The release of the annual accounts in Meath GAA led to some interesting conversations last week, with it being revealed that they spent over €100,000 on 'managers and selectors' in 2023.
That figure related to their two senior inter-county teams, with the Gaelic footballers spending €76,123 and the hurlers using the other €24,703. There was also a detailed breakdown of the other spending throughout the year, including €347,313 spent on 'backroom team personnel' for their senior and underage sides.
Some have questioned the spending of such large sums of money, but Colm O'Rourke believes that those amounts pale in comparison to what is being spent elsewhere.
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Meath manager questions spending reports in other counties
Meath experienced some success in both codes in 2023. Their footballers would win the Tailteann Cup and retain their place Division 2, while the hurlers would win both the Christy Ring Cup and Division 2B of the National Hurling League.
Those prolonged campaigns likely played a part in the increase in spending in comparison to 2022, with Colm O'Rourke saying he actually expected the final 'managers and selectors' expenses would be even higher considering the work that was put in.
Speaking to Off The Ball, he also questioned why some other counties did not give a detailed breakdown of their spending in the manner Meath did.
There is a more detailed line by line expenditure explanation now. I suppose the one that caught the eye wasn't the spending on the team, but the spending on the management group. People are making something of that.
If you have six people involved in management and two of them are travelling from outside the county, then you have sort of €70,000 in vouched expenses, I thought it would actually be more.
I know myself between matches, training sessions, meetings, third level games, meeting up with players, I put in over 20,000 kilometres in the last year. It's not surprising when you multiply that by six.
I think we were quite low compared to a lot of counties. A lot of other counties didn't have an explanation at all, so maybe they were the ones with something to hide. Meath certainly didn't.
A number of counties have released their accounts for 2023 in recent weeks, some of which did not include detailed breakdowns of their spending in the manner that we saw from Meath.
Mayo and Louth were among the counties to publish their accounts so far, with the Connacht side experiencing a 14 per cent increase in their spending compared to 2022. Louth would confirm an outlay over €120,000 on their senior football management team.
Wicklow confirmed an increase in spending of over €432,000 on their inter-county teams in comparison to 2022, with their treasurer saying costs were close to 'spiralling out of control'.
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