Conellan’s campaign to curb Dublin funding

FORMER Westmeath footballer John Connellan launched a campaign yesterday to rein in Croke Park’s funding of Dublin GAA. Connellan, whose open letter claiming that Leinster football was ‘dead’ garnered nationwide attention November, has written to every county board and club secretary in the country, pleading for them to submit a motion that will seek a more balanced distribution of the GAA’s game developments budget for Congress in 2022. The Athlone native has also submitted a 20-page dossier, outlining the advantages Dublin GAA has accrued.

Connellan has called for the GAA’s funding of Dublin — which saw the county receive 48 per cent of the entire budget between 2007 and 2017 — to be replaced by a model where funding is linked to the number of registered membership in every county. ‘All Coaching and Development Funding must be allocated to individual counties on an equal basis based on registered GAA members in the preceding year in each county up to a maximum variance of five per cent. ‘Any proposal to allocate Coaching and Development funding in excess of a five per

cent variance must be brought to Annual Congress every two years for approval with a transparent plan and business case for such i ncreased funding,’ proposes Connellan.

In the aftermath of the Dublin men completing an All-Ireland SFC six-in-a-row and the ladies racking up a fourth straight title, Connellan has warned counties that the competitive integrity of Gaelic games could be fatally undermined if action is not taken quickly.

‘What is completely missed in the debate, is the effective doubling of the main income stream in nearly all Dublin GAA clubs, of their membership income.

‘Many of the large Dublin GAA clubs now publicly declare membership number levels of between 2,000 to 5,000 members.

‘These same GAA clubs in Dublin would also advertise membership rates of between €160 per annum up to €400 per annum.

‘ Even on conservative estimates, this provides a membership income stream in excess of €500,000 per annum for these clubs.

‘ Yet i n spite of the vastly improved finances of many Dublin GAA clubs, the GAA at central level have performed no examination of the business case for the continuing allocation of funds to Dublin GAA clubs,’ argues Connellan.

‘After the 2018 All Ireland football final, Tyrone County Board and its clubs unanimously placed a motion down to address the disproportionate funding allocated to Dublin GAA at the Annual Congress.

‘In the first instance, GAA management used its Rules Advisory Committee to ensure that this motion did not even get debated at Congress.

‘Furthermore, the current GAA president, John Horan made public statements in responding to the suggestion of this motion that Dublin GAA f unding was ‘distorted’.

‘Indeed, the GAA president is correct, the figures are distorted and do not take into account the doubling of membership incomes of many Dublin GAA clubs, the substantial sponsorship deals these clubs can access and its county board are aware of, and the strength of the Dublin GAA brand,’ adds Connellan.

The Westmeathman’s intervention last November, through his open letter, in the immediate aftermath of Dublin winning their 10 th Leinster title in a row, pushed the funding issue back to the top of the GAA’s news agenda. It led to a debate of sorts between Meath manager Andy McEntee and former Dublin All-Ireland winning boss Pat Gilroy on RTÉ’s The Sunday Game.

However, Connellan dismissed Gilroy’s argument that other counties s hould merge as ‘ridiculous’.

‘That was nothing short of ridiculous and designed to just frustrate the process of needed action.

‘It is even more disappointing that our state broadcaster provided a forum for such ridiculous comments and has not for the most of their GAA programmes provided an informed debate on the disproportionate level of funding that Dublin GAA receives and the further knock-on benefits it receives.’