Dear Club Secretaries,
I write to you and your Club Executives on behalf of concerned GAA members across a number of counties (made up of current and former officers, current and former players and ordinary members) who believe the disproportionate level of funding being allocated to Dublin GAA and its clubs, is leading to an unfair advantage being afforded to their inter-county teams and by extension, their domination of the All Ireland Football series. We believe it is only a matter of time before such dominance will reach all codes and at all levels at the expense of clubs and counties outside of Dublin GAA.
We believe Club Executive and County Board committees across the country must stand together and address this issue. For instance, in the period of 2007 to 2017, Laois GAA and its clubs only received €864,376 while Dublin GAA by stark contrast received €16,612,847.
We have put together the attached detailed analysis of how the funding Dublin GAA has been used and also, how it has unfairly provided knock-on benefits for its county board and its clubs leading to the dominance of its inter-county football teams.
We would ask that your individual Club Executives would agree at your next meeting to place the below motion at your next AGM at the end of 2021 for approval by your members, and then, if approved, place for approval at your County Board convention, which if approved at County Board level would progress to Annual Congress 2022 for approval. We would also ask that you would circulate the detailed analysis of funding provided to Dublin GAA to your Executive members and your Club members to facilitate the below motion’s approval at your AGM. If your Club Executive are in agreement with our position and motion, we would be appreciative if you could confirm by 15th March 2021 that you will be taking this step as it is the aim of our campaign that we will have confirmation that the same motion will be expected to be placed for approval at all County Board conventions outside of Dublin.
Motion for Approval at your Club AGM
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 5%. Any proposal to allocate Coaching and Development funding in excess of a 5% variance must be brought to Annual Congress every two years for approval with a transparent plan and business case for such increased funding.
It is proposed that this motion will amend Rule 3.43 of the GAA Official Guide which governs the “Powers and Functions” of the Central Council, Rule 3.44 which governs the “Powers of the Director General and other Officers” and also, Rule 3.46 which governs the Management Committee that makes recommendations on policy and finance to Central Council.
Fundamentally, we believe that Clubs in every county should be provided with equal access to funding to improve the coaching and recruitment in each club’s local area that has been afforded to all Dublin GAA clubs. We also believe it is fundamentally unfair that Dublin GAA for the period of 2007 to 2017, received €14.16 per head of population nearly 3 times the amount allocated per head of population outside of Dublin at €5 per head of population.
In their last published accounts, Dublin County Board declared a profit on its operations of €2.7 million, their CEO John Costello confirmed that membership in its clubs has increased by 98% thereby doubling the membership income of many Dublin GAA clubs with some clubs receiving in excess of €500,000 in membership income and lastly, Dublin clubs have now being able to achieve sizeable sponsorship deals with one club in Dublin (not even competing at Senior A level) being able to secure a 5 year sponsorship deal of €35,000 per annum or €175,000 in total. It is quite clear that Dublin GAA, between its county board and clubs, can fund their coaching costs now on a self-sustainable basis without being provided with further and disproportionate funding from Croke Park.
As you can see we have attempted to get the contact details for all the club secretaries in your county. However, if we have misspelt any email address or omitted any clubs, we would be appreciative if you could re-circulate this email and documentation to them.
Lastly, if you or your officers wish to get involved in this campaign and ensuring this motions approval within your own county and at Annual Congress level, please contact us on 085-1962511 or by response email. We would appreciate any help you could provide.
We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully, your support for our motion.
Regards,
John Connellan
Athlone GAA Member and former Westmeath player
