Sports Development and funding in Ireland....

[Rebel Yell]

Thought this deserves a thread all of it's own...following on from the rugby thread that sparked it.....

Apparantly the drop-off rate of players in the senior cups progressing to senior provincial level is extremely high. It was mentioned in the paper lsat week.

It is worrying alright, but in fairness, comparing us to NZ is not really fair. The sport is number 1 there, it's 4th here.

I do agree that the IRFU need to sort it out though. There's definitely loads of room for improvement.

It's just the same for nearly all sports in this country...our very best young hopes...in rugby, soccer, athletics etc either have to fight for scholarships/ contracts abroad...or else rely on the odd handout (if they are lucky) from our miserly sports grant system....did anyone see the recent grants handed out to our top athletes for this year??? Even our elite - Gillian O'Sullivan, Adrian O'Dwyer receive less than €20,000 per year!!! fellas like James Nolan got nowt!!!
Disgraceful....they actually printed the complete list of who got what...just to reiterate....we have guys and gals who are in the top 10 or 20 in Europe/World who are getting paltry amounts or absolutely nothing!!!!!!! How the hell do we expect them to develop at all???

It really pissed me off looking at that list....we had current and former World and European champions and silver/bronze medallists in the first 20 names I read, and a number of our best future hopes....and yet the grant they were getting would barely cover their travel expenses for the year if they wished to compete at most major events they were eligible for!!!!!

Athletics is just an example...I'd be here all day if I started on the other sports...we may have a great economy and have delusions of being a great place to live.....but our standard of facilities for all sports in this country are sub-standard and in most cases shocking!!! Croker aside, we have not even one decent sports arena of any sort that could be compared favourably with almost any other developed country, and we are a good way behind even some third world countries!!!

It angers me greatly, working in the fitness arena, and being a sports fanatic....
We're in the Dark ages here folks, the fucking Dark ages!!!

[Out da Lough Like]

Thought this deserves a thread all of it's own...following on from the rugby thread that sparked it.....



It's just the same for nearly all sports in this country...our very best young hopes...in rugby, soccer, athletics etc either have to fight for scholarships/ contracts abroad...or else rely on the odd handout (if they are lucky) from our miserly sports grant system....did anyone see the recent grants handed out to our top athletes for this year??? Even our elite - Gillian O'Sullivan, Adrian O'Dwyer receive less than €20,000 per year!!! fellas like James Nolan got nowt!!!
Disgraceful....they actually printed the complete list of who got what...just to reiterate....we have guys and gals who are in the top 10 or 20 in Europe/World who are getting paltry amounts or absolutely nothing!!!!!!! How the hell do we expect them to develop at all???

It really pissed me off looking at that list....we had current and former World and European champions and silver/bronze medallists in the first 20 names I read, and a number of our best future hopes....and yet the grant they were getting would barely cover their travel expenses for the year if they wished to compete at most major events they were eligible for!!!!!

Athletics is just an example...I'd be here all day if I started on the other sports...we may have a great economy and have delusions of being a great place to live.....but our standard of facilities for all sports in this country are sub-standard and in most cases shocking!!! Croker aside, we have not even one decent sports arena of any sort that could be compared favourably with almost any other developed country, and we are a good way behind even some third world countries!!!

It angers me greatly, working in the fitness arena, and being a sports fanatic....
We're in the Dark ages here folks, the fucking Dark ages!!!


What about the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, or Semple Stadium in Thurles?

Thomond Park is being redeveloped as well, and Pairc Ui Rinn isn't too bad either.

And Lansdowne road is being redeveloped as well.

We only have four million people in the country. What bout Nemo Rangers new complex, and even Sarsfields in Glanmire?

[Rebel Yell]

What about the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, or Semple Stadium in Thurles?

Thomond Park is being redeveloped as well, and Pairc Ui Rinn isn't too bad either.

And Lansdowne road is being redeveloped as well.

We only have four million people in the country. What bout Nemo Rangers new complex, and even Sarsfields in Glanmire?

The GAA is making money, but is still a largely amateur organisation, and they have done well over the years. they play by their own rules!!! thank God for that...or we'd have nothing at all ....
but even with grounds like Thomond ...the development is mostly minimal, and still a long way off the standard of similar size stadia of similar profile teams in most countries!!!!

As for Lansdowne...about time don't you think????? Mind you, I won't be holding my breath on a completion date for that either!!!

Anyway, stadia aside...I'm far more concerned with the development of the young hopefuls......and the lack of any proper facilities for them...I know, I know, it's in the pipeline....blah blah...and it has been for years...

I went to college in Wales.....the National Sports Centre in Sofia gardens in Cardiff was not a huge place, but was mind blowing compared to what was available in this country...and that was back in 1995 FFS !!!!

I'm going to stop now.....I could rant on and on...but the weekend is approaching and i don't want to blow a gasket!!!!

[POL]

if there was no GAA, could you imagine what the sporting infrastructure of this country would be like? until recently the government had no sporting policy and had fuckall intention of doing anything about it, the GAA provided all they needed, which is a fucking joke.

[Rebel Yell]

if there was no GAA, could you imagine what the sporting infrastructure of this country would be like? until recently the government had no sporting policy and had fuckall intention of doing anything about it, the GAA provided all they needed, which is a fucking joke.

Exactly...and they will continue to ride on the GAA's back for as long as they can....mind you, I think the GAA has every right to charge the others top dollar for the use of Croker....everyone is winning after all !!! Pity that none of the money garnered by the other organisations will be used for player development!!! But, at least one hopes that they will get Lansdowne right!!! Fingers crossed!!!

Sean Kelly will be a loss when his term ends this year...that fella deserves huge credit for the way he has helped change a lot of the old thinking in GAA circles....his appearances at Munster rugby games etc has done nothing but good and reflects the typical Irish sports fan in its truest sense!!!

He got a special award there from the GAA...modelled on an All-Star award...He will certainly be mentioned in Irish History books for the next generations!!!!

[Coin]

What Irish sport would be like without the GAA is an interesting question. There are complaints there about various athletes who are in the top 10 or 20 of their respective sports being given paltry amounts. People seem to find it very difficult to understand that our top 2 sports are not played by any other countries, and the biggest chunk of public funding will go into the biggest sports. By public funding, I mean government money plus money raised by sponsors, pub quizes, raffles and whatever other ways that sports have of getting in cash. You take away the GAA, and there's a huge extra amount of cash to be spread over the other sports. And remember as well, that if the GAA had never existed, most of its members would be involved in other sports, so they would be there to raise funds and carry out the organisation stuff. The GAA is the biggest organisation, so its no surprise that it has the best facilities, and the other sports are in the ha'penny places. If public money was diverted away from the GAA to other sports, there would be war.





!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!

[afeencalleddan]

I know, ffs like. How can our best athletes find the money to buy drugs so that they can compete at the highest level when the government is not giving to them?

[Out da Lough Like]

Well, in fairness to Bertie Ahern he wanted to build a state of the art sports campus for one billion euro in Abbottstown but the Labour Party, Fine Gael and the PDs were all against it.


Then they have the cheek to go on about "wasting money."

[Rebel Yell]

Derval O'Rourke....a case in point....€12,000 a year she gets in grant money from our sports fund...12 measly grand......and she is the best example of a young talented top class athlete we have in this country...she has been performing brilliantly on the international stage all through her student days and underage career....she goes out and wins the gold on saturday in the world indoor champs....she is exactly the kind of athlete whose development should be looked after better in this country.

Thank God she has an abundance of talent and determination to succeed against the odds here!!!!

[Proinsias]

I don't know about the other sports, but rugby gives out a lot of development contracts every year, and we have a massive professional playing base compared to the number of players we have.

The development contracts pay out about

[Langer Dan]

What about the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, or ?

?

the Limerick co. board raised the money for that with a healthy chunk contributed by JP mcmanus.

The GAA, Govt had fuck all to do with it.