Huge inter-county spend

Wexford GAA show surplus, but expenditure a concern

WEXFORD G.A.A. has shown a huge spend of €928,331 on inter-county teams in 2019 compared to €850,144 the previous year, a staggering increase of €78,187, despite having played the same number of games owing to having by-passed the All-Ireland quarter-finals as result of winning the Senior and Minor provincial titles.

While these figures also include expenditure of under-age sides, who with the exception of the Minors made limited progress, the bulk of the expenditure can be attributed to the Senior hurling side along with the Senior footballers, who failed to advance beyond the opening round of the provincial championship or qualifiers.

It’s startling to see the increased expenditure of inter-county sides, which, should it maintain the same ratio of increase, will pass the €1m mark in 2020, a figure that could become unsustainable for a county like Wexford, who in this year’s figure show a decrease in club championship gate receipts along with national league receipts.

Wexford is now becoming more and more dependent on commercial income and fundraising, which has increased by the considerable sum of €197,113, going from €792,626 in 2018 to €989,739 this year. The increase from this source has contributed handsomely to the shortfall in other areas, while the club levy of 80 Model County draw tickets that meets the bank payment of €170,000 on the Ferns Centre of Excellence is still in place.

The county shows a net surplus of €369,422 down from €481,498 in 2018 a decrease of €112,076.

Club championship gate receipts showed a big drop of €62,052, down from €515,288 in 2018, to €453,236 this year, while National League receipts dropped by some €84,055, from €220,156 in 2018 to €136,101 this year.

Income from the National Hurling League dropped by €89,415, from €182,369 in 2018 to €92,954 this year, but income from the National Football League showed €43,147 this year compared to €37,787 in 2018, an increase of €5,359. Coiste na nÓg gate receipts dropped from €35,408 in 2018 to €28,507 this year, a decrease of €6,901.

Administration expenses increased from €352,392 in 2018, to €468,667 this year, an increase of €116,275, with staff costs increasing from €220,981 to €280,248, while expenses of county board officers increased from €6,959 to €9,982 this year, with other meeting expenses increasing from €1,841 to €5,493, while a figure for tickets jumped from €11,991 in 2018 to €45,992 this year.

Grounds maintenance increased by some €105,333, from €152,534 in 2018, to €257,867 this year. The main contributor to this was Innovate Wexford Park increasing from €78,492 to €174,373, with remedial work on the pitch continuing.

Under the schedule for team expenses, players expenses decreased from €227,191 in 2018 to €193,783 this year; team administration increased to €396,375 in 2019 from €36,0201 last year; catering, hotels and overnights went from €131,663 in 2018 to €175,672 this year; sports gear and equipment increased from €85,516 in 2018 to €130,786, while transport went from €16,890 in 2018 to €21,685. The balance sheet showed that creditors decreased from €426,955 in 2018 but still remain at a high of €374,481.

Debtors increased from €359,913 in 2018 to €457,712, but one does not know if this figure included €200,000 sports grant allocated back in 2015, which Wexford County Board say will be drawn down in 2020.

Grants/promotional to handball, camogie, ladies football, Scór, Gaeltacht scholarships and Féile grants dropped from €19,997 in 2018 to €11,620, with the Gaeltacht Scholarship scheme being the main losers decreasing from €8,600 in 2018 to €3,300 this year.