A positive outlook
Smullen reveals county’s finances in a healthy position
DELEGATES to the County Convention in Aughrim on Monday night had no questions for treasurer Alan Smullen after he delivered his financial report on Wicklow GAA for 2019.
‘Everyone must be very happy with our accounts,’ said Martin Fitzgerald in something resembling a mildly surprised tone when for the second year running there wasn’t a single inquiry into the financial aspect of an organisation with an income knocking on the door of a million euro and a similar figure in outgoings.
There were significantly positive developments in terms of gate receipts with €176,945 being taken in in 2019 against €162,718 in 2018.
In all avenues of income except Income from Associated Bodies and Other Income there was a noteworthy increase with commerical income jumping by close to €11,000 from €95,316 to €106,250 in the space of 12 months and despite a number of sponsors walking away at the end of 2018.
There was a slight increase in fundraising, from €156,875 to €161,560 with Alan Smullen stating that this area was to be a big focus in 2020.
In the outgoing section of the report there was a jump of €23,836 in county team administration expenses while there was a reduction of €67,102 in overall administration expenses from €175,533 to €108,431. There were also significant increases in coaching and games development (€182,684 from €158,036) and upkeep and maintenance of grounds (€159,189 from €134,809).
In terms of gate receipts, income from the Senior county final was down almost €2,000 from €37,095 to €35,320 but the Senior semi-finals were up from €20,305 to €22,815 in a reflection perhaps of the appearance of AGB and Avondale in the semi-finals (and final for AGB), while the hurling decider between Bray Emmets and Glenealy decreased slightly from €12,965 to €11,605.
The season ticket introduced in 2018 brought in a paltry €2,950 but Alan Smullen was hopeful that this will become a valuable item for Wicklow GAA supporters going forward and that the 2020 version is on sale from now.
In the fundraising column, club administration contributions dropped from €227,412 in 2018 to €218,595. The golf outing is listed as having brought in €6,404 but Alan Smullen described how that figure is slightly askew.
Garden Academy fundraising pulled in €12,957 in 2019, a significant drop from the 2018 figure of €21,967, while the race day brought in a very welcome €24,819.
In the expenses column there was an eye-catching increase in the spend on medals and trophies with the 2018 figure of €15,117 jumping to €25,806 in 2019. Referees expenses reduced slightly from €13,900 to €12,795, Gardai expenses were exactly the same as 2018 at €6,521 while ‘Local Competition Expenses’ jumped from €8,608 to €12,510.
When it came to the county team expenses there was an increase of €44,097 in catering expenses from €37,741 in 2018 and €81,838 in 2019 but a marked reduction in travelling expenses (€99,416 from €144,633).
Team admin costs remained more or less similar at €80,958 from €78,035 while buses and accommodation increased by just under €14,000 with trips to London and numerous journeys north for the Wicklow hurlers adding to that tally.
Over €11,000 more was spent on training facilities for oounty teams in 2019 than 2018 (€13,653 from €2,010) while there was a significant drop in S&C costs (€16,803 from €25,741) and medical expenses increased by just under €5,000 (€67,502 from €62,898).
In administration expenses there was a massive drop in staff costs (€24,462 from €86,180) and there were significant savings in postage and telephone (€10,311 from €17,089).
There were €5,100 worth of complimentary match tickets dished out in 2019, an increase of €800 worth in 2018 while there was €1,020 more spent on Leinster Convention and All-Ireland Congress in 2019 than there was in 2018 (€1,475 from €475).
After offering his thanks to a number of people, Wicklow GAA treasurer Alan Smullen addressed the delegates on the financial report from 2019.
‘In relation our finances for the year, we’ve had a couple of clubs who have contacted us with some queries, I want to start on the income side first, and that fantastic number of €176, 945 in gate receipts, up €14,000 on 2018, about a nine per cent increase. And also to be aware that the 2018 figure has a county final replay in there, so that number is a fantastic increase for the year.
‘Our GAA annual grant is in there. That increased from €175,000 to €185,000, an extra €10,000 - that’s across the board, all counties get a grant increase.
‘Our commercial income has also increased (€106,560 from €95,316). Sitting in this seat this time last year, if anyone was here, remember we had a number of sponsors who were finished up and there was a very busy three months between December, January and February where we went out and looked for new sponsors, so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for their huge support.
‘It is up €11,000. The big one that is outstanding is the naming rights on Aughrim which we’re hopefully going to get somebody to have a conversation with us quite soon. It’s a huge revenue generator for us in the next 12 months and beyond.
‘Our fundraising is up €4,500. It has to be the focus for us again in 2020. I would like to highlight the figure for the net income from the golf classic is slightly understated. We omitted some of the outstanding monies due at the start of the year. It unfortunately only came to light after our meeting with the auditors and it will be rectified in next year’s accounts. It’s just slightly under €3,000 from that number,’ he said.
‘The last point on income, I know it’s not a huge number (€2.950), but the Wicklow GAA club season ticket, we launched it this time last year. It’s definitely a value item for people who attend a number of matches over the year. We’re selling it again this evening if anyone wants to buy one. It is a good Christmas present for anybody just in case you’re looking to buy someone a nice Christmas present.
‘In relation to expenditure, while that’s a large number (€959,188) in terms of our total expenditure for the year, we do have limited resources to spend, and, I think, when you sit down and look at where you’re going to spend your money, just like at home, it must be in a focused and strategic manner.
‘So, our ultimate aim, in my opinion, must be to develop Wicklow GAA across all age groups and codes. Our focus must be on our development squads, and it was good to hear the couple of comments earlier about that. We have to get our structures right. Why shouldn’t someone up here at the top table tonight be talking about developing a high-performance environment for our players. Why not? We should be looking to aim at that. We’re a big county. We should be looking to invest in it. We should be looking to get our structures correct from the youngest age that we have all the way through to our senior teams. But we do have to manage our costs as efficiently as possible and I think we have some more work to do there.
‘This time last year, and maybe a little bit earlier, we sat down with all the team liasons, the team managers, the guys in the Garden academy squads and we got them to put together a bidget for their teams and send it through and it gave us a good outline of how the year was going to pan out and we’ll be doing the same process again this year.
‘Just a couple of things I’d like to highlight in the expenditure – the catering and travel expenses, they look like they’re a little bit askew. The reason for that is, the team, the county squad players are entitled to a weekly nutritional allowance and in the year just finished we changed the way that was put through, so we were providing them with their ready meals and providing them with their nutrition. So, if you take catering and players expenses together, if you do want to look at it year on year, that’s a correct way to look at those numbers. And when you do that it’s back €1,000 from €18,000 to €19,000.
‘Our admin expenses, there were savings achieved there in relation to salaries, in relation to an extra cost that came through in 2018 that related to 2017 and that hadn’t been billed out to us correctly. I’d expect that line to increase in 2020. We advertised for the role of senior county administrator and hopefully that role will be filled in the early part of the new year.
‘In the line of coaching and games development, I know the Cúl Camps were mentioned early on, our operating surplus in the Cúl Camps in 2018 was €50, 839. It dropped to €34,489 in 2019, and while the revenue remained fairly static, the expenses went up. I’d expect that number to go up again next year. We’re hearing that the coach to player ratio may be brought down again for the Cúl Camps next year which means that if we have the same number of kids playing or more we’ll have to have more coaches so the profitability on it is a bit squeezed.
‘The investment in our development squads increased again, it’s up to €125,163 (from €120,605). One area that was a key focus in 2019 was our upkeep in ground maintenance, and it’s an area that you might think you’re going through the year ok with and then a couple of things happen and you end up with a couple of large bills, but I think we did have a lot of work to do on Ballinakill on the drainage and pitches, and definitely in Aughrim, our flagship venue, and we made some strong investment in that last year.
‘Just in relation to our financial commitments: the Croke Park loan, the payments are fully up to date. The bank loan that was there in 2018 has been fully repaid so that is gone.
‘Before I finish, the bursaries were presented to four players this evening, and also the Gaeltacht granst and the full scholarship, I think it’s important that our students and our young players realise that they have the support within the county. We want to help them out as much as we possibly can. I think that’s a well worthwhile thing to do.
‘So, overall, what that means is that our operating surplus for the year, €36212 in 2018, increased slightly to €37,244 for 2019,’ he concluded.