It Occurs To Me: Mixed fortunes for GAA

Let’s start with the positives. Donegal’s second half against Monaghan was significant in more ways than one…notwithstanding the whirlwind performance itself, no opposing team will relish meeting one comfortably capable of turning a big half-time deficit into a substantial win. 

In beating Dublin, Kerry and Galway, Meath’s tails are also up and Jim McGuinness most certainly will not be taking them for granted. 

Kerry - O’Shea and the Cliffords in particular - put on one of the most scintillating exhibitions of the year so far. Albeit staunch Donegal supporters, many In-Through people will wish Dessie Farrell well, as his mother Anne (Carr) is a native of Crove and a cousin of Seamus Coleman. 

Dessie Farrell, former manager of the Dublin senior football team, is the son of a Donegal woman

On the negative side, the behaviour of the Mayo County Board who ‘relieved’ Paul McStay of his managerial job smacked of an Elon Musk Doge-type corporate takedown. No matter how football itself is progressing, there is still an overall negativity in some quarters where ‘The Suits’ still prevail. 

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I watched the Prime Time investigation into Parnells club in Dublin. As RTÉ reminded us: In 2008, Parnells GAA club sold lands near Dublin Airport for €22 million, making it the wealthiest of Ireland’s 1,610 GAA clubs. But earlier this year, the 132-year-old club went into liquidation. Prime Time obtained hundreds of internal club documents that help piece together the club’s downfall. Forensic accountant Jim Luby, who has over 30 years' experience, analysed the key files. He said the reasons for the club’s collapse point to "very poor financial management and a business not being properly run".

The collapse of Parnells GAA club was due to "gross incompetence" and "classic financial mismanagement", according to Professor of Corporate Governance at UCD Niamh Brennan, one of the country’s leading corporate governance experts.

Prof Brennan told Prime Time that the Parnells club in Dublin’s Coolock-Artane area was "living beyond its means. The entire case, from what I've seen, is just riddled with incompetence.”

According to former player and executive committee member Greg Walsh: "My opinion is that Parnells, when [the new venue] opened in May 2012, ceased to be a GAA club. It became an entertainment venue from that day... and the football, the sporting end of it was secondary”, and  Professor Brennan added: “It was turned into a hospitality organisation, and that just destabilised the club.”

Former chairman John Byrne was so concerned that he wrote to then President of the GAA Christy Cooney to raise a red flag. The letter, dated 28 April 2011, noted "it is apparent that the financial well-being of the club is at risk". 

“The club managed to spend a total of €3,335,000 over a three-year period on running costs. This is a staggering amount,” Mr Byrne added.

"The threat to the continuing of Parnells as a club is real, and already the club's auditor has expressed concern that the club will not have the funds to complete the hall for which they are contractually obliged to build at a cost of €1 million."

Mr Byrne told Prime Time "nobody came to the rescue. I did have good engagement with Dublin County Board at different stages, trying to get some resolution," he said, adding, "the GAA knew about it. Dublin County Board knew about it. They were signatories of the finances. The grounds and the money were vested in the GAA, so they should have taken better control of it." "There's a line of duty there and responsibility," said Irish Independent GAA journalist Dermot Crowe about the GAA and county board.

"And at the same time, they can't manage or micromanage every situation or be everywhere to put out all the fires. But there is a sense that maybe they sat back a little bit and let Parnells have too much autonomy when the problems were brought to their attention."

"The eye was taken off the ball this time. I think the GAA has a certain responsibility."

As regards ordinary Donegal supporters who couldn’t attend all the matches…I’ve heard from quite a few people whose GAA+ screens buffered to such an extent that viewing was a nightmare. And it wasn’t because of poor Wi-Fi! While RTE were breathlessly announcing that they will broadcast the All-Ireland Senior, Intermediate, and Premier Junior Camogie Finals live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player as part of a multi-year deal, ensuring free-to-air access for these games. Additionally, RTÉ will provide coverage of other GAA championships, including the Tailteann Cup. Would it have been too much too much to ask to broadcast Donegal V Louth and the Monaghan game on previous Saturdays? Let’s have ‘free-to-air access’ for those crucial games that the majority would like to see!

                                        The gravy train

One journalist who has been consistent in his concerns about GAA coverage is Eamonn Sweeney in the Sunday Independent. Under a headline which read: “The RTÉ gravy train is the racket which never stops giving. It isn’t worth one cent of an Irish sports fan’s money”, he quoted Fergal Lynch, sports editor of the Meath Chronicle, who asked why Meath’s crucial qualifier match against Kerry wasn’t being shown anywhere.

“If RTÉ or GAA+ couldn’t be arsed to show certain games then what harm would it be to let Clubber provide coverage at a PPV cost. Clubber provides a great service and I’m sure Meath fans in hospitals, nursing homes and abroad would love to watch their team play.”

The snottery response from RTÉ Head of Sport Declan McBennett read: “Maybe as a sports ‘editor’ you might want to do some journalism and ask questions as to why as opposed to playing to the gallery. If you did you would see it’s for contractual reasons, nothing to do with being ar**d. More games than ever available via RTÉ GAA+ TG4 and BBCNI.”

As Eamonn reminds us: “That response tells us a lot about RTÉ in general and RTÉ Sport in particular. Lynch works for a local newspaper battling, as most papers are, to keep afloat in a turbulent media environment. McBennett works for an organisation bankrolled by enormous amounts of public money. Lynch’s wages are funded voluntarily by those who buy the Meath Chronicle. The Government compels the public to pay McBennett’s. Given the advantages he and those who work in RTÉ enjoy compared to media employees elsewhere, you might expect some humility. Not a bit of it. Lynch isn’t a sports editor, he’s a sports ‘editor’ apparently.

You’ll notice he didn’t engage with Lynch’s actual question about why a game nobody else was showing couldn’t have been provided to another platform. He waved this away with a mention of ‘contractual arrangements’.”

Sweeney ended with a telling riposte: “RTÉ are suiting Croke Park rather than the viewers.”

                                The colours of the 12th!

On Saturday 12th July, one major Orange colour absent from the roads will be Armagh supporters! Let’s hope the Tyrone ‘wans’ manoeuvre a safe passage on their journeys through certain towns in the Red Hand county. ‘Detours’ come to mind!                                      

                                                      Ballymena pride?

I see where a man is due in court after spreading slurry in Ballymena before the Pride march. (By the time you read this, he may have been there.) This is the same town where innocent immigrants had to hang Union Jacks and Ulster in their windows in the hope that they wouldn’t be burned out by racist thugs. It’s not an exaggeration to suggest that the County Antrim town - once lauded as ‘law abiding’ because it was a Paisley stronghold - is full of s..t!

                                     Daddy thinks he’s God!

If Mark Rutte of Nato had extended his tongue anymore for ‘Daddy’ Trump, he could have ‘licked’ Russia singlehandedly overnight! Also, according to Mary Trump, “The problem is not that Donald doesn’t believe in God; it’s that he’s a hypocrite and he is a user. He believes in one higher power only and, in his head, that’s him”.