RTÉ.ie are reporting this morning that the Offaly county board chairman Padraig Boland, has come out strongly in opposition to the proposed changes to the National Hurling League calling them ‘“totally unfair”, “about money” and would not be on the table if Cork had not been relegated’.
He went on to say that the changes would only benefit the bigger counties and is adamant that Cork’s relegation led to the proposals, stating that “This is about the big boys dictating to the little boys. It’s very similar to what the English and French rugby clubs are at – it’s about money.”
He highlights the disparity in income that exists between counties, “Dublin have been looking for and valuing their sponsorship at €2.5m, and counties like Offaly are not in the same league as that’.
Wexford GAA also believes that there very real concerns about the financial impact of these proposals, a fact further underlined by a quick look at the dispersal of income for the 2012 National Hurling League. In 2012 Kilkenny received €112,000 from the national league, while Laois, Offaly & Wexford collectively received circa €15,000. For counties that are working hard to promote the game and close the gap with the top teams, such a structural disparity in funding and fundraising potential is a real concern. It costs circa €250,000 to prepare a team to the standard required to compete and removing Cork and Limerick from 1B will further erode its revenue generating potential.
As the Offaly Chairman said, counties like Wexford and Offaly “Already we have a disadvantage at that level and to heap further disadvantage on us they’re going to give greater games, more of those games to what they consider to be the top eight teams in the country and the rest of us can go and play each other as much as we like because we’re going to be kept in that little box.”
