Salthill-Knocknacarra believe clubs outside the capital are being treated as “second-class citizens” by comparison to Dublin which has lost little of its annual coaching and games development dividend, despite a new model of calculation approved at Congress 2022 and in place for four years from October 2022.
The GAA has set aside €12m annually for counties to employ staff in this field and implement programmes but according to a Salthill-Knocknacarra document circulated to counties only €8.67m was drawn down in the first year of the scheme, up to September 2023.
The GAA has told counties that funding not drawn down in a particular year, in accordance with what they are entitled to under the new funding mechanism adopted in 2022, will be carried forward.
On the weekend of the All-Ireland football semi-finals earlier this year, the GAA addressed county chairs on this and emphasised that carryover would remain in place.
As part of their motion, which calls for underfunding to be transferred to counties within three months of the end of the financial year if it hasn’t been drawn down, Salthill-Knocknacarra has calculated dividends and set them against what should have been distributed to counties under the new model in the first year of its operation.
In year one it came to €3.33m below the €12m pot which, Salthill-Knocknacarra claim, is €3,000 per club in the country. The Galway club has also included the period from March 2022 to September 2022 to calculate further shortfalls but the €12m distribution under the new method was only applicable for distribution from October 2022 on.
A GAA source said the coaching and games development committee had been clear about the shortfall and the criteria required to draw the money down. It’s understood that with new human resources guidelines in place since last year, recruitment has been the main issue leading to the underfunding.
Based on the Salthill-Knocknacarra figures, Dublin were due to receive €847,359 in 2022/2023 under the recalculation but got €1,212,500, close to the county’s normal mark.
Almost every other county fell short of the projections which are calculated across four bands, the number of registered players between the ages of four and 37, the number of clubs, the number of registered teams and then a method of levelling off to bring up the potential dividend of counties who had fallen behind in the first three bands.
“This new funding model was brought forward by Croke Park in February 2022 in response to the actions of multiple county boards in 2021 and their motions on coaching funding to address the overfunding of Dublin GAA and its clubs,” a note from Salthill-Knocknacarra reads.
“The reality is that Croke Park have reneged on their commitment to clubs across the country outside of Dublin mainly. In simple terms, clubs across the country outside of Dublin continue to be treated as second-class citizens.
“As is the case in our county (Galway) and nearly every county outside of Dublin, there has been a significant underspend on coaching funding for clubs across the country, even when head of population is factored in,” the note continues.
