Dublin GAA and their sponsors.

Les Ferdinand

I just read that Dublin have signed a deal with Toyota for them to become the official car partner for Dublin GAA. Last week it was a deal with River Rock. A few months back it was the multi million euro AIG deal. Unfair advantage?

http://hill16.ie/news/303851/Dubs_and_Toyota_Ireland_join_forces

Godge

Les Ferdinand wrote: »

I just read that Dublin have signed a deal with Toyota for them to become the official car partner for Dublin GAA. Last week it was a deal with River Rock. Unfair advantage?

http://hill16.ie/news/303851/Dubs_and_Toyota_Ireland_join_forces

No

ColeTrain

Godge wrote: »

No

Says the Dub

Hanalei

Les Ferdinand wrote: »

I just read that Dublin have signed a deal with Toyota for them to become the official car partner for Dublin GAA. Last week it was a deal with River Rock. A few months back it was the multi million euro AIG deal. Unfair advantage?

Do you think its unfair? They will sell by far the most jerseys (and other merchandise) and they are a division 1 county in both codes, regularly challenge for Sam and look like they could be on the verge of regularly challenging for Liam.

A sponsor's dream. No other county offers anywhere near the same benefits for sponsorship than they do.

Les Ferdinand

Hanalei wrote: »

Do you think its unfair? They will sell by far the most jerseys (and other merchandise) and they are a division 1 county in both codes, regularly challenge for Sam and look like they could be on the verge of regularly challenging for Liam.

A sponsor's dream. No other county offers anywhere near the same benefits for sponsorship than they do.

Dublin are actively pursuing all sorts of sponsors whether it's Aer Lingus, Toyota or River Rock. They have their books in order and are reaping benefits. Other counties should take note. Westmeath got a good deal with Renault so county boards just need to be organised.

TouchingVirus

Les Ferdinand wrote: »

Dublin are actively pursuing all sorts of sponsors whether it's Aer Lingus, Toyota or River Rock. They have their books in order and are reaping benefits. Other counties should take note. Westmeath got a good deal with Renault so county boards just need to be organised.

So why isn't it fair then?

Godge

ColeTrain wrote: »

Says the Dub

Seriously, the money gained by Dublin on sponsorship is spent at underage and club level, it is not spent on the county team.

Furthermore, for years, many counties made under-the-table payments to managers thinking that this would help while Dublin refused to go down that route and put any money back into the grassroots.

Dublin's population base is huge, to provide pitches and clubs for that base is costly. The revenue is high but the expenditure on grass roots needs to be high because of the population base.

It would be better if other counties looked to their own houses first.

Les Ferdinand

TouchingVirus wrote: »

So why isn't it fair then?

I never said it wasn't fair. I'm curious at other peoples opinion

TouchingVirus

Les Ferdinand wrote: »

I never said it wasn't fair. I'm curious at other peoples opinion

I'd be fairly confident you ninja-edited your own opinion out before I got my quote in.

Volvic12

The more money that Dublin gets, the more they will start to dominate. I predict that a two team Dublin will be debated strongly over the coming years. Be that an A & B team or a North & South etc.
Of course they have an unfair advantage but it's not their fault whatsover as they can only play within the rules as they are doing. Wouldn't be right for them to spread the money around just cos they are making money

Les Ferdinand

TouchingVirus wrote: »

I'd be fairly confident you ninja-edited your own opinion out before I got my quote in.

I don't know what ninja editing is

Les Ferdinand

Volvic12 wrote: »

The more money that Dublin gets, the more they will start to dominate. I predict that a two team Dublin will be debated strongly over the coming years. Be that an A & B team or a North & South etc.
Of course they have an unfair advantage but it's not their fault whatsover as they can only play within the rules as they are doing. Wouldn't be right for them to spread the money around just cos they are making money

Why should Dublin be split up if they win a few All Irelands?
Why was Kerry or Kilkenny split up?

Poor_old_gill

Les Ferdinand wrote: »

Why should Dublin be split up if they win a few All Irelands?
Why was Kerry or Kilkenny split up?

Kerry and Kilkenny werent split.

I think you understand the suggestions for Dublin to be split- they have huge financial power and have more or less turned the game professional.
Other teams are unable to keep up and its after getting embarrassing in Leinster already- its only a matter of time before the same happens in the AI series.

But you know all this, its not very hard to comprehend- you just like the idea that Dublin will be able to more or less bully the rest of the teams with their vast financial resources.

End result- standard of the game will drop greatly, its already getting fairly sh*t anyway.

Volvic12

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Kerry and Kilkenny werent split.

I think you understand the suggestions for Dublin to be split- they have huge financial power and have more or less turned the game professional.
Other teams are unable to keep up and its after getting embarrassing in Leinster already- its only a matter of time before the same happens in the AI series.

But you know all this, its not very hard to comprehend- you just like the idea that Dublin will be able to more or less bully the rest of the teams with their vast financial resources.

End result- standard of the game will drop greatly, its already getting fairly sh*t anyway.

Money talks. If GAA see a huge financial opportunity to create a second Dublin team, then it's something they will consider. Not saying it is right but in my opinion it will be looked at

Poor_old_gill

Volvic12 wrote: »

Money talks. If GAA see a huge financial opportunity to create a second Dublin team, then it's something they will consider. Not saying it is right but in my opinion it iwll be looked at

I agree with you- I dont know if I fully agree with the concept but it annoys me when people intentionally dumb down their arguments with regard to the suggestion.

Les Ferdinand

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Kerry and Kilkenny werent split.

I think you understand the suggestions for Dublin to be split- they have huge financial power and have more or less turned the game professional.
Other teams are unable to keep up and its after getting embarrassing in Leinster already- its only a matter of time before the same happens in the AI series.

But you know all this, its not very hard to comprehend- you just like the idea that Dublin will be able to more or less bully the rest of the teams with their vast financial resources.

End result- standard of the game will drop greatly, its already getting fairly sh*t anyway.

Sorry. I meant to say "why didn't"

Les Ferdinand

What can Dublin do with their money that Kildare can't do?

Poor_old_gill

Les Ferdinand wrote: »

What can Dublin do with their money that Kildare can't do?

What do Kildare have to do with this?

Frankie5Angels

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

I think you understand the suggestions for Dublin to be split- they have huge financial power and have more or less turned the game professional.

How is the game more or less professional? It either is or isn't.

Les Ferdinand

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

What do Kildare have to do with this?

I just used them as an example Gill. Jesus

Les Ferdinand

It would be different if Dublin could buy players with all this money but they can't.
It's 15 men vs 15 at the end of the day. For a player to be at their fittest doesn't require money. It's down to individual commitment. Dublin won their last two All Ireland finals by one point. Was that down to money from Vodafone?

Poor_old_gill

Frankie5Angels wrote: »

How is the game more or less professional? It either is or isn't.

Is that a serious question??
You know what I am inferring- Dublin have a lot of money to spend on preparation, much more than other counties.
Lots more to spend on underage development- meaning more and better players come through.

You know this though

Poor_old_gill

Les Ferdinand wrote: »

It would be different if Dublin could buy players with all this money but they can't.
It's 15 men vs 15 at the end of the day. For a player to be at their fittest doesn't require money. It's down to individual commitment. Dublin won their last two All Ireland finals by one point. Was that down to money from Vodafone?

Lots more money for preparation and underage development- it does help a lot and you can see it in the conditioning of the team compared to others

Godge

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Kerry and Kilkenny werent split.

I think you understand the suggestions for Dublin to be split- they have huge financial power and have more or less turned the game professional.
Other teams are unable to keep up and its after getting embarrassing in Leinster already- its only a matter of time before the same happens in the AI series.

But you know all this, its not very hard to comprehend- you just like the idea that Dublin will be able to more or less bully the rest of the teams with their vast financial resources.

End result- standard of the game will drop greatly, its already getting fairly sh*t anyway.

I don't get this.

The facts are that Dublin have won two all-Irelands in three years in football each of them by small margins.

They haven't won four-in-a-row or 10 in 13 or anything like that.

There are a number of players that have been key to these successes - Flynn, Cluxton, Brogan and MDM. Those players won't necessarily last for ever or stay interested for ever and they may not be successfully replaced. You would need to see a couple of all-Irelands being won with a vastly different team to suggest that the pool of players is so deep that it makes winning inevitable.

As for the Leinster point, it is inexplicable that Louth, Meath and Kildare have failed to capitalise on population increases in the last 20 years and it is unlikely that barring calamitous administration that at least two of them won't in the next ten years. Dublin may face more competition in Leinster by the end of this decade than they face elsewhere.

There were no complaints when Cavan were the only team in Ulster sixty years ago, when Galway and Mayo were the only teams that came out of Connaught and there are few complaints about the dominance of Cork and Kerry in Munster.

Poor_old_gill

Godge wrote: »

I don't get this.

The facts are that Dublin have won two all-Irelands in three years in football each of them by small margins.

They haven't won four-in-a-row or 10 in 13 or anything like that.

There are a number of players that have been key to these successes - Flynn, Cluxton, Brogan and MDM. Those players won't necessarily last for ever or stay interested for ever and they may not be successfully replaced. You would need to see a couple of all-Irelands being won with a vastly different team to suggest that the pool of players is so deep that it makes winning inevitable.

As for the Leinster point, it is inexplicable that Louth, Meath and Kildare have failed to capitalise on population increases in the last 20 years and it is unlikely that barring calamitous administration that at least two of them won't in the next ten years. Dublin may face more competition in Leinster by the end of this decade than they face elsewhere.

There were no complaints when Cavan were the only team in Ulster sixty years ago, when Galway and Mayo were the only teams that came out of Connaught and there are few complaints about the dominance of Cork and Kerry in Munster.

How can you not get it though?
Dublin have huge resources by putting those resources into player development- they have raced ahead of everyone else and will probably move further into the distance soon enough.

I'm not saying that it is wrong of them to do this as it makes perfect sense to want to maximize your resources- what I am saying is that it is putting them in a position where they will be streets ahead of all other counties with regard to overall facilities and player development

Godge

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

How can you not get it though?
Dublin have huge resources by putting those resources into player development- they have raced ahead of everyone else and will probably move further into the distance soon enough.

I'm not saying that it is wrong of them to do this as it makes perfect sense to want to maximize your resources- what I am saying is that it is putting them in a position where they will be streets ahead of all other counties with regard to overall facilities and player development

But they haven't put it into player development.

The money has gone into underage participation at club level and to maintaining participation for teenagers. The underage work in Dublin is phenonemal.

The money isn't spent on senior county player development. Yes, the underage work should result long-term in more senior players but Dublin do not pour resources into senior county team preparation in the way that some others do. If they were only interested in senior player success, they would be paying a manager.

A better question than throwing envious eyes at Dublin is why a county such as Limerick, with a good city population meaning short distances to training, facilities and expertise in abundance at UL and LIT, relatively large population-wise doing so bad when Dublin is doing so good. The hard work and dedication is the missing element.

Poor_old_gill

Godge wrote: »

But they haven't put it into player development.

The money has gone into underage participation at club level and to maintaining participation for teenagers. The underage work in Dublin is phenonemal.

The money isn't spent on senior county player development. Yes, the underage work should result long-term in more senior players but Dublin do not pour resources into senior county team preparation in the way that some others do. If they were only interested in senior player success, they would be paying a manager.

A better question than throwing envious eyes at Dublin is why a county such as Limerick, with a good city population meaning short distances to training, facilities and expertise in abundance at UL and LIT, relatively large population-wise doing so bad when Dublin is doing so good. The hard work and dedication is the missing element.

I dont doubt that hard work and dedication exist- not for one moment.

I am just pointing out that Dublin have a lot of advantages- some people seem oblivious to why Dublin's financial resources are a point of contention.

I still think Dublin's main advantage is the fact that they have 4 big colleges on the city as the trend has moved towards players staying in college for long periods of time and more or less training full time for several years while they undertake a course

AGC

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Lots more money for preparation and underage development- it does help a lot and you can see it in the conditioning of the team compared to others

Disagree. Anyone, inter county player or not can go out and get into the shape of an inter county footballer if they work hard enough and stick to training plans, diets etc...

It's about commitment. Yes Dublin have a massive pool of players to pick from but they are in no way streets ahead in footballing terms and they are still behind in Hurling terms.

keane2097

Godge wrote: »

But they haven't put it into player development.

The money has gone into underage participation at club level and to maintaining participation for teenagers. The underage work in Dublin is phenonemal.

The money isn't spent on senior county player development. Yes, the underage work should result long-term in more senior players but Dublin do not pour resources into senior county team preparation in the way that some others do. If they were only interested in senior player success, they would be paying a manager.

A better question than throwing envious eyes at Dublin is why a county such as Limerick, with a good city population meaning short distances to training, facilities and expertise in abundance at UL and LIT, relatively large population-wise doing so bad when Dublin is doing so good. The hard work and dedication is the missing element.

The point you're essentially making here - and you're correct IMO - is that Dublin not only have more money to spend than everyone else, but they're also spending it better.

Dublin deserve the success they've had for the last few years and will most likely continue to have in years to come for a few reasons - investing in grass roots to drive up participation levels, embracing sports science and performance analysis to the nth degree and playing a superb brand of football.

If they go onto win 5+ out of 10 All Irelands they will deserve them because while it's true they have the most money by a mile, they've always had that - the difference now is that they're doing everything right with it, and that's the definition of a team that deserves its success.

The issue everyone else is going to have now is that there's only so "right" you can get it. For a long time, a lot of other counties were doing things better than Dublin by focussing on underage and in other ways, and so Dublin's financial clout wasn't decisive as they weren't investing it to get the most out of it.

The problem now is that even if someone else does manage to operate to their optimum along with Dublin, well optimum with more money, better facilities and a bigger population is going to beat optimum with less money, worse facilities and a smaller population most days.

In that sense, there's some merit to Dublin fans' argument that it's unfair to talk about changing the whole game just because they're winning. They deserve to be winning at the moment because of how well they run the game in their county in every aspect - they are simply doing it better than the rest of us and should be commended.

On the other hand, I do think it's going to prove impossible for other counties to compete in the long term even if they are run to max potential unless the DCB fall asleep at the wheel over the years.

Tyrone will be an interesting case study in this regard over the next five/ten years as they have also run their football flawlessly for several years - if they can compete with Dublin routinely over the next decade then it will show that there's a diminishing return on the extra money Dublin can pump into the games and you can compete with them purely by getting your own house in order. If not then the future looks bleak for football outside the capital.

I'm not sure which one of these two scenarios will end up playing out, but in the meantime as I said Dublin will deserve the success they'll inevitably have over the coming years, if we end up needing to make drastic changes it should only be because even the best run teams outside of Dublin are way off.

AGC

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

I still think Dublin's main advantage is the fact that they have 4 big colleges on the city as the trend has moved towards players staying in college for long periods of time and more or less training full time for several years while they undertake a course

Look at the starting Sigerson/Fitzgibbon teams. As many lads from outside Dublin as from Dublin.

Poor_old_gill

AGC wrote: »

Look at the starting Sigerson/Fitzgibbon teams. As many lads from outside Dublin as from Dublin.

So you dont think that its an advantage to them to have 4 large colleges on their doorstep?

keane2097

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

So you dont think that its an advantage to them to have 4 large colleges on their doorstep?

I don't really see how it's a massive advantage either to be honest.

Poor_old_gill

keane2097 wrote: »

I don't really see how it's a massive advantage either to be honest.

Of course its an advantage- it allows players to be able to pursue almost any course they want while being a very commutable distance from their home club.
The potential for drop out after minor level, which is the GAA's biggest problem, is greatly reduced.

Godge

keane2097 wrote: »

The point you're essentially making here - and you're correct IMO - is that Dublin not only have more money to spend than everyone else, but they're also spending it better.

Dublin deserve the success they've had for the last few years and will most likely continue to have in years to come for a few reasons - investing in grass roots to drive up participation levels, embracing sports science and performance analysis to the nth degree and playing a superb brand of football.

If they go onto win 5+ out of 10 All Irelands they will deserve them because while it's true they have the most money by a mile, they've always had that - the difference now is that they're doing everything right with it, and that's the definition of a team that deserves its success.

The issue everyone else is going to have now is that there's only so "right" you can get it. For a long time, a lot of other counties were doing things better than Dublin by focussing on underage and in other ways, and so Dublin's financial clout wasn't decisive as they weren't investing it to get the most out of it.

The problem now is that even if someone else does manage to operate to their optimum along with Dublin, well optimum with more money, better facilities and a bigger population is going to beat optimum with less money, worse facilities and a smaller population most days.

In that sense, there's some merit to Dublin fans' argument that it's unfair to talk about changing the whole game just because they're winning. They deserve to be winning at the moment because of how well they run the game in their county in every aspect - they are simply doing it better than the rest of us and should be commended.

On the other hand, I do think it's going to prove impossible for other counties to compete in the long term even if they are run to max potential unless the DCB fall asleep at the wheel over the years.

Tyrone will be an interesting case study in this regard over the next five/ten years as they have also run their football flawlessly for several years - if they can compete with Dublin routinely over the next decade then it will show that there's a diminishing return on the extra money Dublin can pump into the games and you can compete with them purely by getting your own house in order. If not then the future looks bleak for football outside the capital.

I'm not sure which one of these two scenarios will end up playing out, but in the meantime as I said Dublin will deserve the success they'll inevitably have over the coming years, if we end up needing to make drastic changes it should only be because even the best run teams outside of Dublin are way off.

Partly, yes, I am saying that Dublin have gone about it the right way.

At the end of the day, though, you can only put 15 players on the field and another 10 on the bench.

If Kildare, Louth, Wicklow, Meath, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway County Boards were doing their jobs properly, promoting the game at underage level for the last ten/fifteen years, then yes, they would all be in the mix all of the time, just like Dublin. some of those counties have wasted money on paying expenses to outside managers, others have wasted it infighting etc. They could all be better focussed. Cork, of all of that list have been closest and are always there or thereabouts.

You are right to pick Tyrone as a good example, as like Dublin, they put the structures in place and reaped the benefits. It wasn't just at minor level, they had good teams below that and worked at it. What is not actually understood is that money doesn't deliver those results. Yes, the money helped, but it was the vast number of underage mentors in Dublin and Tyrone who gave their time and effort for nothing who created the conditions for success.

Essentially, what I am saying is that more money does not equal success. It does help, but what is more important is the work on the ground by unpaid volunteers and in Dublin, the effort to build up the football infrastructure. You have clubs that didn't exist ten, fifteen years ago putting out five or six U-12 teams.

keane2097

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

Of course its an advantage- it allows players to be able to pursue almost any course they want while being a very commutable distance from their home club.
The potential for drop out after minor level, which is the GAA's biggest problem, is greatly reduced.

It doesn't strike me as being much of an advantage compared to what's on offer in the likes of Cork, Limerick, Antrim, Galway.

It would take someone in Dundalk about the same amount of time to drive to DCU as it would take someone in Sandyford. A guy playing for Skerries who wanted to go to UCD would have a similar commute to someone going from UCC to Killarney. I don't see it as a massive issue.

keane2097

Godge wrote: »

Partly, yes, I am saying that Dublin have gone about it the right way.

At the end of the day, though, you can only put 15 players on the field and another 10 on the bench.

If Kildare, Louth, Wicklow, Meath, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway County Boards were doing their jobs properly, promoting the game at underage level for the last ten/fifteen years, then yes, they would all be in the mix all of the time, just like Dublin. some of those counties have wasted money on paying expenses to outside managers, others have wasted it infighting etc. They could all be better focussed. Cork, of all of that list have been closest and are always there or thereabouts.

You are right to pick Tyrone as a good example, as like Dublin, they put the structures in place and reaped the benefits. It wasn't just at minor level, they had good teams below that and worked at it. What is not actually understood is that money doesn't deliver those results. Yes, the money helped, but it was the vast number of underage mentors in Dublin and Tyrone who gave their time and effort for nothing who created the conditions for success.

Essentially, what I am saying is that more money does not equal success. It does help, but what is more important is the work on the ground by unpaid volunteers and in Dublin, the effort to build up the football infrastructure. You have clubs that didn't exist ten, fifteen years ago putting out five or six U-12 teams.

I do think you're being a bit naive about how big a part money plays in the underage system.

It's not as though thousands of volunteers independently started to get everything right at the same time by luck, a massive part of it is that the money available to put on workshops by the best people to train volunteers as to how to best go about their business, better facilities benefit young players probably even more than they do adults.

You also have the DCB able to employ some of the best coaches in the country not even to coach players, but to coach coaches in how to coach!

More money -> better facilities -> bigger chance for kids to reach potential

More money -> more coaching courses -> more coaches/ better quality coaches -> better players

etc etc

It's pretty much nonsense to think volunteers in Dublin work harder than volunteers in other places.

Every county has legions of people who live for the game and do trojan work, but they don't all have the same tools to work with.

Godge

keane2097 wrote: »

I do think you're being a bit naive about how big a part money plays in the underage system.

It's not as though thousands of volunteers independently started to get everything right at the same time by luck, a massive part of it is that the money available to put on workshops by the best people to train volunteers as to how to best go about their business, better facilities benefit young players probably even more than they do adults.

You also have the DCB able to employ some of the best coaches in the country not even to coach players, but to coach coaches in how to coach!

More money -> better facilities -> bigger chance for kids to reach potential

More money -> more coaching courses -> more coaches/ better quality coaches -> better players

etc etc

It's pretty much nonsense to think volunteers in Dublin work harder than volunteers in other places.

Every county has legions of people who live for the game and do trojan work, but they don't all have the same tools to work with.

Yes, but all of that money translates into more kids playing sport.

It does not translate into better preparation of the senior football team.

yop

It will give them an advantage without doubt. More to spend on specialist for training, nutrition, etc etc.
Article I read when the Vodafone deal was announced.

http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/sport/roundup/articles/2013/11/29/4018620-mega-dublin-deal-on-sponsorship-raises-questions-for-the-gaa

Also the special Dublin hurling fund adds to that pot.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/dublin-answer-6m-question-26759948.html


In my own county we have to drop a selector due to lack of funds, yet we have been in the last 2 AI finals.

Of course all this money doesn't guarantee success, but it has to give a big advantage.

prospect

Dublin GAA undoubtedly have more money to spend than most other counties.

But, they also have far more participants to spend it on.

I'd love to see a breakdown on a county-by-county basis of the cash available per participating player. I'd say it is probably a fairly level playing field across most counties.

Godge

prospect wrote: »

Dublin GAA undoubtedly have more money to spend than most other counties.

But, they also have far more participants to spend it on.

I'd love to see a breakdown on a county-by-county basis of the cash available per participating player. I'd say it is probably a fairly level playing field across most counties.

Yes, those figures would make the appropriate comparison.

I bet you will find that there are some counties with higher funding than Dublin per participating player.

It is also very interesting that this repeatedly comes up as a topic on places like this. There was never the same fuss when Ministers from Kerry and Donegal were handing out lottery funds mostly to GAA clubs from their own counties.

yop

prospect wrote: »

Dublin GAA undoubtedly have more money to spend than most other counties.

But, they also have far more participants to spend it on.

I'd love to see a breakdown on a county-by-county basis of the cash available per participating player. I'd say it is probably a fairly level playing field across most counties.

I read a figure and I THINK it was Tipp who had the highest amount to spend per GAA member.
I will see if I can find that.

yop

Found it!

Its per person living in the County though, which isn't realistic as I am sure there is lot less GAA players as a % to population than say Tipp or Cork.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/football/dublin-never-won-or-lost-all-irelands-due-to-sponsors-257380.html

Worked out, Dublin’s sponsorship per capita falls behind a number of counties. The €750,000 per annum deal with AIG works out at less than 60 cent per person living in the county compared to the likes of Tipperary’s deal with Skoda (€1.26) and Cork’s with Chill Insurance (67c). [/QUOTE

Seen this report in 2012
24 -- Number of affiliated GAA clubs in Longford; the smallest of any county, but just two less than Sligo.

108 -- Number of affiliated GAA clubs in both Antrim and Limerick, which makes them the joint third highest in the country.

215 -- Number of affiliated GAA clubs in Dublin, second highest in the country.

260 -- Number of affiliated GAA clubs in Cork in 2008, the highest in the country.

834 -- Number of affiliated clubs in Leinster last year.

2,319 -- Number of affiliated GAA clubs on the island of Ireland in 2008.

2,610 -- Number of affiliated GAA clubs in the world last year.

So Cork has more GAA clubs than Dublin, so using the population as a % of spend isn't a correct figure.

zetecescort

Nice of the GAA to build a centre of excellence for Dublin.

keane2097

Godge wrote: »

Yes, but all of that money translates into more kids playing sport.

It does not translate into better preparation of the senior football team.

Better standards for everything for kids is by very definition better preparation for the senior team - where do you think all these players are coming from?

On a different note, I doubt there are many counties that would be able to throw money at a "lifestyle coach" in the vein of Bernard Dunne on top of the various doctors, physios and other support staff and would be very surprised if the net spend on the Dublin seniors isn't the biggest around.

ProudDUB

This Toyota car deal just replaces a similar one that we had with Renault for several years. No one raised a stink about that deal, when we won only one Sam Maguire Cup in 28 years. As long as we weren't winning, no one cared what we did or with who. Yet now that we have won Sam twice in two years, people are coming out of the woodwork to say that this car deal gives us yet another unfair advantage. A tad hypocrital, no?

Loads of high profile GAA players drive freebie cars given to them by local dealerships. I see tweets from them all the time showing off their wheels. Paul Galvin's Audi is particularly sweet. Why is some sort of a centralized deal from just one car company any different? Some of the players get to drive the cars and the DCB gets a couple of vans to transport their gear around in, so what?

Drummerboy2

zetecescort wrote: »

Nice of the GAA to build a centre of excellence for Dublin.

Dublin County Board are contributing two million to this project. The facilities will be available to all counties to avail of, not just Dublin.

yop

Drummerboy2 wrote: »

Dublin County Board are contributing two million to this project. The facilities will be available to all counties to avail of, not just Dublin.

Same thing is down in Ballyhanunis in Co Mayo, its open to all of Connaught. Nothing to do with the Mayo secretary been from Ballyhanuis

Agree re the cars, the lads down here seem to get them also, BUT you have to admit that the amount of backroom staff in the Dublin camp is unrivalled and outnumbers all other counties?

Anyway its not that as if you are going to "win Sam twice in two years" -> ProudDub *cough cough*

ProudDUB

Wait a minute. Do you mean to say that we didn't win Sam in 2012 too? Dammit, why don't people TELL me these things? :eek:

Yes, Dublin's back room team does seem to be a fair enough size, but what does that have to do with some of the players getting to drive freebie cars? It's not like the players were already getting cars paid for by the DCB and, we now have a wad of cash free'd up to pay more physios and nutritionists, thanks to the Toyota deal.

Anyway, we already have a fleet of these bad boys to transport our back room team and our training gear around in. So perhaps we should donate some of these shiny new Toyotas to a needy third world country? Like Kildare !

Red Crow

Dublin obviously have an unfair advantage in resources.

Drummerboy2

Red Crow wrote: »

Dublin obviously have an unfair advantage in resources.

Thats sport. USA, Russia usually win more medals than most at Olympics because they have more resources. Same in football United, City and Chelsea are the wealthiest clubs, and win most.

ProudDUB

One All Ireland in 28 years people. One. Un. Uno. A-haon.

What good were those all powerful, all conquering resources and money to us between 1983 and 2011?

Our Arnotts deal was always worth more money than any other counties, but we still won eff all with it for nearly 3 decades.

But feel free to carry on telling yourselves that money is all that matters, if it makes ye feel better.