Losing Bertie

[Ash]

Heard Bertstrom on the radio earlier today and he said when he steps down he
can look forward to attending more games instead of just having to settle for
watching the highlights on telly.

Don't think he was referring to LoI/eL and MNS!

[John83]

Again, I don't disagree, but the fact is that while we have been cavilling about the GAA and what they got, (and other sports about us), the government cleverly played divide and conquer, so we got caught up rowing with the GAA, while the greyhounds and horses got Zimbabwean figures of money. End result? Football and GAA fans fight among each other drowning out the demands of the smaller sports, who need the money even more to develop, while the biggest funders of the party see money flow into what interests them without anyone kicking up a fuss becasue they are too caught up with the "But if he got that, why did I only get this?" QED.

The disproportionate amount of money shovelled at dog and horse racing was examined here: http://stigonline.com/misc/si_funding.htm

[all drogged up]

bertie's a gimp and now he'll soon be gone

if soccer got more money under him than previously it's only cos we were up to our tits in cash while he happened to be in the hot seat - he's a lucky pr!ck but nothing more really than a parish pump politician.

The Government should be encouraging sport at every level cos what you pay out in grants for sports facilities (grass roots to top end) you get back ten fold in a healthy population and less chance of young lads hanging round streets with nothing to do but stab hard working immigratns in the head with a screwdriver

Soccer in this country has more registered members than any other sport and would therefore be in line for a decent payout if things were done properly. Totally agree that tax breaks to the horsey fraternity is unbelievable. Money is like gravity though and attracts more money and seeing as though soccer seems to be a poor man's game in this country then you can see why we get no money. Don't agree with Govt funding ELoI clubs directly - more youth structures which the FAI and the clubs should channel towards the clubs.

[Superhoops]

name one track cyclist who's been found guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs

Britain's Rob Hayles and some dutch guy were banned from last week's world championships because of blood test irregularities.

[jbyrne]

Good riddence. He has done absolutely nothing for Irish soccer apart from destroying the FAI's Eircom Park.

but delivered on the far better and more realistic lansdowne road. cant fault the man for having the ambition of an 80k national stadium that abbotstown would have been.

eircom park would never have happened. the projected costs alone was about 50% what it would have ended up being and it was in an awful location

[Superhoops]

.....Totally agree that tax breaks to the horsey fraternity is unbelievable......

I am not condoning or defending it, but isn't there a different between football which is a sport and the 'bloodstock industry' which is more of a business which generates jobs etc. Horse racing itself is the sports end of the bloodstock industry. I may be wrong, but I don't think that jockeys and trainers have any different taxation status on their winnings than any other professional Irish sportsman, like say Padraig Harrington.

[Macy]

Britain's Rob Hayles and some dutch guy were banned from last week's world championships because of blood test irregularities.

A two week ban until he's retested. Hayles didn't fail a drugs test.

[Dodge]

Britain's Rob Hayles and some dutch guy were banned from last week's world championships because of blood test irregularities.

I was asking him to do it, trying to prove a point about lazy generalisms

No sport with a proper testing regime is 100% clean

[Bluebeard]

The disproportionate amount of money shovelled at dog and horse racing was examined here: http://stigonline.com/misc/si_funding.htm

Very good article, inspire me to use the link at the bottom and gawk at previous budgets. I zoned in on 2001 which I would put as being the centre of the "Celtic tiger boom" - pre-foot & mouth, and after four years of Fianna Fail "stability". It also comes the year before the Olympics, and World Cup.

The "Budget Newspaper" on the site suggests almost £118m being given to sport (roughly €150.8m).

Of this £2.5m (€3.2m) to given to GAA, FAI, IRFU between them.
£745,000 (€952,000) to be given to special club capital development projects incl Tolka Rovers, GAA in Dungarvan, Young Munster, and four other multi-sport venues including Phoenix Park.
£65.37m (€83.55m) to Sports Campus Ireland (AKA The Bertie Bowl)

Cannot find stats on horses or dogs at the mo, but look there at the money spent on Sports Campus Ireland. According to the DAST, over €119m will need to be spent on the first phase of the project in Abbotstown which was only given the go ahead for in Nov 2005, with a 5-7 year delivery schedule.

Perhaps I am a suspicious type, but there seems to be a lot of unconnected threads hanging off the end of Fianna Fail's Sports Shorts as regards this.

[Block G Raptor]

Perhaps I am a suspicious type, but there seems to be a lot of unconnected threads hanging off the end of Fianna Fail's Sports Shorts as regards this.

That's more than a little sus alright. Bluebeard: foot.ie's answer to Elliott Ness

[Scram]

All jokes aside , What if any affect will it on the FAI and the game in Ireland with a new man in power in Govt Buildings..

In the last 11 years we have seen massive change in sport in Ireland and serious govt backing for a lot of football clubs..

For those who dont think it will have any... Think of this have you ever seen Enda Kenny at a League of Ireland ground...

The FAI dont have the lobby the GAA and to a lesser extent the IRFU (has the media , 10 pages on the AIL I mean who watches it or plays it)

As far as I know, Enda Kenny isn't taking over as Taoiseach.

Bertie's "backing" of sport is probably playing to the general public as he does so well, celebrity and sports stars th eopium of the masses. Pity he didn't concentrate on the desperate health, transport and eduction systems. Good riddance to the great spoofer.

As for media coverage...it's ALL soccer, mostly premiership, Eircom League get F' All coverage, but if you think the GAA gets too much media coverage, that would be so wrong and would simply display anti-GAA bias on your part. The Herald rag do about 14 pages on local soccer on a Wednesdays but never ANY coverage of local GAA.

People who have no pride in or tolerance for our national games should consider a move.

[GavinZac]

As far as I know, Enda Kenny isn't taking over as Taoiseach.

Bertie's "backing" of sport is probably playing to the general public as he does so well, celebrity and sports stars th eopium of the masses. Pity he didn't concentrate on the desperate health, transport and eduction systems. Good riddance to the great spoofer.

As for media coverage...it's ALL soccer, mostly premiership, Eircom League get F' All coverage, but if you think the GAA gets too much media coverage, that would be so wrong and would simply display anti-GAA bias on your part. The Herald rag do about 14 pages on local soccer on a Wednesdays but never ANY coverage of local GAA.

People who have no pride in or tolerance for our national games should consider a move.

Self appointed national games. For feck sake, one of them was made up on a whim to give people something else to do with a soccer ball.

[geysir]

Are there any examples of a soccer club applying to the sports council for grants, doing all the paperwork and satisfying the back up funding criteria, being rejected in favour of eg the local rowing club.

[paul_oshea]

bertie's a gimp and now he'll soon be gone

if soccer got more money under him than previously it's only cos we were up to our tits in cash while he happened to be in the hot seat - he's a lucky pr!ck but nothing more really than a parish pump politician.

The Government should be encouraging sport at every level cos what you pay out in grants for sports facilities (grass roots to top end) you get back ten fold in a healthy population and less chance of young lads hanging round streets with nothing to do but stab hard working immigratns in the head with a screwdriver

Soccer in this country has more registered members than any other sport and would therefore be in line for a decent payout if things were done properly. Totally agree that tax breaks to the horsey fraternity is unbelievable. Money is like gravity though and attracts more money and seeing as though soccer seems to be a poor man's game in this country then you can see why we get no money. Don't agree with Govt funding ELoI clubs directly - more youth structures which the FAI and the clubs should channel towards the clubs.

Great post, written in simple layman terms, but yet very very powerful and descriptive.

[paul_oshea]

Are there any examples of a soccer club applying to the sports council for grants, doing all the paperwork and satisfying the back up funding criteria, being rejected in favour of eg the local rowing club.

i am not sure what you are asking here, geysir, but i know at home the local soccer club were looking for a grant for a new clubhouse in or around near É100k a few years ago, they got it, but the gaa club got fcek all that same year, about 26K I think and no harm either

[geysir]

It is a simple question. Looks to me that the Sports Capital Grants are transparent that they fund participation sports, that the grants are controlled by the the Irish Sports Council.
That the strategy of supporting clubs who are already taking a proper structured initiative is a good one.

[Billsthoughts]

Come of it; if your a GAA fan you'll be well aware that there are only amateur in the sense that they don't get a wage from the sport they dedicate their lives to. If you can find me many other amateur sports that attracts millions of viewers on TV and 80,000 in the stradiums then I'd like to see it. Untill then, there much more 'special' than all other amateur sports people.

So why should the taxpayer have to give them money?
If they attract 80000 to stadiums and "millions" on TV then why on earth do they need to be paid by the taxpayer? They are only "special" in that they want to retain some extremely dubious amateur ethos while at the same time parading around with sponsors logos on their shirts , selling a large portion of their main ground to corporate clients , breaking the actual tax laws by paying managers and at club level players and selling tv rights to highest bidder. Doesnt sound very amateur to me?
So can you please explain why the taxpayer should pay for these people to partake in a sport that they whore off for as much cash as possible as it is?

[Billsthoughts]

eircom park would never have happened. the projected costs alone was about 50% what it would have ended up being and it was in an awful location

Lansdowne has also run over cost. Citywest no worse a location than lansdowne or croke park. not everyone in Ireland lives in dublin or D4.It has 3 lanes for traffic running either way from it and a LUAS line. If we had of run with it we would have had a stadium by now.

[backstothewall]

Lansdowne has also run over cost. Citywest no worse a location than lansdowne or croke park. not everyone in Ireland lives in dublin or D4.It has 3 lanes for traffic running either way from it and a LUAS line. If we had of run with it we would have had a stadium by now.

I still don't understand why only locations an obscene or impossible walk from the city centre were considered. Just by looking at google earth its obvious there was enough room to build it beside Ringsend Athletics Stadium or at the edge of Phoenix Park. It could have been bigger as well. 50,000 isn't enough for soccer and well short of what Rugby needs. Also means no hope of holding a Champions league final in Dublin.

[pete]

So why should the taxpayer have to give them money?
If they attract 80000 to stadiums and "millions" on TV then why on earth do they need to be paid by the taxpayer? They are only "special" in that they want to retain some extremely dubious amateur ethos while at the same time parading around with sponsors logos on their shirts , selling a large portion of their main ground to corporate clients , breaking the actual tax laws by paying managers and at club level players and selling tv rights to highest bidder. Doesnt sound very amateur to me?
So can you please explain why the taxpayer should pay for these people to partake in a sport that they whore off for as much cash as possible as it is?

Good post. It should also be pointed out that RTE are sponsoring the GAA after already paying for the TV rights. The best argument is that if 80k attending games why do they need the state to pay their players? Do female GAA footballer & camogie players get paid?