This article is from page 78 of the 2011-12-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 78 JPG
IN keeping with the harsh economic times that has seen budgets cut across all sectors of society, Clare GAA has continued to slash its expenditure on county teams.
Clare County Board finances for 2011 reveal that expenditure on teams was cut by nearly € 70,000 from the 2010 figure. In the 2011 inter-county year, the sum of € 560,329 was spent on teams, a figure that represents a € 66,904 cut from the expenditure of € 627,233 in 2010.
According to county board sec retary, Pat Fitzgerald there will be more cutbacks to come on team expenditure in 2012 as the executive faces up to what he calls “a bleak financial position” the county board finds itself in. “Over the past two years we trimmed back to the tune of almost € 150,000 on investment in the preparation of county teams and that policy will prevail going forward,” Fitzgerald says in his annual report to Convention.
In 2011, travel expenses made up the bulk of expenditure on teams, with players receiving € 204,209 in expenses during the year, as compared to € 201,432 in 2010.
The main savings were made by the board in the area of catering, gear/ equipment/laundry and buses/overnight stays. The catering bill was cut from € 154,799 in 2010 to € 126,250 in 2011; gear/equipment/laundry reduced from € 105,701 to € 77,053, while expenditure on buses/overnight stays was shaved back from € 42,780 to € 34,959.
The big expense increase for team affairs came in expenditure of training facilities which jumped from only € 3,798 in 2010 to € 13,746 in 2011.