Westmeath GAA is planning major cutbacks in the wake of the startling figures presented to delegates at County Convention as efforts begin to plug the hole in the county’s finances.
Both senior football manager, Tom Cribbin and senior hurling manager, Michael Ryan have been informed they must reduce the level of spending in 2016. Team administration, which includes both hurling and football managements, soared in the past year to €111,231, while back-up staff stood at €63,214. Players travel was at €122,000 and catering rose to over €133,000, all significant costs for a cash-strapped county.
The County Board explained that the costs can be attributed to the distance Westmeath went in the Leinster senior football championship, in which they defeated Meath for the first time in the Lake County’s history to reach the final for the first time in 11 years.
“The increase is because of the distance we went this year as opposed to last year. It costs between €50,000 and €70,000 a month to run our two senior teams,” said James Savage, County Board Secretary, when speaking on the issue.
“We were about eight weeks longer (than last year) involved in the hurling championship and 10 weeks longer in the football championship. We spent more on underage development also. We partnered with A.I.T; there’s an expense involved in that. People were of the opinion that we were spending too much on our senior teams and not enough on underage development,” he added.
“There will have to be cutbacks along the way. We can’t sustain that going forward. There’s been preliminary talks; after convention we will sit down to sign up contracts. The preliminary talks did include cutbacks and it (2016 expenses) has to be within budget,” said the secretary.
Ger Carton (Kilbeggan Shamrocks) asked for a breakdown on the team administration costs for the year. James Savage explained that team administration and back-up staff covers all people associated with hurling and football squads. “From manager right down along the line to physios,” he said.
Carton probed further, questioning back-up staff. “They total management teams of our hurling and football,” he was told. “It includes psychologists, nutritionists, physios, all of the above.
“It seems to be a big increase,” noted Carton. “Granted, we got to a Leinster final, but it’s up from €86,000 in 2011,” he added.
“Naturally enough, the longer you go in championships, you have to pay,” explained Mr Savage, explaining that it’s approximately €60,000 a month for both hurling and football.
Medical bills in Westmeath stood at €107,796 (compared to €37,647 in neighbouring Longford). Ironically, Sean Sheridan stressed that none of the medical costs apply to the two doctors, Jerry O’Flynn and Liam Dalton, whom he wants to publicly acknowledge for their services.
“The amount of work the two doctors involved do is serious and they didn’t claim one cent. Westmeath GAA are very grateful to both Dr Jerry O’Flynn and Dr Liam Dalton for the invaluable work they do for us,” said Mr Sheridan.
