Volunteering for trouble

Business of Sport/Daire Whelan: The annual wild geese migration, also known as the Cheltenham Festival, takes place next week.

Getting bigger and bigger each year, this year's festival will be hitting the headlines for even off-track activities. The following are some of the mind-boggling figures involved in next week's Cheltenham:

£400 million - Estimated off-course betting turnover for the three days of the festival.

£40 million - The turnover for on-course betting.

£20 million - Amount bet per race off course.

£2 million - Amount bet per race at the racecourse.

£2.275 million - Total prize money on offer.

2.3 million - Peak viewing figures for the Gold Cup.

162,000 - Total expected paid attendance for the three days, up 12,000 on 2003 due to the erection of new stands at the racecourse.

125,000 - Pints of Guinness that will be pulled at the racecourse.

7,000 - Numbers travelling from Ireland to the festival. Added to those travelling from England, the Irish attendance will be 20 per cent

1,000 - Members of the press in attendance.

650 - Number of Tote operators. In 2003, Tote operators handled 900,000 transactions with a turnover of a record £10 million.

If the GAA is a house built on the goodwill of those who work for free for the games they love, is that house in danger of collapsing unless measures are taken to secure its future?

Across the water, Tony Blair's government have noted the volunteer sports club helper is falling prey to one of the ills of modern society - namely the compensation claim.A Private Member's bill has been introduced by Conservative MP Julian Brazier in an attempt to stop the increasing amount of injury claims being taken by athletes against their coaches.

The aim is to draw up a certificate of inherent risk which would protect volunteers, coaches and organisations from unreasonable litigation.

So, are we in danger of suffering the same fate in Irish sport? Personal injury claims here have jumped in the last 10 to 15 years, putting us on a comparable ratio to the United States, although claims have decreased in the last reported year to 10,641 in 2002 from a 2001 figure of 12,335.

According to Irish solicitors, the slight dip can be put down to RTÉ Prime Time specials, media focus on bogus claims and the like, but the figures still remain high and it should be pointed out that the vast majority of cases reach out-of-court settlements to avoid negative publicity.

While there is no legal protection for coaches and other volunteers - nor plans to introduce it - apart from the tort of care, attracting people to the voluntary sector is a problem, according to those trying to recruit them. "The overall feeling from organisations is there are fewer volunteers coming forward," said one source.

Time constraints, increased commuting times and longer working hours are all contributing to a fall-off in volunteer numbers, yet remarkably, the single biggest contributing age group is the one usually portrayed as the most selfish - the 20-29 age bracket.

How much longer the voluntary sector will remain committed to giving their time to sport in Ireland remains to be seen. The litigious nature of our society has seen insurance costs for clubs and teams soar in recent years and solicitors admit they are seeing more and more cases taken by injured athletes.

And while it is expected the new Personal Injuries Assessment Board will deal with many of the sports-related claims, it will not hear complex cases, it emerged this week.

Whether litigation and personal injury claims will reach a sufficient level to drastically reduce the numbers involved in sport just for the love of it remains to be seen but if the British experience is anything to go on, we should keep a close eye on off-field matters here.

If indeed Irish sport is built on the sweat and effort of those who give their time freely, some form of legal protection will be needed to ensure the whole lot doesn't come tumbling down.

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"Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate."

Did you know cigarettes are worse than steroids? Well that's the view of Gene Orza, associate general counsel of Major League Baseball's player union.

Since BALCO labs were raided last year a whole can of worms has been opened in the world of baseball, with top stars such as Barry Bonds being named as alleged steroid users.

The shock and horror emanating from the sports media, public and players in America has been nauseating, to say the least. Previously, MLB players looked like Olympic weightlifters and the consequence was home run records were not only being broken but shattered each season. In 1998, Mark McGwire broke the 37-year record of 61 held by Roger Maris, reaching an unbelievable 70.

And then in 2001, the record was upped to an amazing 73 runs. And the man who did it? Barry Bonds.

Now, though, the "outing" of Bonds has led to much public soul-searching, the reality on the ground is the players' union is backing their members - and their multi-million dollar sponsorship deals

Hence Orza's comparison between cigarettes and steroids.

David Hill, Fox Sports chairman and CEO summed it up by saying, "People are going to be saddened by it but I don't think people are going to stop watching".

Of course, Fox are in the fourth year of a six-year $2.5 billion deal to broadcast baseball games.