The Kerry GAA bank debt as of 30th September 2021 is 2.2 million euro. However there’s 1.7 million in the bank so there’s a net debt of just over 550 thousand.
The balance sheet position has been further enhanced in the current year due to 1.138 million grants from Munster Council and Croke Park.
The 2021 Financial Treasurers Report for Kerry GAA lists an operating cash profit of 505 thousand euro, compared to an operating cash loss of 97 thousand from 2020.
The report details how Kerry GAA spent 730 thousand euro on preparing teams. In 2019 it was 1.4 million.
The Kerry GAA store has seen a net return of 173 thousand euro.
Ground maintenance continues, with works totaling 135 thousand euro being spent, down from 200 thousand last year.
Central Council Championship, National League, and Provincial share out has been reduced for a second year due to restrictions on attendances at games, falling from 402 thousand euro to 362 thousand.
Full Financial Treasurers Report 2021
Last year when I reflected on our 2020 accounts, I spoke about the difficult decisions that would face us in 2021 with the remaining uncertainty of the pandemic and the effect it would have on our association, not only on the playing field but with regard to our finances.
There is not one single unit of our organisation that has not felt the sharp impact from the downturn in finance. Be it a club having to cancel club fundraisers, reduced ability in selling lotto tickets or even losing out on club gates. We have all had to rethink and adapt the best we can in a new way of doing things.
Despite all this I am delighted to be able to report to you this evening that with some heavy lifting and difficult decisions we will be reporting an operating cash profit of €505K compared to an operating cash loss of €97K from 2020.
A figure that appears even stronger considering that we are only operating on an 11-month year to bring our accounts in line with Croke Park’s September 30th deadline and do not take into account many of the gate receipts from our county football and club championships.
However, despite a shorter year with only eleven months we have never worked harder to keep the financial account ship afloat with a daily “watch and see” brief especially in the uncertain times that remain with the shadow of Covid and, possible further lockdowns still looming large in our society.
Not unlike the difficulties that you have faced in your clubs with the abandonment of many fundraising initiatives, we too have lost many of our yearly events and have only one fundraising event running currently - The Win A House with Kerry GAA.
I would urge people to get behind the organising committee and try to do the very best that we can in the months that remain up to the end of April 2022 to make the most of it to deliver the finance that we will need to bedrock a lot of expense into the future.
Gate Receipts and Live Streaming Income
With the restructuring of the 11-month year along with the restrictions on attendances in the 2021 championships we have seen our normal steady gate receipts fall off the cliff. However, with the added revenue from our streaming services which continues to grow at a steady pace, returns an Income figure for €226K, marginally up on 2020 but this figure is still less than half of what we achieved in 2019 with a €514K retuned just for gate receipts.
Central Council, National League and Provincial Share
Central Council Championship, National League, and Provincial share out has been reduced for a second year due to restrictions on attendances at games falling from €402K (2020) to €362K (2021)
Commercial Income
Our commercial growth has continued to build over the years and I am delighted to report that not only have we grown, fostered, and developed strong relationships with annual associate sponsors but the success story that has been the Kerry GAA store has really been a bedrock of our commercial income.
This year our store in Killarney has seen a net return for Kerry GAA of €173K with the new release of our commemorative jersey pushing this figure northwards. I want to thank Dr Richard McElligott for providing the contextual history behind the jersey which proved a real winner during the summer with young and old alike.
I want to commend Store Manager Luke Quinn and his staff who kept the show going with click and collect during the lockdown and I want to thank the GAA Store committee of Liam Chute, John O Leary, and John Joe Carroll for all their guidance throughout the year.
I want to thank Kerry Group for their continued support of Kerry GAA over the years and again in 2021 it was no different. We are very appreciative of having such a world market leader as our main sponsor.
We are also delighted to have many more associate sponsors who all play other vital roles in keeping our competitions going as well as vital links in supporting our games.
I want to thank all those involved with O Neill’s, Garvey’s SuperValu, Kerry Petroleum, Acorn Life Chapter 23 Credit Union, Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin, Atlantic Oils, The Meadowlands, The Brehon Hotel, Lee Strand, Horan’s Health Stores, Greenway Health & Hygiene, Walsh Print, Dingle Gin, Paul Geaney’s Dingle, Kelliher’s Toyota Tralee, Ballyseedy Garden Centre, Salessense, Ballygowan and Kerry County Council for supporting our online Water break championship programme which saw 113,00 people tune in over a ten week run.
There is no limit to the possible growth of commercial income, but we need to be mindful and acknowledge the continuous support of these sponsors who over the years have shown valuable financial support to Kerry GAA.
Fundraising
Even in the best of times the word fundraiser can draw a few groans but in these current times in which all events need to be Covid compliant it has proved very difficult for us to complete many of our annual events which are always so well supported.
In 2021 we saw the cancellation of the annual Night of Champions once again as well as a number of our other regular fundraisers.
It was with this in mind as well as the considerable mounting financial challenges approaching us for 2022 that we decided the run with the Win A House in Killarney with Kerry GAA under the chairmanship of Patrick O’Sullivan.
Over the last few months Patrick and his committee have been working hard in an exceptionally crowded area with many organisations running a number of high profile draws as well.
However, we all need to row in behind this draw as we need to get over the line and make it profitable considering that we do not have another fundraiser planned for the time being.
The prize is simply fantastic and the money at the end of the draw is simply crucial for Kerry GAA.
I would urge all Kerry GAA supporters near and far to get in behind this fundraiser.
Coaching and Games
Coaching & Games Development continues to provide high quality coaching to our clubs, schools, coaches and MTU Tralee. With eight full-time coaches employed, Donal Daly and his team provide the necessary coaching structures and support systems to ensure all our clubs and schools are provided with the highest coaching standards.
The growth in this sector has increased massively over the years.
Last year due to the restrictive nature of the lock down we saw a decrease in Cul Camp activity but luckily with the ease of restrictions through the summer months in 2021 we saw more participants allowed at the popular camps. This led to a total income of just over €250K up €54K from last year.
Apart from the good news of the financial increase it was great to see our fields back to activity with the next generation of players both in hurling and football taking to their local club pitches.
While the uncertainty of Covid still hung over these events, the constant backdrop of sanitizing and social distancing took place.
I want to thank all those who helped this year especially with providing the additional help when it came to ensuring Covid compliance.
Team Training Expenses
The continued savings in preparing teams since 2019 has simply been phenomenal. In 2019 Kerry GAA spent €1.4M on preparing our teams. This year it is €730K. Much of these savings has been down to the cooperation of team managers who like everyone else have had to tighten the belt when it comes to sharing a financial burden. We really have only been spending what we have been generating.
Much of this saving was made due to the shortened year with the GAA enforced closed season due to Covid with all our players having to train at home.
Even with this backdrop we featured in two Joe McDonagh Cup finals in the last 11 months along with a delayed All Ireland Minor Football Final.
We continue to monitor with a watchful eye areas in which we can make savings and have over the year spoken with managers to help us do this. In fairness our managers are appreciative of the difficult financial times we are in and last year helped us carry this burden to ensure we kept our heads above water.
With this in mind we will continue to invest in our players. We will not be found wanting as a Board in putting in place the best systems available so that our players across all the training groups receive the best not only in training but in all the additional supports that are now needed in bringing players onto the highest performance level so that we can compete with the best on the most important days of all.
Ground Maintenance
This year we continue to maintain our facilities with works totalling €135Kbeing spent, down from the €200K that we spent last year in maintenance of our grounds. These works are vital to maintaining the pitches that provide the training hub for all our county teams and development squads.
Along with this, It is our hope that we keep investing in all our five venues, MTU Tralee, Austin Stack Park, Fitzgerald Stadium, Currans and Caherselee as they remain vital resources in preparing teams as well as providing first class venues for our club games.
I want to thank Aileen Foley, Tom Lonergan and John Daly (Centre of Excellence), Tony O’Keeffe, Eamonn O’Sullivan, groundsman Ger O’Mahony and the Austin Stack Park committee for maintaining our facilities to the highest standards.
I also want to compliment Der Brosnan and his committee in Fitzgerald Stadium for similarly doing the same great work in Killarney.
This year we saw the retirement of John Lenihan and I wish to thank him and wish him all the best for the future.
I would like to welcome Theresa Anne O’Mahony to her new post at Fitzgerald Stadium. Meanwhile Joe Wallace continues to tackle his workload at Caherselee with great enthusiasm.
Kerry Supporters Club
Each year at this stage I get a chance to thank our wonderful Kerry Supporters Club who always help out with fundraising. Not unlike most things many of the events that they would help us out in were cancelled due to Covid. But regardless it is necessary to recognise their efforts and support both to the players and the wider Kerry GAA community.
Financial Expenses
Interest payable of €61K is detailed in Note 2 with €57K interest representing Bank Interest on our capital borrowings. Administration expenses of €101K are well reduced from the 2020 figure of €187K.
Bank Debt
Our Bank Debt as of 30th September 2021 is €2.2M however you will notice from our Balance Sheet that we presently have €1.7M in the Bank which shows a Nett debt of just over €550K.
It must be stated that this figure is for an 11-month calendar year which in any normal year would take the financial Income from our County football championships, which is not included. A figure of €83K is included from our successful County Hurling Championship which happened late in the summer.
If the 2021 Senior Football Championship gates figure was to be included, then we would be reporting a break-even figure to you this evening.
The Balance Sheet position has been further enhanced in the current year due to €1.138M of grants made up of €830K from Munster Council and the remainder from Croke Park. This funding from Croke Park has enabled us to make the contribution to the MTU project of €550K made up of €250K from Croke Park and €300K from the Board.
I also very much welcome Munster Council’s once off contribution of €830K to all six counties of Munster. These funds have been recycled back to counties after the very successful provincial championship over recent years.
Financial Challenges Ahead
As ever we will face financial challenges. Rather than see them as headaches, they must be seen as further opportunities for us to grow and develop our game with us delivering the best possible conditions for our players. It has always been my promise to ensure that we do all we can to help our players at both Hurling and Football and across all age groups to reach the pinnacle of their abilities.
For this to continue we will need a further phase of fundraising for our state-of-the-art centre of excellence in Currans. It might not be Croke Park but the dreams of winning start off here for many aspiring players across our county.
We will also need to push forward with the further development of Austin Stack Park in Tralee ensuring that more people are able enjoy a night-time game under lights by increasing its capacity.
Having brought in the universal online ticket scheme into Kerry, I am happy by the ability many supporters have shown in taking to the clean and efficient ticketing system. However there remains a few teething problems that will have to be dealt with into next year. The online system is here to stay but for those who find it difficult or out of their reach at the moment we will have to work on a solution to ensure that everyone can get a ticket.
Having spoken to many OAPs throughout the year, I am acutely aware of some small difficulties dealing online and I will endeavour to work on solutions into the New Year.
Next year due to a longer run-in period to train, each Inter County team expenses in all codes will see a substantial increase. There are headwinds in 2022 coming around the corner with extended seasons which will mean that more revenue will be needed earlier in the year to drive things forward. We can only drive on things so much by reducing areas of over runs but in my opinion no organisation should remain still and feel happy that balancing is just enough. We need to renew our effort and we should be challenged to do so as it too remains vital to success on the field of play.
It is also my opinion that we should be further reducing our debt when we have the ability to do so.
Still as we look to 2022, I urge us all to remain prudent with regards to spending while we still try and get our revenue income streams up to pre covid levels.
The biggest financial challenge of all will remain which is Covid and its restrictive nature. The very fact that we cannot say with any certainty when or if the pandemic will finish means that we must plan in a reactionary way.
