It’s been announced that the Connacht Council have fined the County Board €10,000 for failing to fulfil this year’s FBD World Final against New York last month – story in today’s Irish Independent here. The title has also been formally awarded to New York. The Council haven’t, however, booted us out of the 2013 FBD and so I guess the countdown to the resumption of inter-county activity early in the New Year can now begin in earnest.
would have cost us more than that to go , i think we got the better of that deal. lets win it again now and bring sam over to new york with us next year.
Wj, I was thinking that they wouldn’t throw us out of the FBD League, they would loose too much money.
If we had chosen to fly over wouldn’t the Connacht council/FBD cover some of the cost??
They wouldnt have covered much of the cost. They havent in years gone by anyways. There was no way that Mayo would ever be thrown out of the competion. Mayo draw the crowds and if we werent in the competition then the gate receipts would be well down and there would be little interest in it. The Mayo team are going to Miami in January i think on a team holiday so lets hope that any FBD fixtures wont be affected as well!
Team holiday to Miami during a time a huge debt? while the team deserve a holiday for their efforts could the county board not lower the cost of the trip by going to Spain or Cyprus etc..
Last month the Mayo secretary Kevin O’Toole admitted the New york trip would have cost around 30k and they would have received 18k grant from the FBD if they flew out. So long story short Mayo have saved money or you could say the fine should been higher.
I really can’t understand the differences in financial control between the Mayo county board and our own. Swaning off to Miami when McHale park has put Mayo Gaa in serious debt and Horan wanting to spend more on the senior team to bring them on a further step. Meanwhile our own could not stoke up the few extra euro to put Moynas pretty impressive 5 year plan into effect. Who is right and who is wrong? Either way I would agree with the posters comment about going to Spain or Cyprus as an alternative to Miami, personally a long weekend away somewhere in Ireland should be more than sufficient, particularly in these difficult times, solidarity with the commom man and all that.
I don’t want to get into rights or wrongs of a team holiday but where they go is irrelevant.
They either work or go to college and train between 3 to 5 times per week.
Thanks to their successful efforts, they have generated revenue for the board by being supported by the loyal county fans and sponsors.
If they had won in September, no one would give a damn where they went.
They (and everyone else in the country who works hard) deserve a holiday if it can be afforded. The player’s own fundraising efforts, probably sponsors and for all we know, their own money, may be paying for some of the costs.
am sure that everyone involved has considered this before they have planned to go anywhere.
Let’s not throw inter-county players in the same bracket of begrudgery as junket politicians and bankers
Solidarity with the common man? What?
Sorry to break it to some of you lads, but the Mayo team are not responsible for the recession. If anything they have helped enormously to take Mayo people’s minds off their financial troubles by giving them a team to be proud of. Two Connacht titles in a row, an AI semi-final in 2011 and a final in 2012. Their payment for this? Zero.
Maybe a few quid in expenses for the management team to cover their mileage, but there’s a reason they’re still in the day jobs, boys.
Ye do realise that when they’re back from their trip, they’ll be slogging through the muck in the pissing rain again night after night when the sunshine supporters who magically materialise on All-Ireland final day are nowhere to be seen?
Fecking begrudgery. Who cares where they go for a holiday if they’re putting in the work to keep the Mayo flag flying high until September?
DavyJ & Fatty Boom – Plently of club footballers up and down the country slog it out in the muck, wind and rain. Some of them don’t even make the club second team come championship time. They still do it, many others gave their time to fund raising, planning and coaching. The very essence of the GAA is the whole amateur thing. It annoys the ch@t out of me to see reckless spending by county boards on large stadia that are full once every 2 years, centres of excellence, holidays to Miami, shrinks and performance enhancing trainers. If some county boards keep this up they will be the next Glasgow Rangers, Shelbourne or God knows what.
As regards solidarity with the common man, I would have thought that was self explantory. Who started the recession? About 1% of the country’s population did. Begrudery me arse, common sense yes. You can’t spend what you don’t have, was it not that, that got us in this mess in the first place?
Didn’t GAA Headquarters allocate €100,000 each to Donegal and Mayo to be spent on a well deserved holiday? So presumably that is how this holiday is being financed.
mayo supporters have put enough cash into paying for the county boards disasterous refurbishment of machale park , i am happy to know that a percentage of the money i spent ( and helped to raise!) this year supporting the team will go towards a holiday for them , they are the men who gave me the joy of those many victories and few defeats.
James Joyce – I never said that the Mayo panel were the only players that trained hard in winter time, so please don’t insinuate that I did. Nor did I imply that they were the only ones in the country who gave up their time and effort for the good of the GAA.
The point, and maybe you might pay attention to it this time, is that the financial flatulence of the Mayo county board is not the fault of the Mayo panel. They deserve a good holiday after a punishing year and I for one am not mean-spirited enough to begrudge it to them.
I hope they enjoy their holiday and thanks to all the Mayo players, management, backroom staff and county board officials for the enjoyment I have gained from the last few years watching and supporting my beloved Mayo teams. Please god next year we might take that last step.
“It annoys the ch@t out of me to see reckless spending by county boards on large stadia that are full once every 2 years, centres of excellence, holidays to Miami, shrinks and performance enhancing trainers. If some county boards keep this up they will be the next Glasgow Rangers, Shelbourne or God knows what.”
Good post James Joyce and its certainly a fear with Mayo. We all know the money isn’t there McHale park,Centre of excellence in Ballyhaunis has to be paid off yet the county board are still willing to pay upwards of 40k on a trip to Miami and big expenses to outside coaches. Short time gain for long time pain perhaps?
Well said Davy J and Fatty Boom. The players deserve everything they get after the slog they’ve put in and what they’ve given to us over the years.
I’m sure they weren’t banging down anyone’s door asking for this, so why should they feel guilty about it. Should everyone in Ireland stop having holidays now or something? Would that help the cause of the common man?
James Joyce, your constant negativity of everything to do with Mayo is just growing tiresome now. Worry a bit more about your own county and stop finding fault with ours and everything we do or say.
Davy J, couldn’t agree more ,there has to be recognition for the achievements of the management and squad for the work put in and the pride and pleasure they gave to us all this past two years. For those cribbing about club players, the lads on the county squad are club players too but they get the holiday for the extra commitment put in for their county and could in no way be begrudged to them.
I think the issue was fairly clear cut. Mayo entered a competition and was aware of the rules and rewards. It didnt take a rocket scientist to figure out around the time of the QFs that there might be a problem. When the semi final win was over , surely that was the time to declare the hand but no…forget about it and the issue might go away.
That’s how children act, bury the head and mammy and daddy will make things better. I note most posters here look at it from this side of the pond or the Mayo side. What about the poor emigrant and those of Mayo stock who looked forward to seeing the men who wear green and red? Do they not deserve a chance to see what they devoted much of their waking and often hum drum life’s to…the county of their hopes , aspirations …their totem pole.
But no, like an effing stockbroker or financial guru we looked at the bottom line, the point of least losses, the impact of collateral damage and we settled for the ego, the self , the home crowd and hump the rest. A 10k fine and teacher wags the finger and we put on a sad face and say we will be good boys next year. Fucking arrogant attitude we have indeed.
Big blow Mayo can’t be thrown out we crow,we draw the crowds, we are the special ones the saviours of football in Connacht! What arrogance and built on what? The handiest run apart from Kerry to an All Ireland final which we promptly blow in the first 10 minutes. Two years ago we were a laughing stock, the distance we travelled isn’t that far, we might be wise to remember that.
An apology to the Mayos of New York might be a good place to start , those are the ones whom the county often means most to.
Mayo had to beat the Connaught finalist, an ulster finalist and the defending champions in 2012. You are underestimating the efforts required to reach the final. And what about the league?
A trip to new York was hardly something to grab the players attention after the sickener in late September. And as we seen since, JH ws not sure he would be managing them anymore and is not one known for time wasting or money wasting.
Let’s call a spade a spade. New York based mayo people will survive without seeing mayo, yes it would have been nice but we will survive.
Mayo had to beat the Connaught finalist, an ulster finalist and the defending champions in 2012. You are underestimating the efforts required to reach the final. And what about the league?
Or don’t overestimating. Dublin in the semi final was the best we beat this year. Sligo,Down showed their worth v Donegal,Kildare. For a long time it looked like Mayo might get relegated in the league ended up with 7 points from 7 games the silly format of semi finals for a group of 8 gave us the opportunity to reach the final.
Nobody is begrudging the team a holiday they deserves a break away for their efforts but if they want some winter sunshine why not the canary islands instead of a high priced trip to Miami?
If they go to Floriad, presume they will team up with Donie Buckley who is based there for the winter. Seems like an ideal place to get some training ideas onto the drawing board.
mayo2012
you have to admit that MAYO can only play whats in front of them. We may have got Down, and you say they were a soft touch but they were ulster finalists so how bad can they be? Instead we could have drawn cork or kerry, both sides were beaten by MAYO in croke park in the last twelve months, and dublin, the defending champions, beaten twice by Mayo this year.
I know they are not league or allireland champions but they were in both finals in 2012 and not by chance, a little bit more composure and one or two players back or brought in and nobody will have a reason to doubt them.
Not sure what there cost of going on a holiday to florida is compared to europe. But there lads deserve a decent holiday. True the cb got us into a financial mess. But im not sure the teams holiday should suffer as a result. Yes we got a softer run than donegal but thats not a stick to beat the lads with. They beat what was in front of them to get to the final. Lets give them the holiday and good luck to them.
A much bigger concern is the way club fixtures are messed up as a result of our involvement in the all ireland.
Boys, you are still agitating about the cost to the County Board of this holiday. As I already said in a post on Friday last, THE CENTRAL COUNCIL OF THE GAA ALLOCATED €100,OOO TO MAYO AND TO DONEGAL FOR THE PURPOSE OF A HOLIDAY. Surely, that means it will cost the County Board nothing. And if, as Catcol says, Donie Buckley is out in Florida, that will be a great bonus.
“Two years ago we were a laughing stock, the distance we travelled isnt that far” In fairness John I think we have travelled a fair distance since that terrible June evening in Longford in 2010. The following year 2011 brought us a Connacht title, saw us defeat All Ireland Champions Cork before losing to Kerry in AI Semi. We built on that this year with an appearance in League final, another Connacht title, again defeated All Ireland Champions Dublin and qualifying for AI Final. Surely thats progress and suggests we ve travelled quite a distance. Unfortunately for us Donegal travelled a greater distance since that June evening when they were a laughing stock against Armagh
Good point Gráinne Uaile on the cost to the county board – damn all. If you look at the final, and the unique pairing from an economic point of view, the net benefit is enormous – to Dublin, the GAA, Mayo and Donegal. I never saw such crowds in the Dorset Street area as I did on that Sunday; there must have been at least 120,000 people in the area and they sure were spending. BTW, my Kerry friends are loud in their praise of Donie Buckley. According to them JOC was the problem
Sure as Jack ‘Chip on the Shoulder’ O’Connor would tell ya, he was an outsider even in his own parish, and no one ever liked him at all. Sure even his Dad lost respect for him when he didn’t shoot a fox. God his autobiography was a great read!
Not sending a team to New York showed up Mayo in a very bad light. It was an insult to New York & the sponsors.Surely we could have put a team together.
The decision not to go to New York was shortsigted, appalling,ignorant and showed scant regard for our supporters in New York and Gaelic Park. Whoever made the decision in Mayo Co. Board should recall the reception and the money received as a result of a visit there about 8 years ago. Remember the large book with the ads. Poor reflection on on our administrators ????
Have to agree with jr and TJ on this one. According to the county board, it was costing €30,000 to send a team over and play the match against new York. €18,000 of this was covered by a Connaught council grant, leaving the mayo county board with an out-of-pocket expense of €12,000 if we had gone. In their wisdom the county board decided not to go, resulting in a fine of €10,000, an annoyed gaa diaspora in new York, and lots of negative publicity at home in mayo. We saved a measly €2000, but what price the goodwill of the gaa community in new York?? Will Gaa people in new York remember this snub in a couple of years time when it’s our turn to travel to NY for the championship again?? You can be sure they will, and I wouldn’t blame then either. James horan called for greater financial investment in mayo football the night of the all Ireland from mayo people, well I’m pretty sure any mayo people in new York that were thinking of contributing will have second thoughts now. Yet again great foresight by our county board.
And the excuse about a backlog of club fixtures doesn’t wash, it wouldn’t have been hard to find 30 lads in mayo willing to go across and play that game, there were heaps of clubs whose championship campaigns had well and truly finished by then.
why should we send over a sub-par mayo team ? surely that is just as much disrespect as not going at all ?
and what will new york GAA do when we next go over for the championship ? , boycott the game ? boycott the dinner?
Mountain being made out of a molehill here , the management in their wisdom did not want to fulfill the fixture , the board backed them and will now pay the consequential fine. case closed.
According to the CT, even though we’re not appealing the fine, they suggest the fine will be reduced and maybe even halved
You’d know it was winter alright when people are arguing over a meaningless game. The only reason counties are interested in the FBD is to get rid of rustiness in advance of the NFL and to try out new players and maybe some new gameplans.
Nobody gives two hoots about the title in all honesty. The main competition is played from Jan-Mar each year. Then you have the ‘away’ final in Oct/Nov, when the players are after being through a very long season (in our case both national finals).
Can anyone be surprised they don’t have the interest in flying across the atlantic to play an exhibition match, taking time out of their jobs/college etc
Its the disrespect to FBD, New York and Connacht Council thats the problem here, more than the money.
We always treat people shabbily
It is unfair o say that it is a meaningless game. It is not so to New York – a place that has given work and homes to our people. It is/was not a meaningless game to our supporters in New York. The New York . Board and our supporters deserved better??
The older I grow , the more cynical I get. As a young man and fool, I believed we all were in a collective in life, all politicians were good , all of society meant well. I now know that its take care of yourself first, your family next, friends then and fcuk the rest on the political arena.
Sport and in particular GAA is/was supposed to be different. Mayo should be the one single unifying banner that we can/could all hang our peg on. We could puff out with pride or suffer together as a people and a county.
I don’t believe that any more. A look through the posts above give a wide divergence on Mayo’s decision to opt out of the New York trip. Some see it as a waste of time, money saved etc. A few see the emigrant snubbed, cast aside when the table was full of nice things like around the All Ireland final.
There are a number of divides amid the Mayo football family. There are those that run the show, those that are fanatical followers and those like myself that dip in when we can but also live away from Mayo. I and maybe others away,see Mayo football through a different lens. I craved like the rest of the county for the Big One. Our team should reflect the best of what makes us Mayo.
When the Mayo native gets to the comfort of the county border after a hammering/robbed by a ref/shot in the foot final etc, they at least have the consolation of battening down the hatches and listening to kindred souls. When it happens up here for me or abroad for others, we listen to the smart comments, the sneers and the “Aragh whats wrong with ye down there at all” shite.
Mick Mulderrig on a trip to London with the 1950 Champions was told that the challenge match they were about to play was of no importance, no problem if they lost…bigger fish were out there to be fried kinda stuff. Mullderrig bristled and stewed. A youngster of 20 he knew his place but had the balls to speak up. “Well if its all the same with ye…I came here to win for my people and if you think I am going out there to lose in front of my neighbours from Geesala and Erris who have traveled across England for this match …then you are sadly mistaken”
Meath was the team in the challenge and Mullderrig was very aware of the reception many Mayo migrants got on arrival there in the 1930/40/50s. He also told me that the best and most decent followers he ever met were those who had to migrate and he would have died on the pitch for them. Maybe we lost that connection when we got a bit prosperous on fools gold and idiots promises. No matter, Mayo choose not to go to New York. The problem for me was the way it was done, the lateness in the day and now the attitude of …who gives an eff anyway. I do.
I served as a foot soldier on the much derided and drowned Strategic Review Committee a few years ago. The one comment that I took from the entire thing was one uttered by a delegate from the floor who had listened to the offerings. His question was succinct and spot on , he asked “Who are those people!” in relation to those who formed part of the SRC. And that folks is the question we all got to grapple with…who actually are the custodians of Mayo football. Also does following Mayo also stop at the county border or is everybody on board no matter where in the world they live be that either Blacksod or the Bronx also have a right to the team.
When travel was an ordeal , a trek full of jabs, injections and slow boats, Mayo men made the journey to to the US and were feted and lauded for it, they also were able to win All Ireland’s in those days. Come next summer and if we hit the side railings, bet ya a few of the boys wont having any problem ringing down town Nuu Yawk and looking for the start.
Fantastic piece as usual John Cuffe, dont agree with you for a minute but nonetheless a great piece. John , All-irelands were won back in those days alright but i back the manager in his decision not to go , if he delivers us our title then he is vindicated and if he doesnt it wont be because he put the kybosh on an end of season jolly.
Roger it wasn’t the manager who cancelled the trip. You are buying the spin. The players and the management were more than happy to go.
Steve i doubt that if The monsignor insisted that the trip went through that the county board would block him.
i hear what you say about spin but over here in london i am happily removed from all that kind of thing.
Lucky you Roger! The latest on the Hogan Stand is that the Connacht Council has said that there is no prospect of the fine being reduced. That was more rubbish that was put out there.
Meaningless game? I dont think so. If you were involved in the New York set-up and had only two important games in the year, would one of them be meaningless. It will come back to haunt Mayo GAA the next time they travel to New York for a Connacht match. The trip to New York for every Connacht side is a cash cow for that county board with the big fund raising banquet for the travelling county board. County Boards have been known to return with six figure sums after that trip. Why else do you think the Connacht Council keep them in the Connacht Championship. It was a really low blow for Mayo not to travel. If the All-ireland final was a draw – it wouldve been held that weekend. Would we have had to concede the replay to Donegal due to our inavailability? Finally, if the lads or management didn’t want to travel, the chance shouldve been offered to the Mayo Junior team to travel. They had a manager in place and a panel of 30 lads who lost an All-Ireland final a few weeks earlier. The Juniors never get much recognition and this wouldve been a boost for them. New York wouldnt be too put out at that as they wouldve had a realistic chance of a good competetive game against a good group of Intermediate club footballers from Mayo – instead of facing the All-Ireland finalists from a few weeks earlier.