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Show me the money: Breakdown of sport grants leaves questions aplenty

Johnny Watterson ponders boxing’s ‘derisory’ grant allocation; horse racing eyes Budget 2025; and a throwback to Avril Lavigne’s heyday

Ministers ​Paschal​ Donohoe, Catherine Martin​ and Thomas Byrne as 1,996 sporting grants, totalling €230 million, were announced under the Community Sports Facilities fund earlier this week.
Ministers ​Paschal​ Donohoe, Catherine Martin​ and Thomas Byrne as 1,996 sporting grants, totalling €230 million, were announced under the Community Sports Facilities fund earlier this week.
Mary Hannigan's picture
Mary Hannigan
Fri Sept 27 2024 - 11:38

After poring over the list of sports capital grants that were announced earlier this week, Johnny Watterson can only conclude that you’d need “a doctoral thesis” to understand how the system works, “who gets what and how criteria are weighted”. What jumped out most for him was boxing’s “derisory” slice of the pie, despite it being “the most successful Olympic sport going back to the foundation of the State”. The GAA got 96 times more in grants when, in terms of members, it’s only 25 times the size of boxing. So, what’s that all about? “The question is whether the system is proportionate or evenly balanced,” writes Johnny. While it is largely transparent, he says, it is “far from satisfactory”.

Horse racing, meanwhile, is waiting to see how big their pie slice will be in next week’s budget. Having received €76 million in State funding for 2024, the aim is to get to a figure of over €92 million by 2028. But, as Brian O’Connor notes, the sport has had “another fraught reputational year”, not least after RTÉ aired those “shocking scenes of brutality at the Shannonside abattoir. So, how will that impact the Government’s decision on how much funding it should receive?

In rugby, Nathan Johns looks at what “subtle” changes Tyler Bleyendaal can make at Leinster after his appointment as Andrew Goodman’s replacement in the role of attack coach. Max Deegan is enjoying working with the New Zealander, “it’s always good to have new voices and new information in the squad”, John O’Sullivan talking to Leinster’s “versatile stalwart” who is hoping to nail down a regular starting place this season.

Speaking of stalwarts. John reminds us that Avril Lavigne’s ‘Girlfriend’ was top of the charts when Cian Healy made his Leinster debut. Look away now: that was 17 years ago. This evening, against the Dragons at the Aviva Stadium, he will make his 281st Leinster appearance “and in doing so become the province’s most capped player of all time, breaking the tie that he shared with Devin Toner”.

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At the other end of the appearance scale, Piers O’Conor made his competitive debut for Connacht in their narrow URC defeat by Munster last weekend, having joined from Bristol Bears during the summer. He chats with Gerry Thornley about how he’s settling in to his new home.

And in soccer, Gavin Cummiskey previews this evening’s League of Ireland games, bottom-of-the-table Dundalk hoping to put their off-the-pitch woes to one side when they take on Bohemians.

TV Watch: Ireland take on South Africa in Abu Dhabi in the first of their two T20 matches (TNT Sports 1 from 1.45pm), while England and Australia meet in the fourth ODI of their five-match series (Sky Sports Cricket from noon). Later, Leinster take on the Dragons in the URC (TG4 and Premier Sports 2, 7.35pm), while Premier Division leaders Shelbourne host Sligo Rovers at Tolka Park (Virgin Media Two, 7.45pm).

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