Ireland ‘way behind’ in terms of funding athletics

WHEN Bray Runners Athletics Club struck up a friendly relationship with one of their counterpart organisations in Belgium in the mid-1990s, Sean Clifford would not have expected to be coming away from it reflecting on what his own club was missing out on, yet that is exactly what happened.

When they would travel over to their European cousins to take part in trainings and races, they were greeted by state-ofthe-art facilities, a stocked bar with full-time staff, 400 members, and more. Given that Bray has a membership of approximately 180 as of now, it makes for a stark contrast when looking back on a club with more than double the numbers and amenities.

‘It was extraordinary, the quality of things that they had,’ Clifford recalled.

‘That was 20-25 years ago. Money was being pumped into sports in other countries at a time when very little was being pumped into sports here, other than – and I am not criticising – the GAA which has picked up the bulk of the remaining funds.

‘Obviously, when you compare with what happens abroad, even in England and Northern Ireland, a lot of those facilities are available.

‘Unfortunately, this country is way behind. I suppose, you would almost have to say that very successful and worthy groups like the GAA have sucked the financials out of other sports such as running, I would say.’

According to their annual financial reports, Sport Ireland allocated €1m to Athletics Ireland, making it the second-most funded national governing body, behind

Special Olympics Ireland which received €1.4m.

This, however, does not include the GAA or Football Association of Ireland.

In 2016, the GAA received €2.4m from the state, compared to €887,000 for Athletics Ireland. It is this supposed spending disparity that, according to Clifford, has left running, in particular, with a mountain to climb.

Since Bray Runners inception in 1984, the club has vied for appropriate facilities such as running tracks and a base of operations. When it comes to the latter, they have moved around from a section of the An Lár building, to an old hospital used for the treatment of tuberculosis, and finally Bray Head Terrace, although training was not a viable option for that particular location.

Whenever the club seemed poised to expand on their current infrastructure, with the introduction of a running track on the grounds of St. Killian’s Community College, the cost of attaining the additional land to complete the project was too much to bear, a common occurrence that Clifford hopes will lessen as time moves on.

‘In an ideal world, funding would be made available for us to build a purpose-built building with running tracks and stuff. That has been an aim for the club over the years which has not happened because the financials have never been there.

‘We are still hopeful. There is some land at Fassaroe that has been mentioned as a possible location for a running tracking and purpose-built building but we haven’t been able to get the required funding which seems to double every year.’