All Ireland finals earn GAA nearly £4 million

THE THREE All Ireland finals (including the football replay) brought in almost £4 million to the GAA last year. The two football matches realised gate receipts of more than £2.5 million.

Attendances at matches continued to rise, with almost 1,000,000 attending the Provincial and All Ireland series of championship matches last year.

The All Ireland hurling final between Wexford and Limerick brought in a gate of £1,271,881, the drawn Meath Mayo football final £1,256,455 and the replay £1,270,582.

The GAA yesterday published a 23 page set of accounts for 1996 which will be presented to its annual congress in Dublin next month. The accounts of central council show that matches held under their jurisdiction realised an income of £5,913,507.

When additional incomes, under headings such as advertising, TV income, sponsorship, and Government grants, are added total revenue comes to £8,415,546.

Total expenditure by the central council for the year was £4,757,634, giving an operating surplus of £3,657,912.

The financial report, which will come before the annual congress of the GAA at Easter, shows that gate receipts account for 70.3 per cent of income. A total of 17.1 per cent comes from commercial activity and 12.6 per cent from media and other income.

The GAA's financial controller, Frank Tierney, said yesterday that the accounts show that the association is in a very strong position. "It is a very nice position to be in," he said. "Apart altogether from income, we see that attendances are continuing to rise."

The motions to be put before congress were also published yesterday. Congress will be asked "to deplore the ambivalent attitude of the Government to British intransigence" in regard to the partial occupation by the British Army of the Crossmaglen club's grounds in Armagh.

The motion, a hardy annual at congress for about 20 years, will gain some added potency this year because of the victory of Crossmaglen Rangers in the All Ireland club football championship final last Monday.

The problems surrounding the playing of games in New York by people normally resident in Ireland is likely to cause some heated debate and there are no fewer than seven motions on the agenda attempting to address this problem. The motions come from New York, Mayo, Clare (three motions) and the North American board.

Questions about the suspension of players have also be referred to central council by a number of counties, with Tyrone, Dublin and Clare all suggesting the establishment of a committee to look at the problem. Sligo want the umpires in All Ireland finals to be qualified senior referees, Wicklow want the rules in regard to the quarter finals in the National Leagues to be changed, while Clare want the National Hurling League to be completed before the championship begins.