More money for football please

We're bigger than GAA. We're much bigger than rugby. But we get much, much less money than either. Interestingly, our Minister for Sport thinks it should be up to the Sports Council (or says he does -- I can't see it going down too well in Cahirciveen) and Sports Council boss John Treacy seems to think we have a case. But the 'I suppose' doesn't sound terribly convincing. I'll believe it when I see it.

Incidentally, although it's not acknowledged in the FAI press release, this success is down to coaching at local clubs, so well done to them! Maybe Irish soccer is turning a corner, despite the best efforts of the Gerrry McDermotts of this world!

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The Football Association of Ireland today received €2 million in Government funding for the Technical Development Plan.

The announcement was made in Dublin this morning by Minster of Arts, Sport and Tourism John O’Donoghue, Chief Executive of the Irish Sports Council John Treacy and FAI Chief Executive John Delaney.

The funding will be ploughed directly into the FAI’s Technical Development Plan which, at this stage of the “roll out” costs €8 million per year.

Delaney welcomed the grant aid saying: “We’re spending €8 million on our Technical Development Plan this year. This is €2 million so that is not an insignificant percent.”

But he highlighted the growing popularity of football in Ireland insisting that the sport — now the most popular field sport (only walking and cycling are more popular forms of exercise in Ireland) — should receive more grant aid.

Delaney said: “We’re now the third biggest activity in Ireland, but the biggest governing body.

“The GAA get €3.9 million, the IRFU get €3.5 million and we get €2 million. We believe that with the participation levels we have now, we deserve more funding. We made a presentation to the Irish Sports Council on that basis recently and we believe we will need more funding as we go forward.”

Minister O’Donoghue insisted that it was a decision for the ISC and Chief Executive of the ISC, John Treacy, insisted that the statutory body believe the FAI have a strong case for extra funding.

“From what’s happening on the ground, we certainly believe the FAI would have a case and that’s something we’ll be looking at and, based on the plans, I suppose we’ll be making a case for them.”

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I agree that the success of soccer in Ireland is very much down to the local clubs. soccer has managed to thrive at underage levels in the republic despite the lack of support from the FAI.

I think the reason the FAI didnt get more money than the GAA or the IRFU because of the FAI have traditonally not spent there money very wisely (to say the least). Until the FAI shows that it is capable of putting the neccesary structures and facilities in place for the development of soccer in this country than it will not recieve more funding.

Also do you have facts that say the FAI is bigger than the GAA or were you just making a loose statement. There is a GAA club of some sort in nearly every parish in Ireland. the same could not be said about soccer

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Until the FAI shows that it is capable of putting the neccesary structures and facilities in place for the development of soccer in this country than it will not recieve more funding.

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That is becoming a rather well-worn argument. They should make a prayer-wheel of it for every sports pundit in search of a lazy text string. Did it ever occur to anyone that a better-resourced FAI might have more ability to get its house in order?
The facts are in the FAI release. One assumes that they are the source for the information and, since they are going on the record and are open to challenge by the GAA-IRFU complex, they are not going to spout fiction.
Why does everyone put so much effort into looking for reasons not to fund football?

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Originally Posted by student

I agree that the success of soccer in Ireland is very much down to the local clubs. soccer has managed to thrive at underage levels in the republic despite the lack of support from the FAI.

I think the reason the FAI didnt get more money than the GAA or the IRFU because of the FAI have traditonally not spent there money very wisely (to say the least). Until the FAI shows that it is capable of putting the neccesary structures and facilities in place for the development of soccer in this country than it will not recieve more funding.

Also do you have facts that say the FAI is bigger than the GAA or were you just making a loose statement. There is a GAA club of some sort in nearly every parish in Ireland. the same could not be said about soccer

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I wonder if that's changing though. A lot of GAA clubs down my way are amalgamating because of demographic factors or declining interest (believe it or not) eg Mountbellew/Moylough. There are often many soccer clubs in one parish but representing each townland or small village. Also many GAA clubs have the same old blokes in charge for donkeys years while soccer clubs are run by the players and their friends (everyone's involved in some way or other) - in a way more representative and democratic. Many GAA players have told me that they're fed up with the old farts that run clubs and don't feel that they have much in common with them.
Maybe it's different elsewhere.????
An example of the above would be Kiltormer GAA which has players from Laurencetown and Kiltormer and plays all its home games in Kiltormer. In soccer, St Patricks FC have a new ground in Kiltormer (they play in the Offaly league!!!) and Laurencetown FC (Roscoomon Lge) also play in their own home ground.
I've loads of similar examples from not only Galway but all round the Midlands

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Originally Posted by BohDiddley

Maybe Irish soccer is turning a corner, despite the best efforts of the Gerrry McDermotts of this world!

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I presume you are referring to that ridiculous article "The Bootroom" in Wednesday's Independent!

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

A lot of GAA clubs down my way are amalgamating because of demographic factors or declining interest (believe it or not) eg Mountbellew/Moylough.

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All GAA clubs have their own beer room which generates funds, junior soccer relies on corpo and council pitches and company sponsorship.

Some of the more succesful junior soccer clubs have their own beer room , Cherry orchard Crumlin Utd etc:

Sadly having your own beer room is the key factor in running any sports club.


kdjac

Football isn't bigger than the GAA.

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Originally Posted by kdjaC

All GAA clubs have their own beer room which generates funds, junior soccer relies on corpo and council pitches and company sponsorship.

Some of the more succesful junior soccer clubs have their own beer room , Cherry orchard Crumlin Utd etc:

Sadly having your own beer room is the key factor in running any sports club.


kdjac

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Sorry, in areas outside the major cities Ireland doesn't have a "corpo" and the vast majority of clubs have their own grounds.

Most GAA clubs in the midlands and West have a pitch, dressing rooms, maybe a small clubhouse and that's it. No beer rooms in vast majority.

My club has around 40 teams and doesn't need a beer room. All weather pitches generate a massive income. We have two and bring in about two grand a week from them plus income froma variety of fundraising efforts. Same with both Mullingar clubs, plenty of all weather in Athlone and Salthill etc etc etc. I could give you hundreds more examples but not enough room in Footieland. Agree that situation in Dublin, Cork etc is as you say.

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Originally Posted by ThatGuy

Football isn't bigger than the GAA.

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Hard to say but loads of GAA clubs are losing players and amalgamating for a variety of reasons. Many soccer clubs can't cope with the demands for extra under age teams plus girls footie etc. Sadly, many people don't realise how big, participation wise, football is because, unlike RTE's weekly GAA programme and eggballs weekly, football, at non LOI levels, doesn't get any coverage on RTE.
I'll bet there was a huge crowd at the Junior Cup Final and it was only mentioned on RTE by Peter Collins 'cos he comes from that area and was a player in his younger days up in Mayo.
Same in the US, soccer is the biggest participation sport but because it's professional league is ignored by the major networks, impression is that it's not a "big" sport.
Like Ireland, it's all about impression. TBH I hate to see another sport I like, Hurling, decline but it's a fact that most sports are suffering from lack of players - soccer seems to be the exception.

Well more people turned up for the last Dublin match than an entire season's attendance for any Eircom league club I would imagine. GAA is played in every parish in Ireland, the same can't be said for football. To claim that football is bigger than GAA is madness.

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Hard to say but loads of GAA clubs are losing players and amalgamating for a variety of reasons. Many soccer clubs can't cope with the demands for extra under age teams plus girls footie etc. Sadly, many people don't realise how big, participation wise, football is because, unlike RTE's weekly GAA programme and eggballs weekly, football, at non LOI levels, doesn't get any coverage on RTE.
I'll bet there was a huge crowd at the Junior Cup Final and it was only mentioned on RTE by Peter Collins 'cos he comes from that area and was a player in his younger days up in Mayo.
Same in the US, soccer is the biggest participation sport but because it's professional league is ignored by the major networks, impression is that it's not a "big" sport.
Like Ireland, it's all about impression. TBH I hate to see another sport I like, Hurling, decline but it's a fact that most sports are suffering from lack of players - soccer seems to be the exception.

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sir hamish
You are spot on with your assessment of the decline of participation in GAA.
An old school friend is an official of one of the local GAA clubs in my area.
When I was in school and fit enough to play sports, I would not have got within an asses roar of making any of their teams.
In recent months I met him on the DART and what he told me was this.... If I turned up for training regularly for the next three weeks , he would give me a jersey to wear and sit on the bench for their senior team.
:eek:

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Originally Posted by ThatGuy

To claim that football is bigger than GAA is madness.

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Please explain how exactly! Football is played in almost every country in the world yet you are claiming GAA is bigger?!

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Originally Posted by Buller

Please explain how exactly! Football is played in almost every country in the world yet GAA is bigger?!

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True Buller and in some parishes in this country there are three or four soccer clubs !

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Originally Posted by ThatGuy

Well more people turned up for the last Dublin match than an entire season's attendance for any Eircom league club I would imagine. GAA is played in every parish in Ireland, the same can't be said for football. To claim that football is bigger than GAA is madness.

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Most of those hadn't been to a Dublin match all year. Where were they for the GAA national League games when a 10,000 capacity Parnell Park was more than adequate for them and the visiting support?

There is more interest in football (domestic & foreign) in this country than any other sport.

TV viewing figures are bigger for football - only GAA All-Ireland can match Irish International tv viewing fugures & only 2 All Irelands a year.

Dublin makes up 1/3 of this population of this country & football is clearly dominant in participation numbers.

People play 5-a-side soccer for leisure but i never hear of 5-a-side GAA.

Hurling is great but is becoming a miniority sport outside Munster. Gaelic Football is more popular than hurling but rugby is eating into its heartland - i was very surprised to see rugby club in Gaeltacht near Dingle.

GAA has interest in the summer but only diehards pay any attention to for rest of the year.

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Originally Posted by pete

There is more interest in football (domestic & foreign) in this country than any other sport.

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And therefore it is only fair that football recieves equal or more funding then the GAA and IRFU as more people participate in it. The GAA getting double the amount the FAI recieves each year is just not on... I agree that the FAI has to get its house in order first and it is in the proccess of doing so but I believe that more funding is now required to go further...

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Originally Posted by Mayo Red

I presume you are referring to that ridiculous article "The Bootroom" in Wednesday's Independent!

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That's the one.
In essence, McDermott wants the EL disbanded because his mate from Malahide went along to the Shels-Rovers game and heard some bad language. This week, he's going to write that he wants Wimbledon scrapped because Tim Henman used the dreaded f-word. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by ThatGuy

Well more people turned up for the last Dublin match than an entire season's attendance for any Eircom league club I would imagine. GAA is played in every parish in Ireland, the same can't be said for football. To claim that football is bigger than GAA is madness.

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FAI says it is bigger, in terms of participation. Are they lying?
Participation is a lot more telling than spectating, which in GAA terms has more to do with alllegiance to county (a British unit of government) than the sport. And that participation could and should be turned into better quality football and bigger crowds in the long run.
Your accusation of madness sounds to me like a GAA head in the sand.

The real issue probably is that Horse Racing get 4-5 more than combination of IRFU/GAA/FAI.

At least the 3 major sports encouage exercise whereas horse racing just encourages gambling. In fact i think horse racing gets a cut from the betting taxes which would aslo include betting on other sports/

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Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

sir hamish
You are spot on with your assessment of the decline of participation in GAA.
An old school friend is an official of one of the local GAA clubs in my area.
When I was in school and fit enough to play sports, I would not have got within an asses roar of making any of their teams.
In recent months I met him on the DART and what he told me was this.... If I turned up for training regularly for the next three weeks , he would give me a jersey to wear and sit on the bench for their senior team.
:eek:

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Hi CTID - To be fair, I didn't make that statement from a position of malice towards the GAA. You know me well enough to know I don't do bias. (Awful grammar - sorry)
Like you, I've got lots of mates in the Gah and like most of us on Footie, I can appreciate my GAA mates doing what we have done - organising teams, standing on mucky pitches in all sorts of weather, going home on a bus drenched afterwards, fund raising, digging into pockets to cover kit cleaning bills etc etc etc.

All of us who love sport - whatever the sport in question - have had to go through the same $h!t and one would want to have a heart of stone not to be able to relate to our fellow "mentors" in other sports with regard to simply organising a code.
I agree with you re many soccer clubs in parishes - I think I mentioned that above anyway. Next post is how, in many cases, football is getting deeper roots re parishes. It's a small story but a good illustration of how the media just doen't get the develolpment of footie when they parrot the usual "GAA pride of the parish - soccer not the same" line.

Those of you who take the Dublin to Galway train will pass through a small rural station called Woodlawn. The guy who used to run Woodlawn United (Roscommon League) lives right beside it.

In the early summer of 1998 I attended the Roscommon League Third Division Cup Final between Woodlawn Utd and Strokestown United in Dysart (near Athlone)
There was acrowd of about 2,000 at it - most from the Woodlawn area and surroundings.
Woodlawn won on penalties - their first ever trophy in footie.

There were old guys there who had never been at a soccer match in their lives jumping for joy. Why?

As my mate above said. "Woodlawn is part of a parish and often overlooked when the local GAA team plays or wins anything, even if we have players on the team. They have no village to parade through as we're only a townland and never bother to bring any cup to our pub so we feel left out. This is the first time our townland has achieved anything so that's why it mean so much to us"
The team was welcomed home with bonfires and the cup was paraded up every by - road in the townland. Needless to say, the local pub had a dance and party afterwards and this Hamish had one sore head the following morning.
The club dropped out of the Ros. League earlier this season - simply through lack of players. Some areas in the country still suffer through emigration to other parts of Ireland and abroad. Many factories in B'sloe have closed recently and many Woodlawn folks would have worked in these.
They intend to reform the club next season with under age teams if they cannot get enough adult players. Plenty of kids to form teams but feck all fit adults.
Above is a perfect example of soccer's deep roots - I could give you hundreds more - eg my cousin's involvement with Torro United in the Meath League - similar situation.
You will NEVER see stories like these covered in the media because lazy assed journalists won't bother to research them and these out of touch hacks won't bother their indolent ar$es to find out and instead parrot out the old GAA parish cliche again and again. True about the GAA and its parish roots BUT soccer is, in many cases, going even deeper. See above.

By the way, the pub in Woodawn is slightly famous for one thing - it was the first in Ireland to be allowed open on Christmas night. :D