ALTHOUGH Donegal GAA’s audited accounts for 2020 painted a fairly healthy position, there are plenty of stark warnings from the pages.
The Board turned a €60,840 operating profit for 2020, but the devil was in the detail.
Of debtors of €357,017, there is €170,000 that remains outstanding from club levies.
“If we don’t recover that, the operating profit would disappear dramatically,” Donegal GAA Treasurer Alan Boyd (pictured) told delegates.
Just 12 clubs have paid their levies in full, nine are on payment plans while 19 clubs have yet to make any payment against their levies.
“Clubs have been asking about relief as they are cash strapped and I can see some relief coming to clubs.
“A lot of clubs need to plan financially in terms of their priorities.
“Clubs have to try to budget and plan ahead. That is good practice at the best of times, but that really hit home this year.”
The shut down of the 2020 campaign in March left clubs and county facing a period of uncertain and, as the calendar prepares to turn to 2021, there are no guarantees regarding a return to normality.
The accounts do not detail a full picture of the Win Your House In Dublin draw, which is expected to net the Board a cool €750,000 profit once the sums are audited, County Board Chairperson Mick McGrath confirmed.
The draw was conducted on Friday-week past at the Donegal GAA Centre in Convoy – the development towards which the entirety of the funds will go.
The draw was originally scheduled for early 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic saw it postponed. The delay meant that the Board were left in what Boyd said was a ’sticky situation’.
He said: “We had a really difficult period around April. We were due to pay the money on the house and we didn’t have it. We had to dip into the number one account.
“It was a really tough time to try to make ends meet and it put us in a sticky situation. We got through it.”
Total income dropped by around €700,000, but the Board’s income was still in excess of €1million for the year ending October 31, 2020, with €1,032,815 taken in. Expenditure of €971,975 meant that there was an operating profit of €60,840.
Although the draw brought in almost half-a-million, the bulk of the €475,145 in 2020 was for inclusion after the end of the accounting year.
An increase in royalties, up to €127,424 from €96,124, was largely down to jersey sales, but there was a big drop in sponsorship, falling to €203,319 from €302,424.
Gate receipts showed a decrease over just over €180,000, with behind-closed-door games and a delayed club championship contributing, while commercial income fell by over €100,000.
The importance of Donegal being in Division 1 of the Allianz League was shown in the National League shares, which rose by €20,000 to €101,488.
Team administration expenses dropped dramatically to €666,620 from €949,270 in the previous year, and team expenses fell from €174,475 to €86,959.
Catering dropped by €60,000, players travel expenses dipped by €61,000 and overnight/holiday expenses were down by almost €69,000.
Boyd paid tribute to the auditor, Enda Bonner, who he said had carried out some work in the last couple of weeks in spite of being in hospital.
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