The Leinster Championship is dead.

Did you smash it

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

They do though. There is clear identity with where people are from or people who represent them. When Munster were very successful and Leinster were far in their shadow there were plenty from leinster counties bordering Munster who supported Munster simply because they saw Leinster as a side of dubs/fee schools but Leinster changed that hugely with the work theyve put in with the clubs and primary and secondary schools all over the province..

It’s got precious little to do with identity of Leinster and Munster and a lot to do with the allure of supporting success and big days out.

StupidLikeAFox

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Former Leinster greats Kildare and Meath have let thier standards slip. Shown against the minnows of Leinster not only Dublin.

Which is not Dublin's fault - but Kildare and Meath's.

True, the financial investment for Dublin has helped them. It was done because there was fear the GAA would be lost in Dublin. It would have been a disaster for the GAA.

So the logic here is that when Dublin are falling behind then the GAA is in trouble and need to throw money/resources at them to help them out, but when the rest of the province are struggling they should pull their socks up and try harder.

Dont kid yourself, this is not a golden generation or a special manager, this is a well oiled machine which was designed and funded by both Dublin and the gaa hq.

Compare the joy experienced by Cavan, mayo and tipp to Dessie Farrell coming out and saying they should have played better after a 20pt win. Leinster championship is a joke - Dublin fans need to realise that it's in their own interest to have a competitive championship and it should be a priority for the GAA to bring the rest of the province (and country) up to the level that they helped Dublin achieve

tritium

Every year this stuff.......

The Leinster championship is dead because most teams in the province are extremely poor not because one team is extremely good. If anything it also holds dublin back since they’re not really tested until the provincials are over.

It shows the mindset of some Leinster counties that they hand wring over the Leinster championship rather than aspire to improving their standard with a view to winning the AI. Complain about dublin then slip in the back door and lie down to take your beating from Kerry, Mayo or Donegal

I’m fine btw with with putting money into other Leinster counties to develop them, I just don’t believe they won’t piss it away (and to be fair if it had come ten years earlier dublin would have pissed it away too). So meh, give Leinster counties the funds, the province has underperformed badly in my lifetime and that should be addressed. While we’re at it, let’s open up the championship to then and move dublin into Munster

Rock77

tritium wrote: »

Every year this stuff.......

The Leinster championship is dead because most teams in the province are extremely poor not because one team is extremely good. If anything it also holds dublin back since they’re not really tested until the provincials are over.

It shows the mindset of some Leinster counties that they hand wring over the Leinster championship rather than aspire to improving their standard with a view to winning the AI. Complain about dublin then slip in the back door and lie down to take your beating from Kerry, Mayo or Donegal

I’m fine btw with with putting money into other Leinster counties to develop them, I just don’t believe they won’t piss it away (and to be fair if it had come ten years earlier dublin would have pissed it away too). So meh, give Leinster counties the funds, the province has underperformed badly in my lifetime and that should be addressed. While we’re at it, let’s open up the championship to then and move dublin into Munster

It’s really quite simple though, as another Dub has already said, Dublin were underachieving until the GAA decided to pump money into them to give them an advantage over the rest. The bucket loads of cash were spent wisely, talented players were coached well and now Dublin are not underachieving anymore.

Kildare are underachieving or ‘extremely poor’ as you put it, so the GAA should.......???

Uncle Pierre

Rock77 wrote: »

It’s really quite simple though, as another Dub has already said, Dublin were underachieving until the GAA decided to pump money into them....

I've an issue with how it's starting to be bandied around here as "fact" that Dublin were underachieving. By what measure?

They were always the second most successful county in terms of All-Ireland final victories, behind only Kerry, with its huge and unique footballing tradition.

If Dublin were "underachieving" during the spell 1995 to 2003/'04, when the money started to flow in, then surely Kerry are underachieving now? They only won one All-Ireland in the decade 2010 to 2019. Never before in the entire history of the GAA did they only win one All-Ireland in a decade. So should they not start getting massive extra funding now too, to develop structures to put them back "where they should be"?

Am going back again too to my earlier point about Cork hurling. They've only two provincial titles in the past 15 years, and no All-Ireland since 2005. It's by far their leanest spell ever. How about some money for them, to help put them back "where they should be"?

Even take Wexford hurling, which is the closest thing to my heart. Wexford competed in 11 All-Ireland hurling finals between 1951 and 1977. We've only been in one final since then. Maybe we can get a few quid too?

lawred2

Bambi wrote: »

Kerry must have won 20 or so of the last 30 Munster finals, same as Dublin in Leinster. Won 8 of the last 10 Munster finals but Munster is grand while Leinster is dead

Not sure whats so different about Munster...oh wait I know


So much salt

Kerry are the only pure footballing county in Munster

Football is second fiddle to hurling in Cork.

It's chalk and cheese. Munster is hurling country.

Rock77

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

I've an issue with how it's starting to be bandied around here as "fact" that Dublin were underachieving. By what measure?

They were always the second most successful county in terms of All-Ireland final victories, behind only Kerry, with its huge and unique footballing tradition.

If Dublin were "underachieving" during the spell 1995 to 2003/'04, when the money started to flow in, then surely Kerry are underachieving now? They only won one All-Ireland in the decade 2010 to 2019. Never before in the entire history of the GAA did they only win one All-Ireland in a decade. So should they not start getting massive extra funding now too, to develop structures to put them back "where they should be"?

Am going back again too to my earlier point about Cork hurling. They've only two provincial titles in the past 15 years, and no All-Ireland since 2005. It's by far their leanest spell ever. How about some money for them, to help put them back "where they should be"?

Even take Wexford hurling, which is the closest thing to my heart. Wexford competed in 11 All-Ireland hurling finals between 1951 and 1977. We've only been in one final since then. Maybe we can get a few quid too?

To be honest, I was using one Dubs logic to make a point.

My point is all counties/clubs/teams should get equal funding, or a fair transparent funding system put in place. Fair enough if that system means Dublin has more clubs/players so they receive more funding but it has to be proportionate and fair.

The idea should not be to give the best team by miles and miles and miles way more money than everyone else!

To me, who’s winning is irrelevant once nobody is being favoured by the GAA.

For example, if Dublin were not receiving disproportionate amounts of money from the GAA I would be dead against splitting the county or changing the structure. They are winning, they are the best team.

Uncle Pierre

Rock77 wrote: »

To be honest, I was using one Dubs logic to make a point.

My point is all counties/clubs/teams should get equal funding, or a fair transparent funding system put in place. Fair enough if that system means Dublin has more clubs/players so they receive more funding but it has to be proportionate and fair.

The idea should not be to give the best team by miles and miles and miles way more money than everyone else!

To me, who’s winning is irrelevant once nobody is being favoured by the GAA.

For example, if Dublin were not receiving disproportionate amounts of money from the GAA I would be dead against splitting the county or changing the structure. They are winning, they are the best team.

Sorry, that wasn't meant as a go at you! You just happened to be the most recent one with a post that included a bit about Dublin were "underachieving", even if you were only referring to what somebody else had said. That just meant that your bit was the easiest one to quote.

For what it's worth, I agree with you overall. I'd like to see fair and proportionate funding across the board too. I'm well aware that Dublin would still get most money in absolute terms because of greater playing numbers, but so be it, so long as every county got an equal proportionate share.

It's for this reason that I'm actually uneasy too with the East Leinster Project that's been mentioned here a few times. It was set up to concentrate on four counties only (Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow). That's not fair on other counties like Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, or even ourselves here in Wexford.

I'd disagree too with something another poster said (several pages back) about how GAA now "needs to concentrate on other urban areas like Sligo, Drogheda and Belfast". Why should Sligo get more than Roscommon, for instance, just because there's a larger town there? Or if Drogheda clubs started getting extra money for coaching structures, just because they're in a large town, how is that fair on every other club in the county?

ALL such money should be available to every county and every club on a proportionate basis, rather than just being concentrated in certain areas.

Rock77

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

Sorry, that wasn't meant as a go at you! You just happened to be the most recent one with a post that included a bit about Dublin were "underachieving", even if you were only referring to what somebody else had said. That just meant that your bit was the easiest one to quote.

For what it's worth, I agree with you overall. I'd like to see fair and proportionate funding across the board too. I'm well aware that Dublin would still get most money in absolute terms because of greater playing numbers, but so be it, so long as every county got an equal proportionate share.

It's for this reason that I'm actually uneasy too with the East Leinster Project that's been mentioned here a few times. It was set up to concentrate on four counties only (Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow). That's not fair on other counties like Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, or even ourselves here in Wexford.

I'd disagree too with something another poster said (several pages back) about how GAA now "needs to concentrate on other urban areas like Sligo, Drogheda and Belfast". Why should Sligo get more than Roscommon, for instance, just because there's a larger town there? Or if Drogheda clubs started getting extra money for coaching structures, just because they're in a large town, how is that fair on every other club in the county?

ALL such money should be available to every county and every club on a proportionate basis, rather than just being concentrated in certain areas.

I couldn’t agree more with this thinking and to be honest I find it so strange that the GAA isn’t run this way..

Did you smash it

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

Sorry, that wasn't meant as a go at you! You just happened to be the most recent one with a post that included a bit about Dublin were "underachieving", even if you were only referring to what somebody else had said. That just meant that your bit was the easiest one to quote.

For what it's worth, I agree with you overall. I'd like to see fair and proportionate funding across the board too. I'm well aware that Dublin would still get most money in absolute terms because of greater playing numbers, but so be it, so long as every county got an equal proportionate share.

It's for this reason that I'm actually uneasy too with the East Leinster Project that's been mentioned here a few times. It was set up to concentrate on four counties only (Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow). That's not fair on other counties like Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, or even ourselves here in Wexford.

I'd disagree too with something another poster said (several pages back) about how GAA now "needs to concentrate on other urban areas like Sligo, Drogheda and Belfast". Why should Sligo get more than Roscommon, for instance, just because there's a larger town there? Or if Drogheda clubs started getting extra money for coaching structures, just because they're in a large town, how is that fair on every other club in the county?

ALL such money should be available to every county and every club on a proportionate basis, rather than just being concentrated in certain areas.

The east Leinster project and pumping money into Dublin is just a money spinning exercise.

You take the areas with the biggest catchment area of kids so Dublin and the east Leinster commuter belts, provide funding for GPOs and then reap far more money off club memberships.

Those expecting the east Leinster project to improve kildare, meath etc at all never mind to Dublin’s level are going to be disappointed.

kksaints

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

Sorry, that wasn't meant as a go at you! You just happened to be the most recent one with a post that included a bit about Dublin were "underachieving", even if you were only referring to what somebody else had said. That just meant that your bit was the easiest one to quote.

For what it's worth, I agree with you overall. I'd like to see fair and proportionate funding across the board too. I'm well aware that Dublin would still get most money in absolute terms because of greater playing numbers, but so be it, so long as every county got an equal proportionate share.

It's for this reason that I'm actually uneasy too with the East Leinster Project that's been mentioned here a few times. It was set up to concentrate on four counties only (Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow). That's not fair on other counties like Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, or even ourselves here in Wexford.

I'd disagree too with something another poster said (several pages back) about how GAA now "needs to concentrate on other urban areas like Sligo, Drogheda and Belfast". Why should Sligo get more than Roscommon, for instance, just because there's a larger town there? Or if Drogheda clubs started getting extra money for coaching structures, just because they're in a large town, how is that fair on every other club in the county?

ALL such money should be available to every county and every club on a proportionate basis, rather than just being concentrated in certain areas.

Larger population and population growth in these counties would probably be an important factor. Although apart from Louth and a push Wicklow there wouldn't be much competition from other sports in these counties.

Hammer Archer

I think the idea that the GAA in Dublin was under threat in the early 2000s was utterly ridiculous. As I mentioned, Dublin were within the width of a post away from an All Ireland final in 2002 and would consistently sell out Croke Park in the latter stages of the championship. Even early rounds involving Dublin drew 60000 attendances.
I think what happened was the GAA panicked after Dublin were knocked out early by Laois and Westmeath in 03 & 04 respectively. 2004 hit the GAA's coffers especially hard as they were denied a big crowd in the Leinster semi finals and final (the 2004 Leinster final replay had only 38000 or so at it).
Instead of seeing this as a blip that can happen to any county, the GAA ploughed the millions into Dublin. Since then, they've lost one game in the Leinster championship and, ironically, ensured that they are likely to never see a Leinster championship game fill Croke Park again.

Compare the celebrations from players and fans when Dublin won Leinster in 2005 to those when they won it last year.

kksaints

Hammer Archer wrote: »

I think the idea that the GAA in Dublin was under threat in the early 2000s was utterly ridiculous. As I mentioned, Dublin were within the width of a post away from an All Ireland final in 2002 and would consistently sell out Croke Park in the latter stages of the championship. Even early rounds involving Dublin drew 60000 attendances.
I think what happened was the GAA panicked after Dublin were knocked out early by Laois and Westmeath in 03 & 04 respectively. 2004 hit the GAA's coffers especially hard as they were denied a big crowd in the Leinster semi finals and final (the 2004 Leinster final replay had only 38000 or so at it).
Instead of seeing this as a blip that can happen to any county, the GAA ploughed the millions into Dublin. Since then, they've lost one game in the Leinster championship and, ironically, ensured that they are likely to never see a Leinster championship game fill Croke Park again.

Compare the celebrations from players and fans when Dublin won Leinster in 2005 to those when they won it last year.

Would the replay not have made up for a lot of the shortfall in income?

ArielAtom

Do people realise that the funding and figures that are regularly thrown out actually finished in 2017? Dublin are now being underfunded in comparison to some other counties, that is fact not fiction. The GAA still need to do something to redress the imbalance.

The figures thrown out are also figures that were targeted at Primary School children and the development of Gaelic Games at a wider target audience, they were not funds allocated to the DCB for them to spend on whatever they wanted. The per capita or playing member argument therefore does not stack up.

I am not sure what it is though. Is it simply funding? A report has already stated that some counties have not used their allocated funding in an efficient manner. Do they need help in putting structures in place? If so they should receive it. Pumping funding in alone will not solve the imbalance.

The notion that Dublin players are fitter due to funding I find hard to fathom. S&C is the same for every player. How a player might be fitter than another is due to the training they have undertaken and not money.

Dublin will always have an advantage due to its location and the relative ease that players can get to training, although tell the Cuala player travelling from Dalkey to NCD for sessions (100km round trip), probably similar to a lot of other counties in their travel requirements.

Population will mean a bigger pool of players to pick from, but that has always been the case. Splitting or amalgamating is the logical answer, but will the split or amalgamation of Counties garner support from the public? I'm not sure it will. Therefore the IC game could disappear.

GAA is about community and club, something I got drawn into on this thread as my club was being used as an argument. I am first an foremost a clubman and county comes 2nd. We have members from every county in our club, on AI Final weekends the club is draped in the colours of the competing counties and it makes for great banter in the club. But club comes 1st.

Lastly this is about the Leinster Championship. It is great to see the interest it generates from other provinces.
I feel that posters need to focus on solutions and developing a cohesive plan rather than venting their spleen. This is not a Dublin problem. This needs to be addressed by the GAA community as a whole.

jmayo

Hammer Archer wrote: »

I think the idea that the GAA in Dublin was under threat in the early 2000s was utterly ridiculous. As I mentioned, Dublin were within the width of a post away from an All Ireland final in 2002 and would consistently sell out Croke Park in the latter stages of the championship. Even early rounds involving Dublin drew 60000 attendances.
I think what happened was the GAA panicked after Dublin were knocked out early by Laois and Westmeath in 03 & 04 respectively. 2004 hit the GAA's coffers especially hard as they were denied a big crowd in the Leinster semi finals and final (the 2004 Leinster final replay had only 38000 or so at it).
Instead of seeing this as a blip that can happen to any county, the GAA ploughed the millions into Dublin. Since then, they've lost one game in the Leinster championship and, ironically, ensured that they are likely to never see a Leinster championship game fill Croke Park again.

Compare the celebrations from players and fans when Dublin won Leinster in 2005 to those when they won it last year.

It wasn't under threat, it was market share.

I believe the GAA saw the rise of rugby as a major threat.

Soccer has always been hopelessly run.
Hell they never managed to utilise the great world cups or euro appearances in Charltons era to really grow.

Rugby was no longer was just pockets as in Clontarf, Rathfarnham, Blackrock and centred around private schools.
The Leinster brand was beginning to make headway.
(I will admit earlier I said Leinster rugby is centred around Dublin, but they have definitely broadened the appeal to a wider area of the province over the years)
Munster had proven you could start appealing to a wider demographic.

And the GAA didn't want kids buying rugby shirts as opposed to Dublin shirts.
And yes it was about getting big Dublin crowds into Croker.
Trouble is as you said they have created a monster where the crowds know the result beforehand and aren't interested in going anymore.
Likewise TV viewers will fall off a cliff.

The Super 8s were really another money grab by trying to milk as many big games out of the system.
And that has proven to be a bit of a shyte show as well.

Last year Dublin and Cork brought a crowd of 30,000.
In 2018 Dublin Donegal was 53,000.
Dublin Roscommon was 33,000.

In 2018 Dublin Galway semi was 54,000.

In 2019 Dublin Mayo semi was 82,000 purely because it was Mayo they were playing.


BTW all the great clubs in Duiblin pre development funding are still the great clubs, bar maybe the growth of Cuala.

Now the East Leinster seems to be aimed really at the higher population centres and not really at everyone in Leinster.
It is another money grab.
Lets get the kids in larger urban areas especially close to huge cosmopolitan Dublin to play GAA.
Screw the rest of ye.

Did you smash it

ArielAtom wrote: »

Do people realise that the funding and figures that are regularly thrown out actually finished in 2017

So you accuse another poster of lying and only downgrading to talking “ total bollocks “ and you come out with this massive lie yourself.

You’re quite a piece of work.

ArielAtom

Did you smash it wrote: »

So you accuse another poster of lying and only downgrading to talking “ total bollocks “ and you come out with this massive lie yourself.

You’re quite a piece of work.

And you need to understand facts. The figure that are thrown out on the GDF were between 2007 and 2017. If you dont understand a basic timeline, then so be it. Ignore the rest of my post to, Tunnel vision at its finest.

Did you smash it

ArielAtom wrote: »

And you need to understand facts. The figure that are thrown out on the GDF were between 2007 and 2017. If you dont understand a basic timeline, then so be it. Ignore the rest of my post to, Tunnel vision at its finest.

here’s the evidence

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2019/0614/1055359-dublin-funding/

Dublins share of games development funding went up to 22% from 14% in 2018.

ArielAtom

Games development funding figures attached.

largepants

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Is it not more a sign of how far Meath and Kildare have fallen? It is there in black and white 5 losses against weak Leinster teams 2010-2019 and another 3/4 narrow wins/results.

Kildare and Meath are counties in much better financial health than Louth, Wicklow, Longford, Carlow et al.

Do you really want me to analyse the results Kildare and Meath got in thier 'glory years' against the minnows of Leinster?

That Kildare and Meath have let thier standards slip is should be self-evident. Even to the most biased Royal or Lillywhite. Maybe the truth hurts easier to solely blame Dublin to detract attention?

The minnows of Leinster Meath and Kildare have flopped against those minnows 5 times in 10 Championships. But the minnows have less population and less €€€€€€€ so what was the issue?

Other variables perhaps? Poor management, tactics, over confidence ?

Less of your paranoia about anyone solely blaming Dublin. Most reasonable people blame the GAA over this debacle. However most Dubs seem to think it's a personal attack on Dublin GAA.

If I was a GAA player in Kildare, Meath or any other Leinster county I wouldn't be bothered breaking my b***** for 6 months of the year to get hammered by a team who have been financially doped by the national organisation. Absolutely no chance of any championship reward for the 11 other counties in Leinster.

The gap will only get wider as the interest wanes. Personally I'm disgusted by the GAA. I used to follow my country everywhere and it's not about 7/8 years since I've been to an intercounty match. I stick to the club scene now.

Did you smash it

ArielAtom wrote: »

Games development funding figures attached.

So?

These are all 2016, 2017 figures. You said the funding was cut in 2018. Which is a lie. Making you a liar.

Hammer Archer

kksaints wrote: »

Would the replay not have made up for a lot of the shortfall in income?

Possibly for the final. Still had the costs of staging two games to contend with. Also, the Leinster semi final between Westmeath and Wexford attracted only just over 21000. Had Dublin beaten Westmeath, you were probably looking at at least three times that amount.

tritium

Rock77 wrote: »

It’s really quite simple though, as another Dub has already said, Dublin were underachieving until the GAA decided to pump money into them to give them an advantage over the rest. The bucket loads of cash were spent wisely, talented players were coached well and now Dublin are not underachieving anymore.

Kildare are underachieving or ‘extremely poor’ as you put it, so the GAA should.......???

As I said, give them money... simple really. Though if they do piss it away and not actually improve the standard of young player coming through I do wonder what the next complaint would be...

(Actually I don’t, it’s kind of predictable)

kksaints

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Possibly for the final. Still had the costs of staging two games to contend with. Also, the Leinster semi final between Westmeath and Wexford attracted only just over 21000. Had Dublin beaten Westmeath, you were probably looking at at least three times that amount.

Yeah I see that there was separate days for the Semifinals that year compared to the double headers that are common now.

Did you smash it

The biggest GAA town in Kildare is newbridge. Last I heard neither superclub there are taking the option of the 50% funding of GPOs.

Rock77

tritium wrote: »

As I said, give them money... simple really. Though if they do piss it away and not actually improve the standard of young player coming through I do wonder what the next complaint would be...

(Actually I don’t, it’s kind of predictable)

It doesn’t matter what the next complaint is though does it? If the GAA don’t give Dublin an unfair advantage over everyone else and Dublin are still battering everyone then there can be no more legitimate complaints.

Sure, people can still moan that their team is getting hammered by Dublin but at least all you Dubs could say that’s it’s a level playing field..

grbear

I'm trying to listen to RTE GAA podcast about this at the moment and it's infuriating so far. You'd think people are just screaming for John Horan to shove a wad of fifty euro notes into an envelope and send it to Tullamore based on the way McStay and McKeon are talking. Everyone discussing this knows that you can't just throw money at it and assume that'll work, there has to be proper structures in place to try and replicate some elements of the Dublin model in other counties.

Uncle Pierre

Did you smash it wrote: »

The biggest GAA town in Kildare is newbridge. Last I heard neither superclub there are taking the option of the 50% funding of GPOs.

I don't know how many members any "superclub" in Newbridge might have, but I daresay it's short of the 2,000 or 3,000+ members that the "superclubs" in Dublin do.

All well and good to say that the offer of 50% funding for a GPO is there for every club, until you consider how or where an ordinary club is supposed to find 50%.

The Dublin model began with central funding of €25,000 for a GPO, and clubs required to come up with an additional €20,000.

It's a lot easier to find €20,000 if you've got 2,000 or 3,000 members paying an average of €150 to €200 per head for membership, and total annual income from all sources probably close to or maybe even over €1 million.

My own club "could" put up €20,000 to €25,000 (I think €25,000 is the asking price now) for a GPO too, but our total income from all sources (including development grants, which of course are ring-fenced for development only) is only in the region of €100,000 per year. Finding that much extra money for a GPO would be a hell of a tall order.

An argument along the lines of "any club can have a GPO if they want it, why don't they just go ahead and arrange it?" is extremely naive.

the kelt

tritium wrote: »

As I said, give them money... simple really. Though if they do piss it away and not actually improve the standard of young player coming through I do wonder what the next complaint would be...

(Actually I don’t, it’s kind of predictable)

I do chuckle at the usual argument thats put out there that if you give other counties out there more money theyre definitely just going to piss it away because only Dublin know how to spend it properly!

Did you smash it

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

I don't know how many members any "superclub" in Newbridge might have, but I daresay it's short of the 2,000 or 3,000+ members that the "superclubs" in Dublin do.

All well and good to say that the offer of 50% funding for a GPO is there for every club, until you consider how or where an ordinary club is supposed to find 50%.

The Dublin model began with central funding of €25,000 for a GPO, and clubs required to come up with an additional €20,000.

It's a lot easier to find €20,000 if you've got 2,000 or 3,000 members paying an average of €150 to €200 per head for membership, and total annual income from all sources probably close to or maybe even over €1 million.

My own club "could" put up €20,000 to €25,000 (I think €25,000 is the asking price now) for a GPO too, but our total income from all sources (including development grants, which of course are ring-fenced for development only) is only in the region of €100,000 per year. Finding that much extra money for a GPO would be a hell of a tall order.

An argument along the lines of "any club can have a GPO if they want it, why don't they just go ahead and arrange it?" is extremely naive.

My point is the clubs in Newbridge don’t really see the benefit of a GPO that Dublin clubs would. The two clubs in newbridge have large community engagement, a large amount of volunteers and a community steeped in GAA. It’s just interwoven into the fabric of life in newbridge. So paying some outsider to teach kids the basics is not something of major value to them.

In Dublin it’s different. It’s not as GAA centric a society. They had the kids and massive catchment areas but they hadn’t the ease at which to engage with them that is a given in places like newbridge.

That’s why the funding of GPOs and the usefulness in doing so is an extremely complex issue and the vast majority of people, especially within the media, don’t really get it.