The Wexford County Board is in debt to the tune of €108,000 as team expenses have shown a massive increase. Having recorded a surplus of almost €100,000 in 2006, the county's latest financial report has shown a turnabout of close to €200,000 over the year.
The treasurer's report to the recent county convention also revealed county team expenses have risen from €511,177 in 2006 to €679,974 this year. Travelling expenses for players came to €174,498, while catering costs came to €80,000 and hotel expenses to almost €48,000.
The convention was also told the holiday to Miami for the senior hurling and football squads cost €82,000, while in 2006 a figure of almost €5,000 was spent on a holiday in Ireland.
Income from gate receipts for local championship games showed a drop of €90,000, from €464,413 in 2006 to €374,413.
In light of their huge financial burden, a few months back county chairman Ger Doyle ordered a ban on squad training until the new year, citing "player burn-out" as the reason.
The former Meath forward Trevor Giles has been appointed manager of the senior football team of his club, Skryne. Since ending his intercounty career in 2005, the two-times national footballer of the year has continued playing with Skryne and is expected to fill a dual role in the coming season.
Giles will be hopeful of guiding his club to a first county championship success since 2004. This year they got to the quarter-finals and went on to Division One success with a final win over county champions Seneschalstown.
The GAA president, Nickey Brennan, last night admitted he is disappointed the row over the player grants scheme has gone to the Disputes Resolution Authority. But Brennan, in Tyrone to launch the county's five-year strategy, insisted the GAA is a big-enough organisation to accommodate many conflicting opinions and views.
"I would say that I'm disappointed, but at the same time we are an organisation that prides itself on its democracy," he said of the legal challenge to the deal approving the payment of Government grants to the country's top footballers and hurlers.
"There are people who have a passionate view about the thing. We are an organisation which can handle different views. People are entitled to have different views on the matter.
"I, and a lot of others, happen to take an opposite view, that I don't believe it infringes our amateur status, but people hold a passionate view on it, they are sincere about it, and they are certainly no less Gaels than anybody because they hold that view."
Meanwhile, the Tyrone manager Mickey Harte believes Gaelic football should be showcased as an exhibition sport at the Olympic Games. Harte is a long-term opponent of the International Rules concept and wants to see football recognised on the world stage in its own right.
Harte suggested: "I would also call upon the GAA to make a proposal to the International Olympic Committee that Gaelic football become an exhibition sport at the Olympic Games. People will then see the quality of the product that we have and we can then further appreciate the potential of our own games.
"We in the GAA should be promoting Gaelic games as far and as wide as possible. America would seem like a good venue for a world series, bringing people together from Asia, Australia, Ireland, Europe, the Arab states and elsewhere."
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