Madness re those funding numbers.

I would love to hear a good, detailed interview with Willie Ruane on the future vision for Connacht.

He has been quiet, working away in the shadows, but it would be good to hear a bit on the long terms plans for the province.

In terms of on the pitch, we fight well above our station with a successful academy and good coaching.

But we do have a gap in infrastructure and training facilities compared with the other provinces.

So, the horses and the dogs get more than DOUBLE the funding of the entire Irish Sports Council?

And people are complaining about water charges, eh?

In 2011 €57 million was made available from the exchequer to the horse and greyhound fund established under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001 to support these industries. This Act determines that 100 per cent of the receipts from levies placed on bets in Ireland goes to this fund, regardless of what the bet is placed on. About 80 per cent of the fund benefits Horse Racing Ireland, which oversees a prize money fund 60 per cent higher than that of the UK.
Compare that with the funding of the Irish Sports Council, which last year amounted to €25.6 million for 57 national governing bodies, 32 local sports partnerships and 18 high-performance sports.

Absolutely mental

He welcomed additional funding of €2.75m for the greyhound racing industry this year to bring its annual exchequer funding to €13.6m.

Hold on.......greyhound racing gets 13.6 MILLION euro......from Irish tax payers....that is scandalous :dry:

I actually like a night at the dogs, and having family involved in it, but how is that not more widely known as I find it incredible :oops:

Wait, so the GAA, the FAI and the IRFU together get 7.4 million, and the dogs get 13.6 million?! When you factor in the beer sales from the main stand, they're robbing us blind!!

sea_point wrote:

He welcomed additional funding of €2.75m for the greyhound racing industry this year to bring its annual exchequer funding to €13.6m.

That's absolutely bananas.


2014: FAI, GAA and IRFU see sports council funding cut by 5%

For the third year running the organisations which govern the three main team sports in this country – the FAI, GAA and IRFU – have had to accept a 5 per cent reduction in their funding from the Irish Sports Council following the announcement of a €7.4 million investment package from the Government yesterday.

This annual funding from the taxpayers, announced by Minister of State for Sport Michael Ring at the Aviva Stadium yesterday, is targeted at grassroots GAA, football and rugby through programmes aimed at encouraging more opportunities for young people to take part in field sports.

The package is worth €2.4 million to the GAA, €2.7 million to the FAI and €2.36 million to the IRFU.

Heno97 wrote: Perhaps the Dogs could move out to to the Racecourse,like its done in Dundalk? I don't have much of a problem with the track,we're closer to the pitch than they are in Glasgow anyway.If the dogs want to come to a hypothetical new stadium with Connacht,let them,it'll be a new design anyway.

I don't see why the Galway FA would contribute to a new stadium.The biggest crowd Galway United can attract is about 5,000 and their average is about 1,200,in league with an average of 1,500. The GAA seem quite limited in what they can do with Pearse Stadium and besides the odd match against Mayo their attendance is quite low,maybe they'd be a better target? (If the old rule can be broken)

The docks sounds like a great idea,if the Sportsground was sold it would probably generate quite a bit of Cash but that leaves the problem of OLBC and training grounds for Connacht. If Musgrave can find funding we should be able too, I wouldn't mind heading out to LifeStyleSports stadium if it got the place built

It may just be a case of bide your time for Connacht Rugby & the IRFU.

Interesting article I found form Irish Examiner from Nov last November about the continuing fall of attendances at Greyhound Meets in Ireland...

Celtic Tiger was probably not a good thing for Dog Tracks, the gentrification of the country is killing off their clientele. And while an evening at the dogs with friends can be fun, a glamorous evening out it ain't..

Crowds at Irish greyhound stadiums fall again according to 2014 figures
Monday, November 16, 2015 Seán McCárthaigh

Attendance at greyhound meetings continued to decline last year at a time when the industry faced criticism over its corporate governance, doping controls, and animal-welfare sanctions.

A total of 644,839 people attended race nights at the country’s 17 greyhound tracks in 2014 — down more than 43,000 on the previous year’s figures and a drop in annual attendance of 6.2%.

The average attendance at greyhound meetings last year was just 371, down from 392 in 2014.

Bord na gCon — the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) — said the falling attendance figures had a knock-on effect on track operations and tote performance.

In its annual report for 2014, the board reported total prize money had been reduced by 5.8% to €7.4m.

The commercial semi-state body, which is responsible for the control and development of the greyhound industry, said it had to reluctantly reverse its decision to increase prize money in January 2013 and reduce it back to 2012 levels. However, the value of sponsorship remained effectively unchanged at almost €880,000.

The board recorded an operating surplus of €319,609 from its racing activities covering 1,736 meetings last year, down from over €1.3m in 2013.

The IGB derives its funding from the exchequer as well as admission fees to greyhound stadiums, concession fees from restaurants, as well as a percentage of the tote turnover and on-course bookmaker betting.

Turnover from the tote fell by 7%, or €1.5m, to €19.9m, while bookmaker income was down over 19% to €212,144. Income from track attendances held up better falling just over 1% to €4.9m.

Its net bank borrowings increased by €600.000 to €22.4m, while the IGB said it had significantly advanced funding proposals to address a €10.4m deficit in its defined pension scheme.

Looking ahead, the board said it expects an improved financial performance as a result of “the internationalisation of the Irish racing product” through greater streaming and sale of TV rights.

The IGB is also proceeding with the sale of core and non-core assets, which is expected to include its stadium at Harold’s Cross in Dublin and its former head office at Henry St, Limerick, to eliminate bank borrowings and increase prize funds.

The sale of any of its properties is subject to the consent of Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who said recently that he had not yet received such a request from the IGB.

Bord na gCon chairman Phil Meaney said 2014 had been a difficult trading year for the industry. However, he said the organisation had also begun processes of significant strategic change that will allow it to develop an environment whereby stakeholders can apply their trade with increasing certainty and confidence.

Business at the country’s main greyhound stadium, Shelbourne Park is continuing to improve this year, although Mr Meaney acknowledged the performance of regional venues is “challenged”.

He welcomed additional funding of €2.75m for the greyhound racing industry this year to bring its annual exchequer funding to €13.6m.

Here are it's submissions
€3.00 to look at its accounts

Galway Agricultural and Sports Society Limited is listed as a Friendly Society. How something can be both a Limited Libality Company, I don't know - BUT they do exist.

Number 1749 R
Address THE SPORTSGROUNDS
COLLEGE ROAD
GALWAY
Entity Type Industrial and Provident
Date Registered 03/08/1926
Last Annual Return Year 2013
Last Triennial Return Year 2012

If it had charitable status would it be on a separate register?

The Galway Agricultural & Sports Society Ltd don't exist. If they were a company they would have to be registered with the Companies Registration Office. Searching their DB turns up nothing similar to "The Galway Agricultural & Sports Society Ltd".
The closest was GALWAY AGRICULTURAL ACCOUNTS LIMITED, but that was dissolved in 1989...
Nothing relating to "Sportsground" turns up in Galway either

It's all very mysterious. Whoever owns it is very quiet about it, as every bit of public info says "The Galway Agricultural & Sports Society Ltd", which doesn't exist as a legal company in Ireland. Would love to know who gets paid for the lease.

Only way I see us ever moving from the Sportsground is if the City of Galway build a municipal stadium for a number of organisations to use, (something like Scotstoun with the athletes track)
Sportsground could still be Administered / training base but games played at new location.
It is a catch 22 situation. Without Connacht Rugby the whole financial operation of the Sportsground is questionable but I can't see the City building a stadium if a direct result was the closure of the Dog track.
Other option is to sit tight, wait for the Dogs to go bust or loose funding and then take over the head lease from the Sportsground Trust.

How smug would we be if we had a roofed stadium though

I love roof on the Stadion GKS-u Jastrzębie (The 3rd Submission)
Roof would need to be another 10-15m though, has to be about 35m high as highest observed "garryowen" is 29.4m
I don't know why I'm getting so specific it's never going to happen

The 9000 seater bozic stadium in Hungary is gorgeous

Darragh wrote: Apologies if it has been asked before, but who does own the Sportsground or what is the arrangement?

It was out of date as a ground in the 90's, never mind today!!!

Owned by "The Galway Agricultural & Sports Society Ltd."- The Greyhounds and Connacht are tenants


For those who enjoy some Stadium Porn there are few nice 10,000 capacity stadiums here