National Forum

County Teams Expenditure At €55M Vs Amateur Status?

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Replying To Fionn:  "Just saw a comment by a certain JB regarding a certain coach/advisor/consultant or whatever you care to call it, who left a prominent Inter County setup this week. JB made reference to "Paid Temporary Employee" - his words not mine.

I know this subject has been brought up before but what are County coaches/advisors/consultants currently receiving.

With the recent Parnell's fiasco, Clubs coaches/advisors/consultants are getting well taken care of, also.

Without naming names, what figures are clubs and counties forking out.?"
The dogs in the street know lads are making money. Good luck to them.I was talking to an ex Dub player recently and we were talking about money.He said he did nt realise how much playing for the county helped him financially until he jacked it in. He said the sponsored car the gigs free gym and grub all added up. He said they were nt long taking the sponsered car off him when he retired lol.

brayballer (Wicklow) - Posts: 515 - 17/07/2025 14:18:34    2626260

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Replying To brayballer:  "The dogs in the street know lads are making money. Good luck to them.I was talking to an ex Dub player recently and we were talking about money.He said he did nt realise how much playing for the county helped him financially until he jacked it in. He said the sponsored car the gigs free gym and grub all added up. He said they were nt long taking the sponsered car off him when he retired lol."
All in, a six figure sum is not far off the mark for some.....!

Fionn (Dublin) - Posts: 4835 - 17/07/2025 14:46:58    2626270

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Replying To Fionn:  "All in, a six figure sum is not far off the mark for some.....!"
I would nt be surprised.The players get well looked after which is fair enough but some coaches earning huge bucks too.

brayballer (Wicklow) - Posts: 515 - 17/07/2025 15:23:14    2626276

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Replying To brayballer:  "The dogs in the street know lads are making money. Good luck to them.I was talking to an ex Dub player recently and we were talking about money.He said he did nt realise how much playing for the county helped him financially until he jacked it in. He said the sponsored car the gigs free gym and grub all added up. He said they were nt long taking the sponsered car off him when he retired lol."
All well and good for those putting in the effort in the bigger counties, it's the ones in the 'weaker' counties that deserve even more credit for keeping at it

boxtyburgerbuns (Leitrim) - Posts: 519 - 17/07/2025 15:25:31    2626278

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Replying To boxtyburgerbuns:  "All well and good for those putting in the effort in the bigger counties, it's the ones in the 'weaker' counties that deserve even more credit for keeping at it"
Their supporters are the real die hard GAA intercounty supporters. Proud to support their county with prospect of very few glory days. They deserve more than credit. The current league and championship setup has most of them sure to play a poor standard of football all year long. Because Division 3 and 4 and Tailteann teams get very little media exposure, compared to Dision 1 and 2, All Ireland Series teams, it's harder for them to get better sponsorship deals, harder to raise funds. A few years of the Tailteann where the gap between top standard and lower standard increases every year and less and less mention of the Tailteann, nearly an inconvenience at this stage. The back door championship wasn't ideal but it gave counties a chance to play teams of a higher standard, try to improve. But the GAA bigwigs gave us the current system, sure if you don't finish top 14 in the League ye can always qualify for All Ireland by reaching a provincial final. Ye can lose two or three games and still make the last 12. Plenty more games for television for the bigwigs to sell. The new rules are good but don't hide the fact that for half the counties they'll find it hard to progress if they're not being tested by teams of a stronger standard. Will the interest and motivation for them be as strong by 2030.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8460 - 17/07/2025 16:18:52    2626285

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Replying To boxtyburgerbuns:  "All well and good for those putting in the effort in the bigger counties, it's the ones in the 'weaker' counties that deserve even more credit for keeping at it"
True but all inter county players are well looked after. They are a tiny percentage of the overall majority playing population. Club players are often forgotten. We had a challenge game recently, one of our lads drove down from Dublin on a Tuesday evening after work to play. Two more drove up from Limerick. No car, milage or meal for those lads. Just for the love of the game and the club.

Inter county players are in a very privileged position.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11932 - 17/07/2025 18:59:11    2626309

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At Annual Congress Motion 15 was passed, which introduces an Inter-County Certification System. Which is a similar concept to the UFEA Club Team License.

Which will now require counties to meet conditions of entry to be certified to take part in inter-county competitions. The new System would have two phases - a Pre-Season phase and an In-Season phase.

In the 'Pre-Season' phase, counties would have to meet certain basic requirements before the start of the season, such as:

- Not exceeding the previous years agreed Annual Maximum Expenditure Limit (AMEL) i.e the annual spending of an inter county team excluding players mileage.

- Have a Senior inter-county team manager in place, who has completed a GAA inter-county manager induction course and has appointed backroom teams with qualifications appropriate to their roles.

- Be compliant with player welfare initiatives such as the provision of player GPS data to the central players injury database.

The 'In-Season' phase would require ongoing compliance in several areas, such as:

- Payments to backroom personnel remaining consistent with amateur status rules, i.e people who receive payment greater than expenses for their services should not exceed 10 persons.

- Panel registration requirements, limit on panel size suggested to be 36.

- Strict adherence to any 'return to training' or 'closed season' stipulations, and the recording and sharing of data on player injuries.

Failure to meet these basic requirements could result in the county not being certified to participate in that season's League or Championship until the issues are addressed.

The_viewer (Donegal) - Posts: 30 - 02/03/2026 17:04:51    2659568

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Motion 16 also passed, which updates Rule 1.8 of the Official Guide.

Stating expenses can be claimed in conjunction with playing Gaelic Games as per rates set by Central Council.

And officially states players can benefit directly/personally from endorsements/commercial activities.

And No cash/payments in kind can be accepted by a player, team, official or member in conjunction with the playing of Gaelic games from any party.

But Salaries and wages are allowed to the employees of the association and for games development and approved coaching roles.

The_viewer (Donegal) - Posts: 30 - 02/03/2026 21:19:03    2659629

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