Running costs for Donegal GAA teams is nearing the €1million per annum mark.
At this evening’s annual GAA convention in Ballybofey, Donegal County Treasurer Cieran Kelly’s report showed that Donegal spent €952,697 on team administration expenses in 2017.
In 2016, costs for team administration expenditure was €902,542 and that figure was up by €50,000 for the year gone by.
While overnights and team holiday expenses (from €118,939 to €59,418) and training facilities (from €57,225 to €11,996) were down significantly, team administration rose from €57,428 to €102,884 – something that was put down to investment in stats software, video analysis, apps and an increase in the cost from a nutritionist.
There was a €15,000 rise in medical expenses – which includes strength and conditioning coaches as well as doctors, physios and scans – and sports gear, equipment and laundry was up by €25,000.
“We are very lucky that we have a team doctor (Kevin Moran) who supplies the expertise he does and it doesn’t cost the county anything,” Kelly said.
Kelly revealed that a new charter is to be discussed next week, with the gear being ‘pulled back’, with the increases down to agreements in the 2017 charter, which included a €350 grant to each senior hurler and footballer.
“There was more food, there was more collective sessions and we had food supplied to seniors for collective gym sessions,” Kelly explained.
“There was a significant increase in travel expenses. There were 16 of our senior footballers and six senior hurlers living outside the county and mileage was up from 50 cent to 65 cent.”
Donegal spent €245,710 on players traveling expenses in 2017, a figure that was up from €184,104 in the previous year.
Kelly, following a query from Matt Gallagher, said that there was an average of 37 players on the football and 33 players on the hurling panel in 2017.
Overall, the Donegal GAA accounts showed a trading profit of €64,152 for the year ended 31 October 2017. Income rose to €1,492,224 while expenditure was up to €1,428,072.
Gate receipts were down massively from 2016, dropping to €147,412 from €195,240.
Kelly said: “We took the opportunity to try out the televising of our quarter and semi-finals. Couple that with Saturday games and atrocious weather and the gates were substantially down. The gates figure doesn’t show the money received from eirSport.
“The other challenge is a lot of big games are being condensed into a short space of time.”
Naomh Padraig, Muff, delegate Michael McMenamin said: “We must remember a lot of people are working on Saturdays.
“But the day of our county senior final, there were 21 underage games on that morning. Nowadays if coaches or parents are out in the morning, they won’t go out in the afternoon a second time.”
Kelly agreed that scheduling would come under review.
Donegal’s fundraising activity rocketed by €76,000 in 2017, boosted largely by the €58,000 lifted in New York and the €7,000 rise in the fundraising night at Leopardstown.
Donegal GAA also started an online lotto in 2017, something which the Treasurer said would be a ‘slow burner’.
While Donegal GAA made €2,500 from this venture this year, Kelly said it needed to be ‘nurtured for and cared for’.
Cúl Camp figures were up by €36,000 following a review in 2016, with a profit of €61.288 for the Cul Camps this year.
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