County team costs at €291,051

Clare GAA treasurer Bernard Keane repeated his concerns over finance when he addressed the May meeting of the county board on Tuesday night.
He told the meeting that so far this year €291,051.03 had been spent on county teams with €162,051.63 on hurling and €128,099.40 on football teams. Catering has cost €82,856, travel has cost €123,643, medical €40,536.94, buses and overnights €15,977 and sports gear €10,510.
“This is always a particularly difficult time of the year as all teams are in training, whereas our income doesn’t really start until later when the championships are in full swing.
“Failure to get out of Division 2 in hurling and Division 4 in football was a huge blow. It cost us money to stage home games this year. If we were in the higher divisions, we would have attracted bigger crowds. My big concern is that our income won’t match our expenditure when it comes to the end of the year, he told the delegates.
“It’s a very difficult time for all in the GAA and nobody knows what’s ahead,” chairman Michael O’Neill said. “Every aspect of our expenditure has to be examined. We have spoken with the inter-county players and they are prepared to be flexible,” he said.
Secretary Pat Fitzgerald told the delegates that “since 2008 when county teams cost in the region of €788,000. we have managed to save in the region of €100,000 in this area.”
Treasurer Keane, in reply to a query from Tubber’s Michael Lee, said that the gate takings at the Division 2 final were €74,000, out of which Clare would get about €14,000 from which they would have to pay all the costs associated with security and gate checkers.