs dont even bother about being a community leader yet expect the community to back them no questions asked. when people living across from a ground dont go to games yet manage to travel to games in the UK then something is seriously wrong. i dont know whether it is but being a key player in local communities should be part of licencing.

[BohDiddley]

sport in ireland is deeply corrupted by the bigotry and jealousness of a sporting organisation that knows if it was on level terms with football, (ie: got same funding + stadium grants), that football would easily thrive. Therefore it must be said they have done an excellent job at keeping the worlds greatest sport in the trail of gah by using clever & cunning tactics, (tallaght stadium delay... government funding), to maintain its "supremacy"
Precisely. And it's not just a fading memory. Get a load of this (http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=95&si=1763828&issue_id=15173).

"I believe we should be promoting our games, not those of our rivals. By opening Croke Park, we're promoting their sports and raising finance for them to do so. The GAA will make money from opening Croke Park but rugby and soccer will make five times as much. There no point making a pound for yourself and five or six for the other fella.

"... Anybody who plays Gaelic Games should have a prospect of playing in Croke Park. At the moment they don't, yet we're allowing other sports in. If you play soccer for the 26 counties - not for Ireland because it's a partitionist situation - you'll get into Croke Park but not all GAA players can. We should be looking after our own first.

"You wouldn't let other people in to your own house and stop your own family sleeping there," he said.

GAA vice-pres Michael Greenan in today's Indo

[Jamjar]

I wonder if he's getting tickets for the euro matches.......anyone got his address ?
Bye the way, seemingly he attended George Bests funeral and was a keen footballer in his younger days. He has said his problem is not with playing these 'foreign' sports but where they are played. Thats like saying I like to poke me wifes sister....but not in our bed.

[pete]

I don't begrudge the GAA their cash for Croke Park as its been proven in anothter thread that they have received a little more the FAI & IRFU will each receive for Lansdowne Road. Approx 80-100m each...

I may bash the GAA from time to time but if the FAI, IRFU & GAA actually got together & presented their case against the Horse & Dog Racing Industries they would be able to expose that shame & get more money for themselves.

[CollegeTillIDie]

I agree with the point about greyhound racing getting state funding. Haven't they abolished betting tax? Why don't they use their profits from on track betting to fund their activities, not to mention gate receipts. If what we are told is true, greyhound meetings are well attended . They are also held in completely sheltered grandstands which serve food and refreshments.

And as regards horse racing it's supposed to be the sport of kings and therefore they don't need any money. Well I mean why should the state be funding Dog food production ! Cause that's where all the losing horses end up in a can of Pedigree Chum :D

To be fair to O'Donoghue he has been quoted as saying " Hell will freeze over and I will have all the gold in SOuth Africa before GAA will be played in Tallaght Stadium", at least he is onside on one important issue!

[BohDiddley]

And as regards horse racing it's supposed to be the sport of kings and therefore they don't need any money.
That isn't stopping Cowen giving stud owners fresh tax breaks in the Finance Act this week!
As for the argument that football and rugby have now caught up on the Croke Park giveaway, the real deficit in funding is at league and junior level. We have a long way to go there. In fact, it may well be the FAI's anxiety to keep onside of the government, so as not to jeopardise their showcase stadium, that forces them to tolerate underfunding elsewhere.

[pete]

That isn't stopping Cowen giving stud owners fresh tax breaks in the Finance Act this week!

I believe they only changing the current rules because the EU has said is currently illegal. IMO its a false gauge of standard of irish horses as they just irish in name - ship the mares into Ireland & stamp 'Made in Ireland' on the foals arse. :rolleyes: