Lake County’s rising costs

Westmeath GAA spent over €1.2m on county teams in the past year, an increase of over €30,000 on the same figure in 2022.

Team managers and selectors received €160,000 in expenses, it is revealed for the first time.

On top of that, backroom team personnel cost the county €175,000, an increase of €30,000 on the previous year.

The figures have been made public ahead of the county convention, which takes place on Wednesday evening in Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar and may well generate debate among club delegates.

Westmeath received over €748,000 in financial aid from the GAA’s central bodies which played a crucial part in keeping the county afloat. However, the rising costs mean the county cannot sustain the level of expenditure it is currently operating at without major fundraising or financial support from the 47 clubs. On a positive note, they did record a surplus of €28,000 and when compared to a deficit of €66,000 the previous year, it will be considered progress.

"It was a positive year on the financial front," agreed Chairman Frank Mescall ahead of convention.

"The Quid Game money (€170,000) is not showing up, so that will boost it considerably. We are up, only about €60,000, but there is no room for complacency. There was a Sport Ireland grant (€142,000) that won’t be there next year, for example."

In terms of income, they raised over €2.19m this year compared to €1.7m in 2022, but their total expenditure was over €2m. Coaching and games accounted for €580,000 of the spend.

Gate receipts were down by over €50,000 for football championships (€299,000), but the hurling championships raised €20,000 more than the previous year’s €139,000 sum.

Combined, the two championships raised around €460,000, down approximately €30,000 on last year’s figure. Streaming income was up by €5,000 (€46,000 this year), while sponsorships increased to €267,000 from €184,000 in 2022.

Elsewhere, there are minimal changes to the main officers for the year ahead.