Dublin chief John Costello fears job losses and asset sales over €500k cut in coaching funding

Dublin GAA may have to let employees go and sell assets to offset the gap in funding that will arise for the county after the GAA’s “surreptitious shift” in policy around central coaching and games development grants.

n his annual report to the Dublin convention, John Costello outlines concerns over the new funding model which will see a reduction of €447,978 in their annual subsidy from the GAA for the purposes of sustaining a development infrastructure.

The GAA’s new model, based on a variety of metrics around player participation and numbers of clubs in each county, was to come into force on October 1 but has experienced delays in its implementation.

In pointing out that one of the metrics was the number of male players aged from four to 37, he said it was “important” to note the exclusion of funding for female coaches.

He described this as “alarming when one of the current chief aims of the association, under the leadership of former president Mary McAleese, is to integrate GAA, LGFA and Camogie at all levels.”

Costello said he feared the new model had “overextended itself and lost sight of the original intention of this vital funding stream.”

He expressed how “surprised and disappointed” he was to be informed that the four to 37 age bracket is to be targeted by coaches.

“At a recent meeting attended by the GAA Director of Coaching and Games Development (Shane Flanagan) and the Árd Stiúrthóir (Tom Ryan), we were informed that the Games Promotion Officers (GPOs) should be working at this age cohort,” Costello wrote.

“Without wishing to sound glib, does anyone think that investing in coaching for any 30-something is the best way of spending finances? Will our GPOs be expected to arrange a Go Games programme for over-35s? Are we to develop Tag Camán and Tag Peil programmes? Do we really need to even include 23-year-olds when we are allocating scarce funding resources?” he asked.

The loss of almost half-a-million euro will, he said, “result in the dismantling of the integrated coaching scheme in Dublin, with resulting job losses and redundancies and the sale of assets.”

Costello said participation of young people has always been at the core of Dublin’s coaching philosophy and noted a recent ESRI report by Professor Emer Smyth which drew data from the ‘Growing Up in Ireland Study’ and how research since Covid showed there is a 10pc decline in the numbers of young people taking part in sport. The numbers have gone from 44pc to 34pc, Costello noted.

“Dublin County Board has long preached the participation mantra. Our whole coaching programme is based on getting more young people, male and female, involved in our games,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately in recent times some commentators saw this as a negative thing. But we will never turn our back on young people in the county. We will never stop trying to get them through the gates of our clubs, never stop trying to get them playing our games, never stop trying to get them passionately involved in something that will benefit them physically and mentally for all of their lives.

“Our funding from Central Council and the additional €1.1m annual spend from Dublin County Board resources and €21,600 per club, has always targeted young people, especially primary schoolchildren, where coaching, fun and involvement can have a huge impact.”

Costello said the challenges for Dublin GAA in winning the hearts and minds of young people is as great as it ever was with “growing professional international sport in rugby, the ongoing battle with young people who are attracted by the big names and money of soccer and a plethora of other sports and distractions that are likely to be unique to big cities.”

Meanwhile, Costello has urged RTE to “up its game” and produce a Saturday night highlights show as he mused on the departure of Sky Sports from the broadcasting rights for the next five years.

On the new football championship format he is sceptical, wondering if “there are too many matches to eliminate too few teams?

“Leaving aside that conundrum, is there a bigger picture risk that we’ve conceived a competition with too many matches and that fans won’t fully engage until the knockout business begins?” he asked.

“And what will the implications be for central coffers? Let’s just watch this space and not rush to judgement. What cannot be denied is that something had to give in a scenario where the club game was not getting the respect it deserved.”

Costello has also defended Shane Walsh’s transfer to Kilmacud Crokes during the summer, saying it was common practice for players to move in and out of the capital for work reasons.

He cited the story of Bobby Beggs, the Skerries player who won an All-Ireland with Dublin in 1934, transferred to Galway and won an All-Ireland with them in 1938 before returning to Dublin and winning a third All-Ireland in 1942.

“Imagine that, someone moving location for work reasons?” wrote Costello of Walsh’s move. and how “both the player himself and the Stillorgan club were subjected to some derision.

“At the time, the Dublin County Board were contacted to enquire ‘what are you going to do about it’?. If any player, at any level, whether a very talented one or one less gifted, moves to the country’s capital for work reasons, it is not our role to adjudicate on the matter. That’s an economic reality and has been such since Adam first played peil na nóg in the Garden (of Eden) County.

“Shane Walsh is not the first, to put it mildly, and won’t be the last player from outside of Dublin to transfer into the county for professional reasons.”

Costello voiced support for U-20 inter-county players to be allowed to simultaneously play senior championship. Last season Limerick couldn’t play Cathal O’Neill in the U-20 championship after he had featured for the seniors and it ultimately cost them an All-Ireland title.

“It’s hard to disagree with the sentiments of Limerick manager John Kiely, who argued that burnout was not the issue. “Managements could make this work in the modern era,” he maintained. Unlike the rule itself, which clearly isn’t working.”